What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (Vintage International)

by Haruki Murakami

This is the important thing for long-term projects. Once you set the pace, the rest will follow.

In long-distance running the only opponent you have to beat is yourself, the way you used to be.

I’m struck by how, except when you’re young, you really need to prioritize in life, figuring out in what order you should divide up your time and energy. If you don’t get that sort of system set by a certain age, you’ll lack focus and your life will be out of balance.

It should add a few new elements to your inventory in understanding who you are.

But in real life things don’t go so smoothly. At certain points in our lives, when we really need a clear-cut solution, the person who knocks at our door is, more likely than not, a messenger bearing bad news. It isn’t always the case, but from experience I’d say the gloomy reports far outnumber the others.

It isn’t the messenger’s fault. No good to blame him, no good to grab him by the collar and shake him. The messenger is just conscientiously doing the job his boss assigned him. And this boss? That would be none other than our old friend Reality.