Haruki Murakami's What I talk about when I talk about running

My friend passed me this book in an attempt for me to replace him for the stanchart marathon because his knees are injured. While I will be very impressed with myself if I were to complete a full marathon, I think more training and preparation has to be done for an attempt than 1 week's notice. I will do it when I am ready.

People who want to read the book may not want to look at the quotes below, the only purpose of my puting them down here is for my own easy reference in the future.

Some meaningful lines from the book:

1. Pain is inevitable.  Suffering is optional. 
2. ...I stop every day right at the point where I feel I can write more.  Do that , and the next day's work goes surprisingly smoothly. ...... To keep on going, you have to keep up the rhythm.  This is the important thing for long-term projects.  Once you set the pace, the rest will follow.  The problem is getting the flywheel to spin at a set speed -- and to get to that point takes much concentration and effort as you can manage.
3. I just run.  I run in a void.  Or maybe I should put it in the other way: I run in order to aquire a void.  But as you might expect, an occasional thought will slip into this void.  People's minds can't be a complete blank.  Human beings' emotions are not strong or consistent enough to sustain a vacuum.  What I mean is, the kinds of thoughts and ideas that invade my emotions as I run remain subordinate to that void.  Lacking content, they are just random thoughts that gather around that central void.
4. Can I laugh at Mick Jagger?  No way,  I just happen not to be a young rock singer.  Nobody remembers what stupid things I might have said back then, so they're not about to quote them back at me.  That is the only difference.
5. Forgive me for stating the obvious, but the world is made up of all kinds of people.  Other people have their own values to live by, and the same holds true with me.  These differences give rise to disagreements, and the combination of these disagreements can give rise to even greater misunderstandings.
6. When I'm criticized unjustly (from my viewpoint, at least), or when someone I'm sure will understand me doesn't, I go running for a little longer than usual.  By running longer it's like I can physically exhaust that portion of my discontent.  It also makes me realize again how weak I am, how limited my abilities are. I become aware, physically, of these low points.  And one of the results of running a little farther than usual is that I become much stronger. If  I'm angry, I direct that anger toward myself. If I have a frustrating experience, I use that to improve myself.  That's the way I've always lived. I quietly absorb the things I'm able to, releasing them later, and in as changed a form as possible, as part of the story line in a novel.
7. I never could stand being forced to do something I didn't want to do at a time I didn't want to do it.  Whenever I was able to do something I liked to do, though, when I wanted to do it, and the way I wanted to do it, I'd give it everything I had.
8. I'm struck by how, except when you're young, you really need to priortize 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.
9. But when I think about it, having the kind of body that easily puts on weight was perhaps a blessing in disguise.  In other words, if I don't want to gain weight I have to work out hard everyday, watch what I eat, and cut down on indulgences.  Life can be tough, but as long as you don't stint on the effort, your metabolism will greatly improve with these habits, and you'll end up much healthier, not to mention stronger. ... ... But people who naturally keep the weight off no matter what don't need to exercise or watch their diet in order to stay trim.  There can't be many of them who would go out of their way to take these troublesome measures when they don't need to.  Which is why, in many cases, their physical strength deteriorates as they age.  If you don't exercise, your muscles will naturally weaken, as will your bones. ... ... We should consider ourselves lucky that the red light is so clearly visible.  OF course, it's not always easy to see things this way.
10. There are three reasons I failed.  Not enough training.  Not enough training. And not enough training. ... ... Without knowing it, I'd developed a sort of arrogant attitude, convinced that just a fair-to-middling amount of training was enough for me to do a good job.  It's pretty thin, the wall separating healthy confidence and unhealthy pride.  
11. Muscles really are like animals, and they want to take it as easy as possible; if pressure isn't applied to them, they relax and cancel out the memory of all that work.  Input this canceled memory once again, and you have to repeat the whole journey from the beginning.
12. I have only a few reasons to keep on running, and a truckload of them to quit.  All I can do is keep those few reasons nicely polished.
13. Focus -- the ability to concentrate all your limited talent on whatever's critical at the moment. ... ... without focus you can't accomplish anything.
14. In any event, I'm happy I haven't stopped running all these years.  The reason is, I like the novels I've written.  And I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of novel I'll produce next.  Since I'm a writer with limits -- an imperfect person living an imperfect, limted lift -- the fact that I can still feel this way is a real accomplishment.
15. This is my body, with all its limits and quirks.  Just as with my face, even if I don't like it, it's the only one I get, so i've got to make to. ... ... As you age you learn even to be happy with what you have.  That's one of the few good points of growing older.