Born
to Run by Christopher
McDougall is one of the best-selling books about
running. It is very popular and there is a reason why.
It is a great read.
At the same time it is hard to say what it is about. Because it is
about a hidden tribe of superathletes.
But it is also about this ultramarathon that a few American
ultra-runners run with this hidden tribe.
It is about why people are "born to run" and a full history back to the
Neanderthalers that comes with that.
It is about the writer's own changes into an ultrarunner
and it provides lots of interesting information about diet, training
etc.
And it is about a number of colorful ultra-marathon
characters, all with their own story and reason why they
run. So, hard to summarize, I don't know where to begin. Let's give it
a try.
The Hidden Tribe
The Hidden Tribe of Superathletes is the Tarahumara
Indians, the Running People. They live in a remote area
in Mexico, completely cut off from civilization. Because they live away
from everyone else, McDougall initially struggles to get any more
information about them.
It is only via this strange character, Caballo Blanco (White Horse),
that
he gets into contact with them. Gradually throughout the book we learn
more about their habits, why they can run
for unbelievable distances etc.
Something I would have liked is to get a bit more in-depth view in the
lives of some of the Tarahumara that compete in the race with American
ultra-runners. In the book
we learn a lot about the tribe, not so much though about the
individuals within the tribe.
We are Born to Run
A part that was fascinating more than it
may seem is the explanation behind why we are Born
to Run. This goes
back to Neanderthalers and Homo
Sapiens and includes lots of scientific research.
It has however been presented in an interesting, engaging way that
makes it
not only digestible, but incredibly interesting. This also includes a compelling
part about how Nike has destroyed the running shoe world
by creating ever more complex shoes which has changed our running in more
profound ways then we would like.
The book talks a lot about the benefits of barefoot running and not
using running shoes with all these modern technologies,
cushioning etc. Although I am perfectly happy with my ASICS running
shoes it did make me think a few times of whether I really needed the $200
shoes I have today.
The Greatest Race the World has
never seen
Caballo Blanco,
the interesting mysterious character mentioned before, wants to
organize a race, an ultra-marathon, with Tarahumara and American
ultra-marathoners competing with eachother. The fact the race gets run
is an accomplishment.
I mean, what would you do if somebody you are unfamiliar with, who
calls
himself Caballo Blanco, sends you an e-mail and challenges you to do an
ultra run in a remote Mexican area?
The description of the lead-up to the race, all the adventures
that come with that and
the race report itself are very engaging. You can't get the same
suspense as in a Dan Brown novel, but I definitely had to keep on
reading!
Running Tips
The section about the writer's own transformation into
an ultra-runner is most interesting from a training point of view. At
this stage you are already informed about running shoe technology and
its effects, but the interesting parts for me were those about
running technique, running cadence,
cross-training and diet.
I think a lot more about my technique now during my runs and I often
repeat the mantra "easy, light and
smooth" now as I am running.
Especially the diet part is interesting. As a vegetarian
(well, pretty much, my
wife does not eat meat, so I hardly eat it as well), I was happy to
find out that the diets of Tarahumara Indians
and a famous ultra runner like Scott Jurek are vegan/vegetarian as well
and that the writer changed to a mostly vegetarian diet also.
The
reasons why are quite thoroughly explained
in the book as well.
The Characters
One last thing I'd like to highlight that
made the book to a success for me was the description
of some of the characters in the book.
Whereas the description of individual Tarahumara Indians was not there
(presumably because the author did not get to spend much time with them
to find out about their stories), there are plenty of colorful
characters in the book. You learn a lot about them
throughout the book.
As the writer says in the end of the book as an epilogue,
well done to the editors of the book to weave that many ingredients
into a book that is captivating and entertaining on the one hand, but
also so informational on the other hand.
It's a must-read if you need some inspiration
or if you ever want to do an ultra. If you are a runner and want to
give somebody the gift of running, then get them this book. It should
get them inspired to pick up those
running shoes. If it doesn't, then I don't know what
will!
It's a book about why we, humans, are born to run and how much
joy running can bring to your life. I loved
this book. The only bad
thing about it is that I have finished it now!
It's my favourite non-training running book and highly
recommend that you read it as well.
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by Christopher
McDougall is one of the best-selling books about
running. It is very popular and there is a reason why. 
