Born to Run - a book review

From Born to Run:

"Distance running was revered because it was indispensable; it was the way we survived and thrived and spread across the planet. You ran to eat and to avoid being eaten; you ran to find a mate and impress her, and with her you ran off to start a new life together. You had to love running, or you wouldn't live to love anything else. And like everything else we love - everything we sentimentally call our "passions" and "desires" - it's really an encoded ancestral necessity. We were born to bo runners; we were born because we run. We're all Running People, as the Tarahumara have always known."

Soaring words from Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run.

Then please explain why my foot Hurts!

If we are natural runners why do we hear complaints like "how come my foot hurts"? McDougall's book begins with questions like these and ends with a ultramarathon in Mexico's Copper Canyons - an unlikely race shared by North American elite ultrarunners and the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico.

McDougall believes every human being is designed to run. It's in our DNA, coded to the deepest levels of human pre-historical experience.

McDougall's logic goes like this: If you're here today... You come from running stock...

Are we all Ultra Runners?

We live today because our ancestors out-lasted and out-performed their prey. Larger, more capable, and certainly more specialized species succumbed to our ancestor's endurance, speed and determination. That same DNA lives in us today, McDougall writes, the most recent iteration and expression of countless generations of runners.

McDougall's Tarahumara transport us back to a time in our history when we ran to live, and we lived to run:

"Everything about the Tarahumara seemed backward, taunting, as irritatingly ungraspable as a Zen master's riddles. The toughest guys were the gentlest; battered legs were the bounciest; the healthiest people had the crappiest diet; the illiterate race was the wisest; the guys working the hardest were having the most fun..."

Born to Run is the story of a wraith-like indigenous tribe located in the Copper Canyons (Barrancas del Cobre) of Mexico. The Tarahumara culture live in this region, their rhythm of life essentially unchanged for generations.

Tarahumara - Natural Born Runners

The Tarahumara live in caves and cliff dwellings, ready to disappear at will - at a moment's notice.

They are known for their ability to "run long" and their limitless energy. The Tarahumara run gracefully and efficiently, and McDougall cuts to the heart of their running success in Born to Run.

Uneasy Partners: Running Shoes and Running

McDougall explores the bio mechanics of running in his book, and looks at the effect "big heel" running shoes have on running bio-mechanics. Shoe cushioning systems can break down in as little as 50 to 75 miles - and in the process leaving the runner's feet, ankle and knees unprotected.

On the other hand, bare foot running and it's minimalist equivalents like Vibram Five Fingers and Newton Sir Issac shoes force the runner to adopt more of a Pose or Chi Running technique - just like the Tarahumara.

As runners move from "heel strike" bio mechanics to a mid foot or even fore foot placement the conditioned foot does what it's supposed to do: minimise shock to the rest of the body and enable ultra marathon distances without joint injury.

Summary

Christopher McDougall's Born to Run is history, ethnography, and running motivation - and a great read. Available in print and spoken word from Amazon.com or Amazon.ca:

Amazon Canada

Amazon USA