Born To Run by Christopher McDougall

 

Born To Run

A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

By Christopher McDougall

Alfred A. Knopf

$24.95, hard cover, 287 pages, 978-0-307-26630-9 (2009)

"Born to Run" is really two books in one. The first part is about human physiology and the history of running. It begins with Christopher McDougall's quest to answer a simple question that he asked his doctor: "How come my foot hurts?" When his doctor game him an answer that he didn't want to accept (he wasn't really built for the sport and should find another type of exercise), it led McDougall to discuss running with leading sports-medicine specialists, legendary running coaches, shoe industry executives, and elite endurance runners. Eventually, this also led to him running a 50 mile race that practically no one had ever heard of before.

This is where the second part of the book begins – and this part will immerse you so thoroughly in the final race that you'll be breathless by the time the runners reach the finish line. But before detailing this grueling race in the Copper Canyons of Mexico (with of the best long distance runners in the sport pitted against the reclusive Tarahumara Indians), McDougall entertains you with other running races, like the 1995 Leadville Trail 100 mile event (where running sensation Ann Trason takes on all comers – men and women).  

He also vividly describes an unusual cast of some of the best ultra runners (runners who race distances longer than a marathon), including: Caballo Blanco (a mysterious loner who lives among the Tarahumara tribe), Scott Jurek (seven time winner of the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run), “Barefoot Ted” McDonald, and Young Guns Jenn Shelton and Billy "Bonehead" Barnett.

While writing about all these incredible characters, McDougall manages to convince you that each of us was born to run – that it's in our genes. He interviews anthropologists who describe persistence hunts where our ancestors ran down animals for food – not because they could run faster than their prey, but because they could outlast it.

McDougall also lets you in on a secret: everything you've been taught about running is probably wrong. He describes how the shoe industry over the last 40 years has done nothing for runners to make them faster or less injury prone. He quotes Dr. Daniel Lieberman, a professor of biological anthropology at Harvard:

"A lot of foot and knee injuries that are currently plaguing us are actually caused by people running with shoes that actually make our feet weak, cause us to over-pronate, give us knee problems. Until 1972, when the modern athletic shoe was invented by Nike, people ran in very thin-soled shoes, had strong feet, and had much lower incidence of knee injuries."

            McDougall gives alarming statistics about injuries (every year "from 65 to 80 percent of all runners suffer an injury"), and then points to other surprising evidence:

            In a 2008 research paper for the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Dr. Craig Richards, a researcher at the University of Newcastle in Australia, reveals that there are no evidence-based studies – not one – that demonstrates that running shoes make you less prone to injury.          

            Even more shocking, McDougall offers a study that proves that runners who wear the top-of-the-line running shoes are more likely to get injured than those running in cheap sneakers. So what can you do to enjoy running more and injure yourself less? McDougall has lots of suggestions, so pick up the book and find out.

            You'll be intrigued by the physiology portion of the book and so thoroughly inspired with the racing descriptions that you'll be unable to put the book down until the final climatic chapters. Even if you've never run in your life, the race in the Copper Canyons is inspirational and motivating. The book features super athletes who think nothing of running 100 mile endurance races; but it's also full of advice for casual runners and suggests what they can do to run injury free. At its core, the book is about all humans and why each one of us is … Born to Run.

Many national magazines have reported on this book. Here's the latest from the New York Times.

Buy Born to Run here on Amazon.

 

 

Comments

[Chanel Bags]

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