Reframing the Walk of Shame
Mr. Murakami, I’d like to have a word…
Haruki Murakami
1949–20**
Writer (and Runner)
At Least He Never Walked
In Haruki Murakami’s oft-quoted epic What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, he ends the book by imagining the above wording on his eventual gravestone. It’s far from the only time Murakami writes about walking during a race — in fact, he seems downright obsessed. In one vignette, he’s running a full marathon when beset by leg cramps. Murakami notes that he’d never walked in a race before, but this time he had no option but to walk the last three miles. “Up till then I’d made it a point of pride that no matter how hard things might get, I never walked. A marathon is a running event, after all, not a walking event.”
Mr. Murakami, do you know what they call people who walk during a marathon?
Marathoners.
A marathon is most definitely a walking event. Says who? Says me, who has power walked every single step of four full marathons, 111 half marathons, and, well, you get the picture. I’m pretty sure my statement would be endorsed by the many thousands of competitors who have completed races utilizing some combination of running, race walking, power walking, and plain ol’ walk-walking. Many a marathoner has…
