Born to Run

I recently started and finished reading the book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.  It was a fascinating book, and after reading it from cover to cover, I was encouraged to continue on with my path.

As an avid runner (that hasn't been running too much recently), reading this book helped me rediscover the joys of running.  Earlier, I did a blog about how you need to enjoy running in all it's parts, whether training or racing, and the reason that I wrote that was because I was reading this book.  In this book, it talked about the Tarahumara people, and how they enjoyed the running that they did.  The Tarahumara led a lifestyle that forced them to become strong.  It wasn't because they protected their feet with proper footwear... it was because they strengthened their feet by running in sandals.  It wasn't the massive amounts of food that they were eating to help them recover from runs, but instead, they ate very sparingly, putting in only a little bit of food into their bodies, pushing their body to become a lean machine, able to run long distances with that body structure.

Their lifestyle supported running, and that is why the Tarahumara people were a great community that had good runners, living a very healthy life.  Because of the healthy lifestyle, the Tarahumara people group didn't have that many illnesses.  Today, I went to the RUSH to do a simple workout on my day off, and was convinced by three girls that worked there to go back out and join the class that was doing some kind of workout.  I joined that workout and pushed my body to work on my core and it felt generally good (although I didn't like the amount of arms used...), but at the same time, the Tarahumara didn't do that kind of thing in order to get in shape for running.  They were already in that shape.  As children, they played games that required a lot of running, and they would occasionally have races  as adults.  We as children didn't really have that.  Although I did a lot of things outside, most of my friends would be playing video games and stay indoors.  How we are raised does make a difference.

There's so much that I can say about this book, because it is packed with a lot of information and has a great story at the same time.  If you're a runner, this book is definitely a must read, talking about a tribe that helps us see what it is to run, the enjoyment, the lifestyle, the community, and at the same time, a great story.

Especially after reading this book, I can't wait to go running tomorrow.  Going to go run about 8 miles and then running with a friend, and then running to town and eating... then running back.  It's going to be a long day, but it's going to be a very fun time.  Can't wait to wake up.

We're all meant to do different things, we were born to accomplish things, and doing what we were meant to do is something we ought to understand.  We as humans have an endless amount of potential of what we could do, because we are all made to do so many things.  I run because I know I'm meant to run, so run towards what you're meant to do, and if that is truly what you're meant to do, you'll accomplish that.