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Review of "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall

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In the past decade or so, a backwards revolution in running has taken place. There has been a surge in what is known as barefoot running. It is a return to the ways that our ancestors ran and lived. Considerable amounts of people have tried barefoot running, including this author. Running shoe companies are getting on board with this return to subsistence running, creating shoes that mimic barefoot running. In his book, Born to Run, Christopher McDougall told the story of his own experience with his dissatisfaction of running injuries and the constant disappointment that comes with it. It motivated his to find a way of running that would lead to greater satisfaction with running. This search led him to a hidden tribe of runners that live in the Copper Canyons of Mexico known as the Tarahumara. Born to Run provided a compelling narrative that kept this reader thoroughly engaged and provided an excellent and convincing explanation as to why humans are in fact born to run.
            Christopher McDougall is an author that has written many articles for national publications such magazines as Men’s Health, Esquire, New York Times Magazine, and Runner’s World. He lives in rural Pennsylvania where he now runs in the barefoot tradition of the Tarahumara. He did not always possess the wisdom of this hidden and virtually unknown tribe. He suffered through many years of nagging injuries. Desperate for an answer to his simple question, “How come my foot hurts?,” McDougall went to many well-known podiatrists and sport medicine specialists. They all told him that his body simply is not designed for running and that he should stick to biking. McDougall would not settle for this answer. He stumbled upon the legend of the Tarahumara while on assignment in Mexico in 2003; his life has been changed ever since. McDougall’s own experience and research capability lends him the credentials to write about the science and aesthetics of barefoot running.
            Born to Run contains several stories beautifully interwoven with each other to tell the tale of barefoot running. McDougall’s search for running bliss merges with his search for the secrets of the Tarahumara. Along the way he meets many colorful characters from eccentric, hippy-like, barefoot running guru who made it into the Top-30 list for breath-holding to a wandering former boxing champion who managed to integrate himself among the Tarahumara.
            McDougall’s journey began in Mexico in search of a man mysteriously known as Caballo Blanco, the White Horse. Caballo (whose identity is not revealed until the end of the book) proved to be an elusive figure, almost as elusive as the Tarahumara themselves. The Tarahumara have hidden themselves in the Copper Canyons after their near fatal experience with the Spanish Conquistadors of the sixteenth-century which almost erased them from existence. They are not very open to strangers. Their culture is quite interesting and very different than our own. They live in small villages in the canyons, but separate themselves from their immediate neighbors. They engage in wild parties called Tesguinada where they drink Tesguino, a corn beer, these parties turn into brawls and people often become sexually inhibited. McDougall argued that these parties exist because, “they act as a pressure valve to vent explosive emotions… Just like the rest of us, the Tarahumara have secret desires and grievances” (McDougall, 187). The next morning, they have a race through the canyons that can last anywhere from twenty-four to seventy-two hours! How do they do it? McDougall vowed to find out.
            Throughout the book, McDougall wrote small vignettes to give the reader information on the physiology of running, a vegetarian diet, stories of running legends, and the evil that are running shoe companies. The human body, McDougall argued, is a beautifully constructed specimen designed perfectly for running. If a person had to read just one chapter of Born to Run, he or she should read Chapter 28. It contains the answers to why humans are born to run. Evolution has given humans the necessary traits to thrive in the wild. Humans ran because they needed to hunt. McDougall told the story of how Drs. David Carrier, Dennis Bramble, and Dan Lieberman discovered that many human traits such as various muscles (nuchal ligament, Achilles tendon, gluteus maximus), our feet (with an arch and short toes), and our ability to sweat give a competitive evolutionary advantage over other species. They also gave other examples to many to write here. He concluded Chapter 28 with the story of Louis Liebenberg who joined the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa. Liebenberg contacted Carrier, Bramble, and Lieberman about his experiences. The four remaining men of Bushmen people still practice “persistence hunting.” They are the last remaining examples of what the human body was designed to do. They allowed a former high school 1500 meter track champion to participate. Liebenberg wrote about his experiences in his book entitled, The Art of Tracking: The Origin of Science. This author will read it in the near future.
            So humans are better equipped to run than other animals on the planet, so what? If that is the case, then why do some many people “hate” running? This is the second important question that McDougall planned to tackle. He told the story of the Leadville 100, a grueling ultra-marathon in Colorado. In the early 1990s, a misguided American promoter named Rick Fisher took several Tarahumara to race the Leadville 100. To everyone’s surprise, these unknown people in strange cloth outfits and sandals dominated the course. An accomplished running coach named Joe Vigil came out to witness the event himself. He too, wanted to discover why ultra-marathoners are able to run such incredible distances. He found his answer in the Tarahumara. It is not something that can be bought and sold. It is not anything tangible. It is the love, compassion, and kindness of the Tarahumara. McDougall explained:
 
