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I was first handed Christopher McDougall’s Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen nearly two years ago by one of my best friends, a fellow runner. She had just finished reading it, and as she shoved it into my hands, she gushed, “This is the best book about running I’ve ever read!” Needless to say, she set my expectations very high. We were about to enter our junior year of running on the cross-country team, and I certainly could use some encouragement and practical help in improving my running for the upcoming season.
Though I’m not a huge fan of nonfiction, this book was an absolute page-turner. It’s the perfect marriage of anecdotal evidence and scientific findings that show that we were (as the title conveniently asserts) “born to run”. McDougall, the author, begins the book discouraged and injured. He’s tried every type of running shoe out there, and still hasn’t found something that isn’t extremely painful when he runs. Conveniently enough, this seemingly inconvenient situation is where the great adventure of the story begins.
Not only is this book a study in biomechanics and the study of running, it is also a cultural journey. Much of the book focuses on an isolated group of people living in the Copper Canyons of Mexico, the Tarahumara. The Tarahumara’s most remarkable trait is their ability to run hundreds of miles without rest. Running is just as much a part of their culture as driving in cars is to we who live in the United States.
This book also serves as a good introduction to the sport of ultra-running. Many of us, even the most seasoned cross-country runners, would say that running a marathon, 26.2 miles, is rather extreme, but for an ultra-marathoner, that 26.2 is a walk in the park. Races such as the Badwater 135, Leadville 100, and Grand to Grand Ultra that span over 100 miles have revolutionized the world of distance running. These grueling, often 24+ hour races are certainly not for the faint of heart. In his book, McDougall trains with the Tarahumara for an ultra-marathon through their very own Copper Canyon and ends successfully completing the endeavor.
Born to Run is a great inspiration for runners of all ages and abilities. It takes biomechanical science and pairs it with some of the most interesting anecdotal evidence to create a page-turning, dramatic read. Certainly, ultra-marathons are not for everyone, but every runner can find encouragement in McDougall’s stories. My friend’s enthusiasm for this book set high expectations, and these expectations were not disappointed. Even for nonfiction, which I have already stated I don’t particularly enjoy, Born to Run was extremely enjoyable. For runners and non-runners alike, McDougall’s work presents a revolutionary concept of our nature as humans in the context of a culture built around one of our most primitive desires: the freeing escape of the open road and a sport as old as feet themselves.
You can visit Christopher McDougall’s website here for more information!