Writing About Running

So, my three favorite activities are making music, running and reading. 

It would be ideal if these three activities could interrelate.  I read quite a bit about music–and yes, I’ve heard the quote “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture” (but who says dancing about architecture is such a bad thing?).  I just finished a pretty good bio of W.C. Handy that came out last year.  Not the most riveting biography I ever read, but I was quite interested in the story of the “Father of the Blues.”  So those two, music and reading, for me anyway, go together. 

How about music and running?  When I’m on the running path, I’m always immersed in music.  If I’m on a flat, paved course, I usually have my iPod, and I listen to a wide variety of music.  (Most recently: Queen, Muddy Waters, Mariem Hassan, and, yes, a little King of Pop.)  If I’m on the dirt trails, I’m thinking about music while I run.  Music and running are a perfect fit, always entwined.

But I don’t do too much reading about running.  I guess that’s because there are quite a few really great writers who love music and have figured out a way to make words about music interesting, but most of the folks who write about running are, well, jocks.  There’s not a lot to say about running, I guess, really.  There’s gear talk, details of training regimens, who had what time where.  Unlike baseball, with its culture clashes, zen strategies, and great failures that provide the stuff of fascinating literature, there are not so many great books about the sport of running.  The Murakami book What I Think About When I Think About Running is an exception.  That’s because Murakami is a very good writer who happens to be an avid, longtime runner.  I’ve heard nice things about a novel called Once a Runner, written by a runner, John L. Parker, Jr.  Runner’s World called it “the best novel ever written about running.”  (What are the runners-up?)  I’ve been looking for it, hoping to find another runner who can write.

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