Born to Run

I wrote this review in 2018; the running-shoe and injury claims below reflect McDougall’s account.

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall

What if an investigative journalist decides to tackle a personal problem? What if this problem is this: my foot hurts, how can I make it stop? These simple questions set Christopher on a journey that finds him on the path with Scott Jurek (see Eat and Run), the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico and some other amazing people. Along the way, we dive into the science and non-science of running.

What surprised me most were the book’s revelations about running shoes and the assumptions I had taken for granted. A shoe that has more cushioning and helps correct your foot should help you prevent injury… right? In McDougall’s account, the rate of injury had not fallen since the invention of the modern running shoe (1970). Isn’t that odd? He also argues that soft shoes make for soft feet, and that bigger cushions lead us to put our feet down more forcefully to compensate for losing the feel of the ground.

What it also shows is that a very average (but not unhealthy) man, 40 years of age, can train to run a 50-mile race through very unforgiving terrain. The last chapters of the book describe a fascinating race between Scott, the Tarahumara’s best runners, a dozen of the other bests in the world, and Christopher. He takes twice as long as the fastest person (guess who) to finish, but does it. It’s an amazing accomplishment and is only overshadowed by how this book gives a beautiful insight into running and its crazy culture.

See below for a video of Christopher talking about running, the evolutionary story and some more about our running shoes.