Book – What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: "I Wonder If a Man's Thoughts Disappear Like This, In Vain, With the Death of the Body"  

In the previous millennium, 1995 or so, at the Leo Beck Education Center's sports center, I started the morning shift as a lifeguard in the pool. I've always been a morning person, and even in the early hours, there's this quality of people who don't experience it as the day progresses. After months on the job, I can already recognize the swimmers and the swimmers.

But I only recognize them as swimmers, I'm not sure if I met them on the street I would know who is who. As a swimming instructor I automatically correct their style in my head; one doesn't use his legs enough and if I just give him a board to do a few leg strokes he will fly forward when he returns to swimming full time; that one doesn't dip her head in the water and I'm always afraid that if someone accidentally splashes on her she will start to drown; and there's the one who was definitely a swimmer or was training for a competition with the swimming fins he paddles with. There were also nicknames like: Pac-Man who always made me smile, the grandfather because he always told me about his daughter and grandchildren with pride, or the diver because he would only come up to breathe every ten strokes.

What I'm talking about when I talk about running / Haruki Murakami

I was reminded of "My Swimmers" when I read his book this week. Haruki Murakami, who loves running so much that he wrote an illustrated book in honor of the occasion. And so he wrote about people on the track in his book What I'm talking about when I talk about running: "At certain times of the morning you see more or less the same people on the path along the riverbank. A short Indian woman walking alone; probably in her sixties, but her face is delicate and she is always well-groomed. And surprisingly – and perhaps not surprisingly at all – she wears a different outfit every day… The desire to see what outfit she will wear today is one of my little pleasures on my morning run." (p. 102). Thus, throughout the book I met more or less well-known characters through the Japanese author, who (as of the time the book was published in 2007) had been running marathons and triathlons around the world for over four decades. 

I love swimming, but this love wasn't at first sight, it came after great reluctance and paralyzing fear alongside an inexplicable attraction. In my pre-20s, I would "enter" with fears and with the help of my best friend and then-partner, I received the gift of healing water. Even if I swim less in these years since I left the world of sports, swimming still defines me and is part of who I am. But running? No, no! I don't like running, I don't like that feeling of not having enough air and I don't know when the burning pain in my chest will pass after a strenuous run. No, I don't run. I'm one of those walkers. I come from a family of walkers and I had to learn to walk pretty fast to keep up with my older brothers who, with their height, had to take 2.5 steps of my own for every step of their long legs.  

However, this week, this is the first time I seriously thought about going for a run along the Jordan River, and not just walking alongside it. For several years now, my eldest daughter has found pleasure in long-distance running and this year she even participated in the Tiberias Marathon for the first time, and for that I am very proud of her. But while I am an enthusiastic and encouraging mother, it never occurred to me to put on running shoes. Haruki Murakami, not "familiar" to the reader with running, in modest writing he describes the small details that are now moving in my head like a quality movie in which all the details take me on a trip and I feel like I was right there. So I ran with Murakami in the New York Marathon, visited Massachusetts and even learned about the city of Marathon in Greece, which started all this mess.

Still, this isn't a book about running, it's a book about a writer who runs. I have dozens of books written by writers about writing, and Murakami's is one of the best."Most of what I know about writing novels I learned from running on the road every morning." (p. 87). And he has fascinating things to say about writing, so I was tempted to at least try running with him.

One terrorist and three bullets

I find that my choice of books is somehow always intertwined with life outside of them, and it's probably no coincidence that I read this book alongside my acquaintance with the story of an ironman, who was stopped by a lead bullet from running the New York Marathon, which he had worked so hard to be accepted into with honor. This week, two years ago, the athlete's light went out. Or Ashar Remembered for good. Together with two of his good friends, they went to Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv to celebrate the bride and groom. One terrorist and three bullets stood in their way. The friends are still recovering today, but Or did not get to continue his life.

Murakami tells the story of two young athletes he knew who were destined for the Olympics and were killed in a car accident. "Even now, when I run early in the morning on the track around Jingu-gyan…I am reminded of these people from time to time. Sometimes, when I turn a bend, it seems to me as if they are about to appear in front of me, running in silence and only a white mist rises from their breath. And then I always think to myself: after enduring such grueling training, where have all their thoughts gone, all the hopes and dreams and plans they carried in their hearts? I wonder if a person's thoughts disappear like that, in vain, with the death of the body." (pp. 81-82).

The beautiful story born from the harsh reality that befell the Aschar family

I don't know, these are thoughts that will probably always occupy us. What I do know and am familiar with is the beautiful story that was born from the difficult reality that befell the Aschar family. Or was the athlete and his two brothers had no intention of completing a marathon in their lives. However, after his death and in his memory, they decided to train seriously for months and run the New York Marathon in his memory. The gesture in itself is very moving, but what is amazing is that Or's younger brother, Eyal Ashar, who never saw running as anything other than a way to encourage his brother, continues to run. He started out running in memory of Or and thought that would be the end of it for him, but he has persevered in the activity and has since completed marathons and even triathlons – From running to his memory, Eyal now runs to his light.. 

This book provides interesting insights into life, I have marked so many things in it and the space is too short to quote everything. I think everyone will be able to enjoy this book, because through being a runner and being a writer, Murakami opens doors to enlightenment and understanding, and especially thoughts about our world. "After all, no one can continue to win forever. On this highway called life, you can't continue to drive forever only on the bypass." (p. 61). Somehow, I can think of many situations and even more people who would do well to ponder this insight.

"Perhaps No "Shall I return the book to you?" I asked my friend who lent it to me, enclosing a photograph. "With love," she replied. Thus, I also appropriated for myself the beautiful bookmark she illustrated, which you can see in the photograph accompanying this article. And regarding the question of whether remaining או loose From my personal library – so the answer here is pretty clear and what I’m talking about when I talk about running remaining In my bag. One of my shelves is dedicated to books about writing, and there's just the right place for a Japanese writer who asked that one day his tombstone be inscribed. "At least he didn't stop running until the end."". I wish Haruki Murakami many more good years to live, to continue running and writing. And who knows, maybe I'll give running shoes a chance soon.

Book details: 

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by: Haruki Murakami, Keter Books, 2010. 

Pleasant reading and may good words be by your side always,
Lily