Born to Run (#2)

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it ill be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.” 
-Christopher McDougall, Born to Run 


Okay, NOW the Born to Run title of the posts make sense. And this will tie in with my previous vegan post, which is why they have the same title. They were originally supposed to be in the same entry. 


So this book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall is amazing. I just finished reading it. Chris ventures into the heart of the Mexican Copper Canyons and searches out this ancient tribe, the Tarahumara, (the "Running People") who run ultramarathon daily, as a way to travel, compete, have fun etc. They run 30, 50, 100 miles. That's miles not kilometres. That's like 80, 100, 200 km runs. He also interacts with the man they call Caballo Blanco, the White Horse. The only white man ever trusted enough by the Tarahumara to be allowed into their tribe. Long story short, a race is organized by the best ultrarunners in the world against the Tarahumara for the ultimate race. The story is like reading a wild west adventure story. McDougall also includes a lot of research about barefoot running, plant-based diets (nudge nudge..) and running in general. 
Bottom line: as humans, we are all born to run. 
Remember the Neanderthals and Homo Erectus from my previous post? Okay, so we're going to jump back in time again. Why did we survive while the Neanderthals died out? They were stronger and better hunters than we were, so how did we survive. The answer, running. We were made to run! 
In terms of evolution we are closest to chimps (this is all research from the book.. I'm totally going to butcher as I try to explain it here, but I'll do my best. I'm no scientist/anthropologist). Chimps are built to walk. They have no achilles tendon. We do. We are made to run. That elasticity of the achilles tendon is necessary for the springing motion made when we run. There are a bunch of other evolutionary clues that are mentioned in the book, but I'll leave you guys to find them when you read the book!
The coolest evolution thing is what was called persistence hunting. 
As this weak skinny early human, how on earth did we catch food? We outran them!! Now every animal pretty much has a beat for speed. But for endurance? We are the rulers of all! Why else do you think we are the only mammal to have marathons and ultra-marathons for fun? See other mammals, even cheetahs, are built for short bursts of speed. They are super fast, but they cool their body down through breathing. Once they've gotten to the point where their bodies have heated up enough that a single breath cannot cool them down? they need to stop. Whereas we cool down by sweating. As long as we keep sweating, we can keep running. In the book, one of the runners accidently takes part in a persistent hunt. They chased an antelope for about two hours, and it dropped dead from heat exhaustion. And then the hunters ran another ten miles to the closest town to get water for the white runner who stopped sweating while on the hunt (this saved his life). Our ancestors (and the Tarahumara) can run any distance (at a pretty fast pace too) at a moment's notice. But as our technology grew, we looked for more and more ways to make everything more efficient and convenient, we lost this aspect of our identity. 
We forgot that running used to be fun and enjoyable. Now its become hard, annoying and painful. 
These ultrarunners never forgot that. They do it because they enjoy it. There is no glory in ultrarunning, no money, no sponsers. Especially not in the middle of a Mexican desert. 


Also, I would like to point out, these Tarahumara runners run barefoot and eat only a plant-based diet! 
Now barefoot running isn't my forte, but I definitely respect it. Any runner who has developed into a barefoot runner is virtually injury free. And the research is there to prove it. By putting our feet in fancy running shoes we are distorting the natural way out feet are meant to move, and therefore we "heel strike" and injure our bodies. Common runner's injuries were non-existent until the 70s when Nike invented the first running shoes. Those guys who set those amazing, unbeatable records in the 70s? They wore simple, cheap shoes, and were injury-free for their entire careers. How many modern runners can say that now? 


Another thing to point out (then I'm done I swear!!), that not only are the Tarahumara essentially vegan, some of the best athletes in the world are vegan. Ultrarunners, triathletes, body-builders, etc. Vegan diets are not only healthier, so your body performs better, but your recovery time is faster and more efficient, so you can train harder, and you benefit more from your training. Check out Brendan Braizer and his Vega food line. He is a professional triathlete, and his athletic career is amazing. 


Also, they discuss the improvement curve for running is awesome. So basically at 19, your performance level (in terms of speed) starts to increase gradually until you peak at 27. Then it slowly starts to decline until you are back at the level you were before, which... is at the age of 64!! So running, is the ONLY SPORT IN THE WORLD where 64 year olds and 19 year olds can compete as equals on the same turf. How awesome is that? As like 80 year olds, the Tarahumara are still out there kicking ass. 
As Caballo Blano believes, "we don't stop running because we get old. We get old because we stop running"


So I guess bottom line is that we are all born to run people. Our laziness as a species has distorted what our bodies were made to do. So maybe people like me (and I'm not even the half of it) aren't as crazy as we seem?
Anyways. The book is amazing, I totally recommend that you read it. Especially if you are a runner. It completely motivating, especially in terms of how you mentally approach running. I wanted to read this before I start training for my next marathon (training starts jan 15) and I'm glad it did. I think it will impact how I approach not only my training, but my final race. I will keep you posted. And I encourage all of you to go out for a run and ENJOY IT!! 


I hope you enjoyed my various rants. I'm now going to bed as I've been writing for 2.5 hours :) 
Night all!