“A hidden tribe, superathletes, and the greatest race the world has never seen.”
As a summary, the subtitle does a pretty good job. The hidden tribe is the Tarahumara of the remote Copper Canyon region of Mexico. The superathletes are the Tarahumara runners and a handful of world-class American ultra-marathon fanatics. The greatest race is one that comes in the final chapters of the book, run on the Tarahumara home turf and witnessed only by the runners themselves, one or two Americans and the residents of a remote Mexican village, hidden deep in the canyons, removed from anything resembling civilization – even a telephone.
The idea of running barefoot, or in anything that wasn’t a serious, Bill Roger’s endorsed, swish logo’d running shoe, for over a 100 miles, never occurred to me before I started reading this engaging book. Locked in winter in New Hampshire and writing on a day when the temperature is not expected to climb into the double digits, it’s unlikely that I’ll be shedding my togs any time soon. But I admit; I might try to do some barefoot training, come spring. Mud season. I can feel icy mud oozing between my toes already!
Massive aside. [This is the first book I’ve read entirely on my iPhone using the Kindle for iPhone reader. Last year, I read The White Tiger on the Amazon Kindle, so I guess you can consider this, for me, an experiment. My verdict is this: I prefer the old fashion book form, but not for the reasons you might expect. First, the reasons I liked the eBook version. Reasons 1, 2 and 3 - Convenience. When stuck waiting for my car to be serviced or at the airport, or any other time I have some unanticipated downtime, I appreciated being able to pick up my iPhone and start reading. Of the two devices, Kindle and iPhone, I preferred the iPhone. The backlit display makes it readable in all lighting conditions and paging is fluid and fast, whereas with the Kindle you need good lighting and there was always a paging delay. I’m sure you would grow to anticipate the delay, but I never did. (However, I understand the latest Kindle is faster.) I miss page number. Who can remember that you were at 4302/5980, whatever that means. However, since both versions always remembered where I left off (even if it took time for me to remember what I read last), that didn’t turn out to be much of a problem. Mostly, the transition from book to ibook just takes getting use to. But I do miss being able to thumb through the book. While there are search and bookmark functions on the Kindle, and bookmarks but no search function on Kindle for iPhone, I tended not to use them (except for writing this review – see complaint below). I think the larger format of Apple’s new iPad will be a dramatic improvement, since it will display something closer to a traditional page format on the 10-inch screen. Can’t say I’m not tempted. But, my loyalty to a local bookstore called The Toadstool gives me pause. I would hate to lose a local business that is a vital part of the community. Together with its resident coffee shop called Aesop’s Tables, The Toadstool is an important meeting place in our town. My wife and I are there almost every day. We meet friends and colleagues there and have made new friends over the years. And the bookstore sponsors regular author readings, hosting a range of authors from Dan Brown to lesser know local writers and poets. Shopping at the Amazon or Apple stores will never be as satisfying or contribute to the life of our community, or any other community. If we all end up downloading books at $9.98 each, how will independent bookstores survive? (At that price, how will publishers survive?) I suppose it’s only a matter of time until The Toadstool feels the effect. The winds of change are bound to blow through the dusty pages of pulp-based publishing, but I feel morally bound to resist as best I can. I’ve only bought a few books on-line. I tell myself, “I wouldn’t have bought these particular books on paper, so no harm done” or, “I’ve already bought the paper version and gave my copy away” or, “that book’s too heavy to hold at night, just before I go to sleep.” See how easily we rationalize our corrupt behavior? How will this trend accelerate once the iPad hits the streets?]
OK, back to Born to Run. The first thing to mention is that this is a very entertaining book filled with lots of colorful characters and astounding, blister popping facts. The story centers on ultra-marathon runners that regularly run in events like the Leadville 100 Colorado mountain race and incredible desert races of 100 plus miles in 100 plus heat. But it turns out that the ultimate-ultra runners are the Tarahumara tribe of the incredibly rugged Copper Canyons of Mexico. These people have a long and astonishing tradition of running in nothing more substantial than sandals carefully strapped to their tough feet – a people who truly live to run.
Taciturn, elusive Caballo Blanco, wild and crazy Jenn and Billy, motor-mouthed Barefoot Ted, McDougall himself, are just a few of the characters that inhabit this book. [Complaint: Kindle for iPhone doesn’t have a search function like the Amazon Kindle does, so I couldn’t look up names and places I would liked to have mentioned… an obvious future enhancement.]
What happens to the feet when they are wrapped in a Nike running shoe (hint: it’s not good.) Why do injuries increase the more expensive the running shoes? (It’s true.) Why do the Stamford track and cross-country teams train barefoot and rack up an impressive win record? How is it that Kenyan runners don’t wear shoes until they are at least 17 years old? Does this give them an advantage? How did it come about that humans evolved to become distance runners who could outrun horses!? (It’s true) For endurance running, there is no other animal that comes close to humans. (I know, you’re sitting at Mickey D’s observing the evidence of an obesity epidemic saying, you got to be kidding! Well, evolution is not necessarily linear.) What quirk of evolution propelled humans to climb out of trees, stand up on two feet, and run? What anatomical features make this even possible? Slow when compared to all of the fierce carnivores around, how did we survive without being eaten by beasts many times faster than we are? Humans can run for great distances, but how was that an advantage? Are there any people today for whom running is still an important hunting or survival skill? If running was an important hunting skill, what other strategies did hunters employ? And finally – a classic chicken and egg question – which came first, the brain or endurance running? OK, now try out this enigma: if humans hadn’t learned to run, we wouldn’t have developed science! Or the Kindle either! Read it to find out.
Throughout this book, in an attempt to answer some of these questions, McDougall takes the reader on many side trails from his pursuit of the Tarahumara, and interviews running coaches, marathoners, orthopedic surgeons, geneticists, biologists, anthropologists, and the Tarahumara themselves; all of whom, together, present a strong case in support of the conclusion that, yes, humans are Born to Run.
But foremost, this is a story about the Tarahumara people and their incredible running culture that evolved in the rugged, remote Mexican terrain of the Copper Canyon (Google it – there’s not much there!); of how McDougall finds them, earns their trust (with the guidance of Caballo Blanco, an American who has lived among the Tarahumara for ten years) learns what makes them run and grows to admire this incredible tribe of ultra-runners; people who inspire a generation of ultra-marathoners throughout the world. Whether or not ultra-running was well established before this book was written, Born to Run is bound to inspire many more to break-a-leg, so to speak.
For more insight into just how popular ultra-running has become, check out this website: http://www.ultramarathonrunning.com/races/index.html
