Haruki Murakami


I just started reading a memoir, "What I talk about when I talk about Running" by Murakami. This is a great statement that can be used by any endurance athlete, "Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Say you're running and you start to think, Man, this hurts, I can't take it anymore. The hurt part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand any more is up to the runner himself." page vii.
Another quote, "most ordinary runners are motivated by an individual goal, more than anything; namely, a time they want to beat. As long as he can beat that time, a runner will feel he's accomplished what he set out to do, and if he can't, then he'll feel he hasn't. Even if he doesn't break the time he'd hoped for, as long as he has the sense of satisfaction at having done his best...then that in itself is an accomplishment, a positive feeling he can carry over to the next race." page 10.

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