I was given Haruki Murakami's What I Talk About when I Talk About Running by a friend and fellow running enthusiast, and found it an incredibly moving and relevant read.

Written almost as memoirs, this short work provides insight into both Murakami's life as a novelist, and more important into his experiences as an amateur long-distance runner (marathons and the like). Given my own love of long-distance running (although I have yet to run anything mentionably longer than a half-marathon), I found great resonance with Murakami's writing, and especially the joys and pains and motivations for running.

A gem of a book, and one I'd recommend to anyone who loves to be out running alone, with nothing but the regular beat of their footsteps keeping them company.