Review: Born to Run
Week 32 (30) - Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen - Christopher McDougall (5/5) - Another non-fiction under the belt, can I get a high-five? Usually reading non-fiction feels a lot like studying for a test that you don’t really need to take. Incredibly painful, and really, for what cause? Yes, I make the exception for those Superfreakonomic-type books, but mostly because it’s hard to complain about reading something that is basically MythBusters on the Discovery Channel in written form. Which is why I was surprised at how fast I was whipping through the pages of Born to Run.
McDougall is an incredibly gifted story teller and he begins his book examining one question that almost all of us can relate to - “Why does my foot hurt?” While searching for answers, McDougall discovers the Tarahumara Indians, well-known amongst the superathletes of the world as the most mysterious and greatest distance runners alive. The book ends with the climactic showdown between the world’s greatest ultra-distance runners of our time in a 50-mile race through Mexico’s Copper Canyon.
I finished Born to Run with an entirely new perspective on running, excited to start training for my first half marathon in October, and ready to show the world that I was indeed “born to run.” (I’m serious. If you ever hear someone yelling “BORN TO RUN!!!!!!!!” and running like a maniac, there’s a high likelihood that it’s me). And yes, if you’re also wondering, I AM listening to Bruce Springsteen right now.
