In his memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running Murakami covers training for marathons alongside reminiscences from his life and travels and, of course, his writing.
It’s a slim volume that captivated me even though I have no particular interest in running (apart from to admire the discipline and effort involved) and am more likely to grow a second head than to go for a jog.
I particularly liked this passage in which Murakami discusses the similarities between long distance running and writing a novel:
I stop every day right at the point where I feel I can write more. Do that, and the next day’s work goes suprisingly smoothly… To keep on going, you have to keep up the rhythm. This is the important thing for long-term projects. Once you set the pace, the rest will follow. The problem is getting the flywheel to spin at a set speed – and to get to that point takes as much concentration and effort as you can manage.
Do you agree? How important is pace to you?