Born To Run

After Sunday's 40km run in 2:48 I was feeling really good about my progress and my ability as a distance runner, then I read about the Tarahumara. Amber ordered a book from the library called "Born to Run" and was gracious enough to let me read it first. I've only covered the first couple chapters but it's a story about an ancient Indian tribe in the Sierra Madre of Northern Mexico. They are legendary runners and have apparently found the secret to health, happiness, longevity, and peace; running.


The book tells a story about Lance Armstrong in his first New York Marathon and the fact that he called it "the hardest event he's ever done" and he is probably the greatest endurance athlete in the world. Well the Tarahumara practice "persistence hunting," if you've never heard of it don't worry only the Tarahumara can do it. Basically if you want to hunt a deer you run after it until it dies of exhaustion or it's so tired that you are close enough to kill it. There have been stories of Tarahumara running for three days hunting or competing in traditional races. To run the equivalent of 12 marathons without stopping is something a Tarahumara will do to migrate or hunt. They have shown up at some American races like the Leadville 100 to race for food when their people were starving of malnutrition, they were promised their village would be fed by an American sponsor if they competed. In 1992 a 52 year old Tarahumara runner named Victoriano Churro came in 1st, followed by his 41 year old team-mate Cerrildo in second. These people are simply the toughest runners I'd ever heard of, they don't have fancy runners, they don't get hairline fractures, achilles tendionitis, shin splints, plantar fasciitis, torn hamstrings or any other problem that they rest of us suffer from. What is their secret?

Well there really is no 'secret' they simply start their lives running and continue until they die. Most of us are told, don't run too much you'll damage something, your knees, your ankles, you'll get arthritis. I think our society has become so unable to deal with pain and discomfort that we drown ourselves in medications and therapies that don't help. Now I'm not saying that running will solve all medical issues but could you imagine how much better life would be if everyone ran. There wouldn't be a strain on the medical system, hundreds of millions of dollars would be saved in health care costs, our seniors would have the attention of the medical establishment they deserve and preventable medical problems (obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attacks) would be minimized. I think the Tarahumara are on to something.

I'll try and capture the spirit of the Tarahumara 12 days from now and remember that a marathon is just a warm up for the real race, life.