That was the real secret of the Tarahumara: they’d never forgotten what it felt like to love running. They remembered that running was mankind’s first fine art, our original act of inspired creation. Way before we were scratching pictures on caves or beating rhythms on hollow trees, we were perfecting the art of combining our breath and mind and muscles into fluid self-propulsion over wild terrain (McDougall, 92).
 
The community of the Tarahumara allowed them to preserve the art of running for centuries; everyone acted out of care for another, giving them time to enjoy the “first fine art” and foster it for generations.
            Another key ingredient to the success of the Tarahumara and other ultra-runners is diet. The Tarahumara are not exclusively vegetarian, but they do eat a well balanced diet, compared to the SAD (Standard American Diet) (McDougall, 210). The Tarahumara eat several foods that are known for their cancer-fighting and health benefits. Iskiate, otherwise known as chia (from the famous Chia-Pets), is a seed drink that provides Omega-3s and 6s, as well as vital minerals, protein, and antioxidants. Another Tarahumara staple is pinole, a “corn gruel” that is described as “deliciously grainy… popcorn Slushee” (McDougall, 267).  As noted above, the Tarahumara are known for their wild alcohol; Lechugilla, a tequila made from rattlesnake corpses and cactus sap and Tesguino, the Tarahumara corn beer. These drinks are packed with nutrients and fuel their fun. Scott Jurek is a vegetarian who abandoned his SAD diet in favor of an all-natural, vegan diet. It is no secret that a vegan (or vegetarian) diet is much healthier than a typical American diet. The only problem comes in terms of convenience and taste, or so it seems. Many professional runners are vegans and vegetarians. One could figure, if the food tasted that bad, why would they follow it so religiously?
Now that McDougall found his answers to how and why humans are born to run, he began to assert his claims against the modern running shoe. Citing several medical professionals and respected research groups, McDougall convinced this reader that running shoes do more harm than good. The fact is that humans do not leave their respective wombs wearing shoes. For thousands of years our feet, legs, hips, and backs have adjusted to the stresses of running. In the past thirty years, running shoes have undermined the gradual process of evolution in favor of cushion, artificial support, and flashy designs. Since the advent of running shoes, people have witnessed an increase in injuries (plantar fasciitis, runner’s knee, Achilles tendon tears, and many more) that the Tarahumara do not get. Ever. They can handle more miles and a greater beating in the rough canyons of Mexico barefoot than Americans can wearing the most “advanced” technology beneath their feet.
            The entire book comes together at the end when Caballo Blanco’s plan to put the greatest ultra-marathoners in the world against the Tarahumara on their own home turf. McDougall’s subtitle to the book is called, “A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, And The Greatest Race The World Has Never Seen.” He managed to round up the world’s greatest arguable ultra-marathoner Scott Jurek to face-off against the Tarahumara. Other competitors included young-guns Jenn Shelton and Billy Barnett, veterans Eric Orton and Luis Escobar, and lastly, quirky barefoot guru fittingly named Barefoot Ted. Caballo Blanco is able to pull it off despite set-backs. It turns out to be quite an exciting race with an unpredictable finish.
            This book also challenges popular athletes in today’s world. McDougall calls out several great runners and athletes and brings them down a peg or two. Lance Armstrong’s name found itself in the book several times. Once as a comparison to the great ultra-marathoner Ann Trason, who won the Western States 100 fourteen times; “a record that spans three decades and makes Lance Armstrong look like a flash in the pan…” (McDougall, 70). McDougall showed Armstrong’s first marathon experience in a bad light saying, “Lance Armstrong is one of the greatest athletes of all time, and he could barely shuffle through his first marathon despite sucking down an energy gel nearly every mile” (McDougall, 15). Even my favorite runner, Stephen Prefontaine, did not get a favorable mention in Born to Run. Prefontaine is criticized for his out-all, front-running race strategy; a strategy that I admire (and is being reconsidered). Another great athlete, Dean Karnazes, who is known as the Ultra Marathon Man, is bashed in the book. Karnazes is known for running fifty marathons, in fifty days, in all fifty states. He also ran across the United States in forty-five days (that’s over sixty miles a day on average!). McDougall’s point is to show how the sport of ultrarunning fell for the sex appeal that affects all other sports. People like Karnazes and his rival Pam Read made the sport visible to the public, but the “real” ultrarunning stars did not get the same attention. Athletes such as Scott Jurek, who competed against the Tarahumara in Mexico by invitation, were the ones that McDougall wanted to be the real heroes of running (Karnazes and Read were not even close to being considered).
            Lesser known athletes come to the forefront in Born to Run. Scott Jurek for example has become the greatest ultra-marathoner in the world and as noted above, he participated in the greatest race never seen. Other athletes such as Czechoslovakian runner Emil Zatopek received a large portion of a chapter. His story demonstrated how one’s love of running can accomplish great things. He is also an excellent example of selfless sacrifice for the betterment of others. Deena Kastor, Ann Trason, Roger Bannister, and coaches such as Vin Lananna and Joe Vigil received kind words about their achievements. The simple love of running is the key ingredient for everything in life.
            In short, you need to read Born to Run. Other reviews of this book are not as positive, which is understandable considering the current popularity of running as a sport. Barefoot running might just be a fad for now, but this author truly believes that this is the way that we should all be running. The facts that McDougall has brought forth in this book have been quite enlightening and life-changing. I will leave you with an old Tarahumara saying:
 
