Christopher McDougall, a sports writer for Runner’s World, was frustrated by the large number of injuries that he sustained while running. Born to Run
is his account of how his running style was completely rebuilt from
scratch from a study of possibly the world’s greatest runners, a Mexican
tribe called the Tarahumara. While visiting the Tarahumara, McDougall
comes across the strange figure of Caballo Blanco (the ‘White Horse’),
who some of the Tarahumara believe to be a ghost… This strange American
outcast recruits McDougall to help fulfil his dream of putting on a most
extraordinary race in the hellish Copper Canyon (if the snakes don’t
get you, then exposure or the local drug runners possibly will…)
McDougall, even although he’s previously found it impossible to run even
moderate distances, signs up for this incredible endurance race.
However, he’s not the only one, as several stars from the world of
ultrarunning decide to trust the strange Caballo… And yet, Caballo might
have more of a problem persuading the Tarahumara to participate,
despite the fact that he’s lived amongst them for many years…
Along the way, McDougall has a great many fascinating asides about life and death in the Copper Canyons, and from the history of ultrarunning. McDougall has some surprising revelations: apparently, women cope far better with running long distances than men do, with many more times of the latter dropping out before the end of a ultramarathon. In addition to this, McDougall convincingly argues that the plethora of modern running injuries may solely be due to the invention of the running shoe in the late 60s. Even more surprising is his argument that the more cushioning a running shoe has, the more likely it is to injure you, and regales us with much evidence that running with less high tech shoes seems to be better. Indeed, many Olympic athletes have benefited from barefoot training, although none of them take it to the extreme that the loquacious ‘Barefoot Ted’ (one of Born to Run‘s great characters) takes it in this book. So convincing was McDougall that I have now taken to wandering around the house in bare feet in order to toughen them up, although I have shied away from running with them unshod as yet… I did seem to run with more spring in my step after this. Having written that, I did pick a minor ankle injury soon after, although this may have been due to my wearing poor running shoes as I hurriedly posted mail on a couple of days… I do have sore knees from running on concrete, so now only run on grass, so many aspects of McDougall’s book appealed to me, especially since my knees were sore from running on the concrete-like grass during the earlier drought this Summer. A few months ago, I saw an extraordinary documentary that showed the Maasai hunting antelope by running after them and exhausting their prey. So, contrary to what seems common sense, i.e. that humans aren’t running machines in the mode of cheetahs say, McDougall convincingly argues that we may indeed have been born to run after all, but that we’re built for endurance running rather than speed. Born to Run is an endlessly fascinating book and an instant classic.
Along the way, McDougall has a great many fascinating asides about life and death in the Copper Canyons, and from the history of ultrarunning. McDougall has some surprising revelations: apparently, women cope far better with running long distances than men do, with many more times of the latter dropping out before the end of a ultramarathon. In addition to this, McDougall convincingly argues that the plethora of modern running injuries may solely be due to the invention of the running shoe in the late 60s. Even more surprising is his argument that the more cushioning a running shoe has, the more likely it is to injure you, and regales us with much evidence that running with less high tech shoes seems to be better. Indeed, many Olympic athletes have benefited from barefoot training, although none of them take it to the extreme that the loquacious ‘Barefoot Ted’ (one of Born to Run‘s great characters) takes it in this book. So convincing was McDougall that I have now taken to wandering around the house in bare feet in order to toughen them up, although I have shied away from running with them unshod as yet… I did seem to run with more spring in my step after this. Having written that, I did pick a minor ankle injury soon after, although this may have been due to my wearing poor running shoes as I hurriedly posted mail on a couple of days… I do have sore knees from running on concrete, so now only run on grass, so many aspects of McDougall’s book appealed to me, especially since my knees were sore from running on the concrete-like grass during the earlier drought this Summer. A few months ago, I saw an extraordinary documentary that showed the Maasai hunting antelope by running after them and exhausting their prey. So, contrary to what seems common sense, i.e. that humans aren’t running machines in the mode of cheetahs say, McDougall convincingly argues that we may indeed have been born to run after all, but that we’re built for endurance running rather than speed. Born to Run is an endlessly fascinating book and an instant classic.