Recently, I started reading What I Talk about When I Talk about Running by Haruki Murakami, the Japanese novelist. The book is about how running informs Murakami’s writing and how writing informs his running. If you are a runner or a writer, or both, you will enjoy the insights that he provides, which are part running thoughts, part writing thoughts, and part philosophical musings on both. But at one point near the beginning of the book, he mentions that people often ask him what he thinks about as he runs. He says, “I don’t have a clue.” Of course, he says, if it’s cold outside, he is thinking about that, or if he’s sad, he might think about sadness, or if he’s happy, he might think about happiness. But, overall, he says, “I don’t think much of anything worth mentioning.”He just runs in a void; more precisely, he runs “to acquire a void.” This sounds to me as if he uses running as a form of meditation, a moving meditation where he tries to stay in the moment and not really think at all.
Murakami made me think about what it is that I think about when I’m running. Unlike Murakami’s “void,” where he tries not to think, I believe that I am thinking all the time, but I am focused almost entirely on what is going on with and within me while I am running. I monitor my condition: breathing, stride, posture, arm position, foot plant, texture of the road or trail, tilt or curvature of the road or trail, pain in any joints, muscles, degree of effort. Occasionally, depending on the type of run, I have time to appreciate nature itself: the birds, the hills, the clean air. I can keep myself company in this way for the entire run, whether it’s a 5K (3.1 miles) or a marathon or more–I never get bored. I don’t mean that I never get bored with myself, or that I am exceptionally good company for me; it’s just that I can always stay engaged during the run without any outside assistance. Some of my running friends run with music; some, not all of them, cannot run without music. I understand that someone might want the distraction that music provides by taking their mind off of the running, making it easier, or at least less unpleasant, to get through the workout or the race. I’ve tried running with music, but it’s not for me. I don’t really want to take my mind off the running. I run for the sake of running, and for me, music interferes with the experience.
However, I have no problem running with other people, and when I do, we are almost constantly talking to each other, which naturally prevents me from thinking through all of those running checklists. And that’s OK. Running, and talking, with another runner, definitely takes you out of your “runner’s head,” and, often, the miles fly by before you know it.
What do you think about while you are running?
