Born To Run by Christopher McDougall

If I’ve talked to you in the last week, I have probably told you about the Tarahumara. They are a tribe from the Copper Canyons in Mexico who live isolated from the rest of the world. They speak a broken dialect of Spanish, relying on their families and villages for support. Their diets are superb as they are some of the healthiest people in the world. Cancer and disease are rare, there is no crime. To top it all off, they are the best runners in the world.

Not just any type of running. They specialize in long distance running. As in an average day might ensue of 50 miles non-stop. And they enjoy it. This distance of running sounds ridicules, but there is a niche group of people who actually participate in these types of races called ultramarathons. There are various races in the country that cover 50 and 100 mile courses over various terrain, often through mountain trails. Sounds crazy and I don’t know why anyone would want to do that. But the Tarahumara are very good at it.

The story begins with the author wanting to know more about running. He’s constantly injured trying to run, and when he’s healthy he’s a slow runner. He stumbles upon a magazine that mentions myths of the Tarahumara. The first half of the book explains the history of the Tarahumara and his attempt to track them down. The second half tells of a race between a few of the best long distance runners from America and the best of the Tarahumara. The author leads a group of Americans through a dangerous trek to Mexico to the home of the Tarahumara. Who ends up winning the race? You’ll have to read to find out.

The author’s style of writing is raw, with nicknames and jokes infused throughout. Some parts made me laugh. It’s not bad writing though; I was actually impressed. His full time job is a writer for various magazines, so it makes sense he’s a good writer. One complaint I have is I thought he spent too much time providing background on the characters. It’s like every character he introduces gets a five-paragraph introduction. I found myself skimming over those parts. The common theme throughout the book is getting the Tarahumara to race against the best runners in the world to see how good they really are. 

I have to mention that the book goes to great lengths to explain why some humans are great at running. Two major revelations from the book (both of these sound far-fetched but the ideas are well thought out and supported with facts). Shoes are bad for your feet. Naturally, your bare feet adapt to the ground and become stronger, preventing injuries. Nike is a big culprit in the book, although they even admitted running barefoot may be better. The other revelation is that humans evolved as good long distance runners (before we were smart). Why? Persistence hunting. Chasing an animal for so long until it drops dead of exhaustion. Believe it or not, there are examples of this still existing in far-flung places.

My rating for Born To Run: 4 out of 5 stars. Get it here!