“When you run on the earth and run with the earth, you can run forever.”
 
            When I first read this book, I devoured it in two days. Just before I read this book, a friend told me about barefoot running and I tried it out. It quickly became a “blistering” failure. I ran a quarter mile on a dirt track; bad idea. Other than the massive blister on the bottom of my big toe, it felt great! After I recuperated, I got serious about it and purchased a Do-It-Yourself running sandal kit for an easy $35 (much cheaper than regular running shoes). My first run in my sandals did not live fully up to my expectations. The course hemp-rope did not make very comfortable straps and every once in a while I had to adjust them. I only ran a mile that day, but my calves had never been so sore! I had to rest them a day or two before I tried again. Over the period of about a month, I put only about nineteen miles on my sandals. I got gnarly blister on the bottom of my feet, some more painful than others. They developed into calluses. I had a great time in my sandals, but a problem developed that stopped me dead in my tracks. I got plantar fasciitis on my left foot. It hurt to even walk on it. No matter what I did, I just could not loosen that plantar up. I had just started to train for my second marathon a week before, so I decided to scrap my barefoot running plan for a while.
            The only major failure of Born to Run is the fact that it glorifies to concept of barefoot running so much that it empowers people to just get out there and run! In only one sentence in the entire book did McDougall warn of the dangers of doing too much, too quickly. The reality is that because people such as myself have been raised to wear shoes all the time, the bones and muscles in our feet have become weak and used to the cushion that shoes provide. I could handle the blister, but when my bones and muscles ached and hurt because of the impact, I had to back off a little. People cannot just start running barefoot right away. I learned my lesson. In order to successfully run barefoot, you must accustom your feet to being without shoes always.
            I hope to make barefoot running a reality. It will take some work, but I know I will get there.


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