Very rarely can you say that a book actually changed your life, but I can say with complete conviction that Born to Run did. I first heard about it in the blog post Top Reads for 2010 in which my work colleague, Danny named this one (thanks Danny). I was fascinated from the first page and over the three weeks that I read it, I ran my first half marathon, started running long distances with a weird looking smile on my face and made the decision to train and run competitively. Yep - it was an inspirational book.It follows Men's Health writer Christopher McDougall as he goes in search of the answer to his question: why does my foot hurt?
This leads him on a long journey of discovery, investigating the human body, why we run, how we run and whether we were born to run. The bulk of this journey revolves around a tribe of Mexican Indians, the Tarahumara. The Tarahumara are largely unknown, yet they are the greatest long distance runners in the world. At the few internationally aclaimed races they have attended, they have beaten world class athletes while wearing hand-made sandals.
In his quest to find out more about this mysterious people, McDougall meets Caballo Blanco, a man who has lived amongst the tribe, adopting some of their running and lifestyle practices. Together, Blanco and McDougall organise the ultimate running challenge: the Tarahumara take on some of the best ultramarathoners worldwide in a 50 mile race through the Copper Canyons of Mexico.
The book is beautifully written and keeps the reader hooked the whole way through. McDougall does more than merely describe events, he examines characters and gets beneath the surface of running. One common denominator between all the runners mentioned in this book, is their love of the sport. It's more than a race for them, it's about enjoyment and happiness. From a personal perspective I felt this happiness rubbed off on me and now when I run, I don't feel like I'm struggling - I just feel relaxed (hence the weird smile).
It also looks at issues of injuries, barefoot running and competitive running. Is it our shoes that are in fact giving us injuries? Are our bodies built for running? What is it that the Tarahumara do that no one else does?
I'd highly recommend this book especially for anyone who loves to run.
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