review: Born to Run

This New York Times bestseller has probably done more to bring public attention to the barefoot and minimalist running movement than any other single factor.  On one level, it tells the story of McDougall’s own quest to answer the question: ‘Why does my foot hurt?’  Like the rest of us, the author began life running in shoes, but at over six foot and two hundred pounds, the heel-striking products thrown at us by consumer society only left him with a string of injuries.

A journalist and former war correspondent, McDougall investigates what essentially amounts to a conspiracy by big shoe companies to keep us buying their ever more elaborate and expensive products.  The solution, however, lies right beneath us, as it has done for literally millions of years: our own two feet.

In the course of his research, McDougall decides to track down the elusive Tarahumara Indians of Mexico’s Copper Canyons, who are renowned for their ability to run over a hundred miles in one stretch.  While in Mexico he also runs into a reclusive American ultrarunner, ‘Caballo Blanco,’ who lives and runs with the Tarahumara (or Raramuri, as they prefer to be called).  McDougall describes how the tribe run in sandals fashioned literally from old tyres, and also shares insights into their ancient way of life, customs and diet – all of which is now seriously threatened both by local drug cartels and the ‘progress’ of modern society.

For me, perhaps the most powerful aspect of the book is the way McDougall brings to light scientific research which clearly suggests that we, as a species, are literally born to run.  The only reason we puny homo sapiens were able to evolve and survive against the odds stacked against us – including competition from stronger primates and Neanderthals, not to mention predators galore — is our unequalled ability as distance runners.  We may not be the fastest species on the planet, but we certainly have the stamina needed to succeed. – And, as McDougall stresses, we each still carry that ability in our genes.

Born to Run reads like an adventure novel but is also packed with factual information.  The book concludes with a race through the Copper Canyons, pitting the best of the Tarahumara against a colourful group of Westerners, including top ultrarunner Scott Jurek as well as the author himself.  For me, the only criticism of the book is McDougall’s occasionally overly journalistic style, which at times seems to try a little too hard to sound ‘cool’.  Also, as much as he has a talent for bringing to life the personality of his characters, sometimes I felt that the flow of the overall narrative was obstructed by the lengthy spotlight introducing each new character.  These are only minor concerns, however, and I wholeheartedly recommend this book.