#1. Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
There is absolutely no reason why I should have liked this book. First off, it’s about ultra-long distance runners – I can barely run two miles, have no interest in running for twenty-four hours up and down mountains, and the whole thing just reeks of excessive machismo. I’m not a fan of books heavy on the machismo. I’m not really a fan of books about sports or sporting events (except for this one Phillip Hoose novel you should definitely buy used for a penny right now and thank me later). I am not interested in reading about people who run too much and how to prevent their injuries. I’m not even particularly interested in hidden tribal cultures.
However, Christopher McDougall managed to somehow twist all of those things into this book that is so compelling, so interesting, so not-put-downable, that I was more than suckered in – I was drinking the Kool-Aid.
No, I do not think a 50 mile race is in my future, but McDougall’s book does make an excellent case for running as something so innately human, that you would be stupid not to do it and if you aren’t enjoying it, you are stupid.
Okay, that’s harsh and not entirely accurate. You aren’t stupid… but McDougal argues that running has so many health/mind/body/soul benefits that it shouldn’t just be a fun way to burn a few calories, it can be joyous. And if you don’t like running – if running hurts, if you have running injuries, etc – then you are probably doing it wrong.
Now, this probably sounds like some manifesto on running. No. This book is actually a little memoir of a period of time in McDougall’s life when he was suffering from mysterious running pains and injuries. Convinced – perhaps blindly and optimistically – that he didn’t have to say goodbye to running, McDougall followed his journalistic training and began to research. He visited doctors, trainers, elite marathoners and ultramarathoners, and historians, all in search of the root of this paradox: you, as a human, can run, but not too much or you’ll break the machine.
Research led McDougall to an unlikely place – the middle of the Mexican rainforest, where a mysterious transient runner had been seen barefooting it around the hills and forests. McDougall found the man, and found that he was living amongst the Tarahumara – an ancient tribe of people who regularly run ultramarathon-type distances, without the help of Western medicine, footwear, GPS watches, hydration belts, etc. These people just ran, and their bodies supported this endeavor.
Anyway, so the story, then, is McDougall trying to organize an ultramarathon in Tarahumara land, pitting these natives against some of America’s fastest ultramarathoners in a friendly competition, and to see what these two groups had in common. So much of the book is McDougall trying to wrangle a bunch of quirky, crazy runners (you’d have to be crazy to be an elite 100-mile-race-runner, eh?) into the middle of the Mexican rainforest. This plot is amusing enough, but McDougall also surrounds this story with his copious research, surprising challenges to modern American conceptions of health, the body, and the sport of running, and other “side quests” that led him to the Tarahumara.
As a new runner, I was glad to read this book now before I accidentally injure myself and then have to backtrack. I am not taking McDougall’s recommendations as law, but I definitely think differently about my body as I am running, which I think will help me develop better physical habits that can prevent injuries.
As a non-runner (which is me, like, every other month), I thought this was just freaking riveting. I wanted to pass it off to every person I know, insist that they read it immediately. Heck, I bought a copy at Barnes & Noble yesterday -of one of those 3 books for the price of 2 tables, thinking I could give it to someone as a Christmas gift, but I have no one who needs a gift. I just bought a BONUS Christmas gift, for no reason… and whoever I decide to give it to should consider themselves lucky!
In case you missed any of my Best of 2011 Reading Extravaganza, check out this page. Thanks for playing again this year, guys! I will see you after Christmas!