I rarely read novels about running. I’m usually drawn to technical works on running. The book “Born To Run” by Christopher McDougall is an odd combination of both. Sort of.
Most of the “running” in the book is most likely not what a typical reader would associate with that term. This is a book about “ultrarunning”, which by strict definition means any race 50 kilometers or longer. For users of the Anglo-American system of measure, that’s about 31.1 miles. In this book the races under discussion are either 50 or 100 miles in length.
This is not mainstream stuff. Standard road racing up to the marathon distance is somewhat known to the typical person-on-the-street thanks to the Olympics. “Ultrarunning ?”
Ultrarunning is really obscure stuff ! Apparently the book is moving up on the bestseller list. I’m a bit shocked by this. I figure you have to be very much into running for this book to capture your attention. It is written in a style which is a hybrid of a novel and documentary. It’s my impression that all of the events described are non-fictional. The author is a good storyteller with some tendency for long-windedness.
The book’s focus is on a remote region of Mexico inhabited by a tribe known as the Tarahumara. This tribe was pushed into this region, the Sierra Madre, and more specifically the region of the “Copper Canyon”. Copper Canyon is significantly wider and deeper than the Grand Canyon. But it’s most important feature is it’s remoteness. It is here the Tarahumara retreated from advancing Spanish and Mexican settlers. The canyon area served them as a gigantic natural fortress.
The author seems to have stumbled onto the Tarahumara during his travels to Mexico as a journalist. He also explains his personal problems with running, and his visits to various sports medicine experts. He got nowhere with the “experts”, and he seems to be seeking a medicine man in the Mexican outback.
Sprinkled throughout the book are all-out attacks on the running shoe industry. If indeed this book hits the big-time mainstream best-seller list, it will be interesting to see if the multi-billion dollar running shoe industry responds. What I see in this book is a lot of anti-running shoe ranting, minimal support for these arguments, and most of the protagonists wearing various forms of running shoes. I’m not saying there might be some merit in attacking running shoe design, but I don’t see much in the way of good science here to support this.
The proponent of “barefoot running” exits the stage with his feet heavily bandaged.
The chapters on ultrarunning center on a race called the “Leadville 100″. This left me with a vivid picture of what must the real core of ultrarunning culture. Life should be what makes you happy and should provide you with the greatest utility. If you would like to expend a great deal of energy to participate in a dangerous and obscure sport this is for you. For the rest of us it provides some entertainment watching other people pushing their bodies to the limit. How far and fast can they go ?
A scholarly discussion asks the question “Did human evolve as running animals ?”. It’s fairly convincing and interesting reading. I especially enjoyed the discussion of “persistence hunting”. If you have vegatarian tendencies you may want to skip these chapters.
The climax of the book is a race, and I don’t think this will be a spoiler to mention this, in the Tarahumara home country. The organizer of this event is a mysterious and weird fellow with alias “Caballo Blanco” who seems to be forever running around the Copper Canyon in his Teva sandals. This ghost-like person somehow puts together an impossible assemblage of Tarahumara and gringo ultrarunners for a 50 mile race. Getting the Tarahumara to participate is a major roadblock, but when it finally happens there seems to be plenty of the elements of modern civilization appearing- hotels, cold beers, and internet connections. The crowd goes wild and gets really drunk. It’s better than NASCAR (and I’ve been to the Daytona 500 three times).
I’m not going to recommend this book to anyone other than very serious runners, members of the running shoe industry, or any ultrarunner. I hope I’m wrong and it has a wider readership. More importantly, if it gets a few couch potatoes into exercise that would be even better. It’s a fast read, with some difficulty following the multi-threaded plot leading to the big race. I’m glad I read it, and I look forward to the great running shoe debate which will surely follow for the next several years.