Born to Run and Run and Run
NEIRAD enilno edition
We've all seen snippets of marathons, be it New York, Boston, or the Olympics, and shaken our heads at the utter madness of the contestants. They are truly admirable, covering 26.2 miles, some of the better runners finishing in less than three hours. Most of us regard the marathon as something of an unattainable lifetime achievement.
In Christopher McDougall's non-fiction book, “Born to Run,” the characters are in love with running. And it's not just a mile or two each day in the park. They like to take on the ultimate footrace: the ultra marathon.
In comparison, the regular marathon is child's play, almost irrelevant. These no-joke races can be 100 miles long, through desert, up mountains, down mountains, and even in stifling 130°F heat. The winner is recorded, announced, but is awarded nothing different than all the other runners who finished, whether they finished 300th, or 56th. Sounds completely deranged, and yet, the passages detailing the races are so darn inspirational that I almost imploded with excitement and frustration because my shin splints prevented me from bounding out the door for sizable run.
Told like a novel supplemented with facts, “Born to Run” gives the reader a whole different perspective on humanity. There are people out there who run for the sake of running, because they are in love with it.
There's Ann Trason, the 33 year-old from California. She did track in high school, quit that to study biochemistry in college, and went on to be a community-college science teacher. She also likes to just randomly “treat herself” to 50- mile runs at a time. As McDougall observed:
“... she liked to tell [her friends] that running huge miles in the mountains was 'very romantic.'
Gotcha. Grueling, grimy, muddy, bloody, lonely trail-running equals moonlight and champagne. But yeah, Ann insisted, running was romantic, and no, of course her friends didn't get it because they'd never broken through. For them, running was a miserable two miles motivated solely by size 6 jeans: get on the scale, get depressed, get your headphones on, and get it over with. But you can't muscle through a five-hour run that way; you have to relax into it, like easing your body into a hot bath, until it no longer resists the shock and begins to enjoy it.”
Yep, Ann Trason is awesome and crazy all right, but it's a kind of crazy that makes sense, and earns respect when one thinks it through. The book is sprinkled with these kinds of characters, all uniquely compelling to read about and all wickedly good at running. However, none of them can compare with the mysterious Tarahumara event.
The author was the jog-in-the-park type until he discovers the Tarahumara. This Mexican tribe lives deep in the steep-walled Copper Canyons, and their real name is the Rarámuri, the Running People. They hold these races among themselves that go like this scenario: 1. night before: get really drunk and go completely wild. 2. Wake up at dawn. 3. Chat amongst your buddies and stroll up to the starting line. 4. Strap on home-made sandals. 5. Everyone starts to run at the same time. 6. See how fast you can go non-stop for 48 hours.
That's it. No stretching, no protein bars, no electrolyte-infused water, no pronation-protecting sneakers. And yet, they can do that, run 300, and once, even 400 miles in one go. These superhumans are also unbelievably peaceful, gentle, healthy (read: cancer-free), and intelligent, to top it all off.
With some science to prop up his reasons, McDougall explores the possibility that all of us, even you, reading this article, can run, and enjoy doing it. Injury-free. Like one of the coaches said: “Athletes are Tarzans. Tarzan swims and wrestles and jumps and swings on vines. He's strong and explosive. You never know what Tarzan will do next, which is why he never gets hurt.” If we expose our feet to the elements instead of babying them with all sorts of expensive protection, they'll become immune to injury. It's certainly tantalizing, and although some of this advice is difficult to actually put into action in our day and age, his mode of thinking makes sense, and in my opinion, should be taken note of by the general public. Enough cowering under words like “shin splints” and “over-pronation.” Hopefully, someday they will disappear from our modern vocabulary forever.
McDougall, once a wartime correspondent for the Associated Press, combines his journalistic instinct for intrigue and clarity, with a generous taste of humor, to tell this story that renews one's faith in reality. A person doesn’t need to turn to fantasy for suspense and excitement- there are wonders happening in this world that are worth telling a story about, and this is definitely one of them. Take a peek and enjoy.
Want to read about a top runner right on our own DHS athletic staff? Then check out Julia Lang’s profile of Raquel Welsh.
