Today’s run: 3.16 miles, 31:20 minutes. YT: 177.19. Sub-10 min miles again, happiness. Interesting: All of the NY Parks and Recreation people who tend Tompkins are women. I’m sure there’s a reason. Today one of them surprised me by moving her trashcan so that I could run between it and a puddle without diverting my course. It was a totally unnecessary and kind act that put a little peace in my heart for the rest of the run.
Straight Line Flow
“Most runners run not because they want to live longer, but because they want to live life to the fullest. If you’re going to while away the years, it’s far better to live them with clear goals and fully alive than in a fog, and I believe running helps you do that. Exerting yourself to the fullest within your individual limits: that’s the essence of running, and a metaphor for life – and for me, for writing as well.” – Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
One of the chief reasons I became a runner was to give my creativity a battery pack. I knew already that my brain functioned better after exercise. I knew that I had fits of creativity while on the road. But it was when I read that Huruki Murakami became a runner to keep his juices flowing that I got really excited and committed.
Murakami doesn’t consider himself a genius. I love that. He considers himself someone who has to work hard and do everything right to continue to pump out amazing novels. He believes running saved him from being a half-baked one-hit wonder.
And this is an important lesson: Your ability to be creative isn’t just a function of the fancy or not so-fancy materials that went into your gray matter. It’s equally or even more so a function of what you do with it – do you discipline yourself? Do you set yourself in a schedule of activities that keeps your juice flowing? Do you get out of bed and run or do you sit into a heap?
I just talked myself into not skipping my run today, despite monumental soreness from my first conditioning class in years yesterday.
Start your engines everyone!! Regularly scheduled motion is the best prevention for creative impotence.
This post is dedicated to Meghna and Michael!
tell me again, sara, which of his books should i read first?
miss you!
Wild Sheep Chase or Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.
What a great post. Running provides you with the energy to be creative, and it also provides you with time to think. Thinking seems to be a lot art among many people. Keep up the good work! I always look forward to your posts.
Thanks Jim. :-) I love the time to think. I don’t ever bring my cell phone because i don’t want to be tempted to check my message instead of let me thoughts flow…
I recently read Murakami’s running memoir and found it to be just the motivation I needed to continue to push myself.
Glad to hear that you and others have enjoyed his work as well.
Thanks for commenting, Travis. You should try his fiction too! :)
Sent from my iPhone so exuse the typos!