Born to Run

I was resting in the sand next to the Pacific Ocean as I watched Aaron, age 7, play a game with the surf. As the spent waves slid back to the ocean, he ran onto the newly exposed, smooth sand. As the water slowed its retreat, then rolled back toward the beach, he would sprint along the curve of the incoming surf, his churning legs keeping bare feet just out of the foaming edge. A look of unencumbered joy, excitement and pride on his face. Running back and forth, as tirelessly as the surf itself. There was no doubt, he is born to run.

I like to run, but I run carrying the weight of my expectations. I run expecting improvement in my fitness, expecting a certain speed or distance, pushing through the pain of shins or feet or knees or lungs, always wanting farther and faster but feeling limited by my body and energy. My days of running carefree in the sand are so long ago I can't remember them. In the book Born to Run, writer Christopher McDougall entices me with the notion that I can regain the unabated joy of running. Even more, McDougall builds a strong case that my health, emotional and physical, depends on it.

The book is part science book, part mystic text and part adventure novel. The writer spent many years running with expectations similar to mine, and with results similar to mine - persistent progress always ending in a new injury. With each injury he would engage a new therapy and find a new shoe designed to help the problem. As I have found, though, it seemed as though the "problem" just traveled around the body until he was hit with the Mother of all Running Injuries: plantar fasciitis. McDougall's journey to finding a better way took him all the way to the Copper Canyons in remote, Western Mexico, home of the Rarámuri, a people with a nearly super-human running tradition and stunningly strong health. The Rarámuri run at age 90 like Aaron does at age 7.

Though it may be intended to be life-changing, Born to Run reads like a story told over a few drinks, and sometimes just as outlandish. It's not a manifesto, it's a story. And along the way you may find yourself convinced of the basic Rarámuri principles: human feet and bodies are designed to run, and to run far, and a lot of the technology we design to help us run actually defeats our natural design; nutrition is essential, emphasizing whole foods with limited meats and processed food; we run easier when we run for fun, unencumbered by expectations and stress.

Born to Run is a ripping good read and likely to inspire you to shed your inhibitions (and your shoes) and take off running.