Born To Run Book Review

Human beings are literally born to run. 

 

At least that’s what journalist and former war correspondent Christopher McDougall sought to prove despite skepticism in Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen. 

 

The hidden tribe is that of the Tarahumara Indians frugally living in the treacherous Copper Canyons in Mexico. They are legendary for their ability to run extreme distances in dangerously inhospitable environments without getting injured or strenuously exerting themselves. This places the Tarahumara runners among the elite runners of the modern world, in spite of the copious amounts of alcohol they consume the night before running ultra marathons, a meager diet (pinole and chia seeds) and their 500-year-old society and technology. 

 

However, discovering the secrets of the Tarahumara lifestyle is an undertaking all on its own. On the journey to meet the bashful, elusive tribe, McDougall encounters Mexican drug lords and an eccentric gringo -- who somehow immersed himself into the lives of the tribe -- and the gringo’s dream to pit big-named American marathoners against the Tarahumara runners in an ultra-marathon through the Copper Canyons. A race to pit the old and the new, the ancient running philosophy of the Tarahumara and the modern, technological advances of today’s ultra-runners to honestly and truly determine which running philosophy is best. 

 

McDougall’s powerful thesis – that human beings are hardwired to run extreme distances – merits attention and is continuously explored throughout this book. McDougall argues that running is at the heart of what it means to be human, and he investigates popular ideas about running that are modestly critiqued with his approach. He provides us with a glimpse of running’s past and how it may apply to present and future runners, such as Barefoot Ted’s fascination with the benefits of running with a naked foot or the Tarahumara tradition of running with a simple leather sandal. 

 

Another powerful thesis that McDougall expands on in Born to Run is his personal philosophy of exercise. McDougall argues that the essence of running should not be grim determination or victory or fame or money; the spirit of running resides in the sheer joy and camaraderie that has been instilled in us from the time our ancestors out-lived the large, haughty Neanderthals so many years ago. Running, according to McDougall, is a sociable activity that can ultimately bring us the sought-after happiness from running that seems to be missing in a world full of thick-soled shoes and treadmills.  

 

Born to Run is an alluring examination of how an old culture and a new culture take their respective approaches to running. It’s a tale of the forbidding Copper Canyons, ultramarathoners, the magnificent Tarahumara and the greatest race that has never been heard of. 

 

And it will teach you that you were born to run further than you ever thought possible.