Born To Run, Christopher McDougall
Rating: ★★★★★
I don’t hand out five star ratings for books readily, but it’s defintely well-deserved in this case. I’m not a runner, I’ve always found it to be a jarring exercise and any time I run for extended periods repetitively I always end up with shin splints. Born To Run is really a book about the barefoot running movement. During the last few years you might have noticed runners waltzing around in what look to be rubber socks. These are actually Vibram FiveFingers shoes: originally developed for sailing they are now a common sight amongst runners here in the US. Wondering why runners are all of a sudden donning cheap rubber covers for their feet instead of expensive Nike or Asics running shoes? Have a read of Born To Run… McDougall jumps between native running tribes of the Kalahari and Mexico, to ultramarthons in Colorado, world-renowned biologists, nutritionists and anthropologists and spends time with some of the best ultrarunners of all time. All to answer a simple question: why are homo sapiens built the way we are. His answer: because we were born to run.
Amazon: An epic adventure that began with one simple question: why does my foot hurt? 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 ultrarunners 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.