Born to Run

Christopher McDougall

May 2009 · Sold by Vintage

About this ebook

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The astonishing and hugely entertaining story that completely changed the way we run. An epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt?

“Equal parts quest, physiology treatise, and running history.... The climactic race reads like a sprint.... It simply makes you want to run.” —Outside Magazine

Isolated by Mexico's deadly Copper Canyons, the blissful Tarahumara Indians have honed the ability to run hundreds of miles without rest or injury. In a riveting narrative, award-winning journalist and often-injured runner Christopher McDougall sets out to discover their secrets. In the process, he takes his readers from science labs at Harvard to the sun-baked valleys and freezing peaks across North America, where ever-growing numbers of ultra-runners are pushing their bodies to the limit, and, finally, to a climactic race in the Copper Canyons that pits America’s best ultra-runners against the tribe. McDougall’s incredible story will not only engage your mind but inspire your body when you realize that you, indeed all of us, were born to run.

Look for Born to Run 2, out now!

Ratings and reviews

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle - when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.” Born to Run tells the account of Chistopher McDougall's (the author) adventure across the Copper Canyons of Mexico, that started with a single question, "Why does my foot heart?" In an effort to find an answer to this insanely simple question (which most of the modern-day doctors will dismiss with a wave of their hand and a crepe bandage), Christopher set off on a journey to find the Tarahumara Indians (no, they are not from India)—an almost mythical tribe of stone age super-athletes who call themselves the Raramuri, or the Running People. And he found them! So started one of the most engaging reads I have ever been through. Eventually, Christopher ends up witnessing one of the greatest races the world has ever seen. Without spilling anymore beans, I would say just go for it. Its one of those books which you want to read slowly in the fear that it may end too fast. I read it in two months (not because I'm slow), but because everyday I read it I felt motivated to go for a run the next morning. And I didn't want my coach to retire too soon. For more, check this link: http://againspire.blogspot.in/2012/05/every-morning-in-africa-gazelle-wakes.html

Born to Run is a mysteriously engaging tale of body and mind. Unveiled in a similar spirit as that of outdoor writer John Krakauer (Into the Wild, Into Thin Air), McDougall presents a mystery, a murder mystery even. But for all the questions posed, this gripping yarn is both inspiring and informative leaving the reader with a desire to run farther, faster, easier, lighter, and just more betterer. Among the questions McDougall poses, either directly or indirectly, the initial question begins "Why do my feet hurt [when I run only 3 miles]?" This question launches the author on an investigation which literally spans geographies, anthropologies, eons and even the realms of research and higher education. In his investigations McDougall learns of the physical and cultural strengths of the Tarahumara Indians found in the Copper Canyons of Mexico. Why, McDougall asks, does a shy, modern-culture-shunning tribe of Mexican Indians run faster than ultra-marathoners and Olympic marathoners who train with greater abundance, more science, and richer technology? Why can the Tarahumara run faster while maintaining poor diets, consuming plenty of beer, and sporting simple sandals rather than high-tech running shoes? What are the Tarahumara secrets? And can Tarahumara actually hunt and kill deer solely by running them to death ; death by exhaustion? Answers to these questions and others are revealed while also noting the Tarahumara unique cultural positives: they avoid annoying self-promotion ; they thrive in an inhospitable desert ; they have no need for money ; And there is no rape, violence, or hunger. Too good to be true? You decide, but the author reveals a compelling tale. McDougal's investigation of the Tarahumara is perhaps most interesting while highlighting contrasts with modern culture by considering aspects of running techniques and injury rates. For example, Tarhumara don't have incidents of Plantar Facitis or debilitating jogging-induced knee injuries despite the fact that they run almost barefoot with simple sandles. This book is a fascinating read, perhaps because of the novelists approach to questions and cultural contrasts. But hard scientists should look elsewhere for a thorough scientific investigation into the evidence. And yet, the writing style is wholly engaging as it reveals many secrets, not the least of which is to suggest and explain why humans are born to run.

Humans are born to run. The big shoe mafia has brainwashed us into thinking that the more expensive the shoe, the better for our feet. Wrong. Data shows that the more expensive the shoe, the more injuries we incur. This book is so engaging, and full of data that is woven around the Tarahumara tribe in the Sierra Madres. At the last page, I didn't know the book had ended.

About the author

CHRISTOPHER McDOUGALL is the author of Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen and Natural Born Heroes: Mastering the Lost Secrets of Strength and Endurance.  He began his career as an overseas correspondent for the Associated Press, covering wars in Rwanda and Angola. He now lives and writes (and runs, swims, climbs, and bear-crawls) among the Amish farms around his home in rural Pennsylvania.