Born To Run by Christopher McDougall | Teen Ink

Born To Run by Christopher McDougall

May 22, 2015
By Honeysuckle55 GOLD, Littleton, Colorado
Honeysuckle55 GOLD, Littleton, Colorado
17 articles 0 photos 3 comments

Were humans born to run? Is it in our bones? These questions are all asked and answered in Born to Run a nonfiction book by Christopher McDougall. As the author  travels through the Copper Canyons in Mexico he learns about the Tarahumara, or the Running People as they call themselves and the secrets to their long distance running success.Then he continues his study of amazing runners by watching ultra runners around the United States. With the story’s he gathered from these adventures he tells his story. However, because there is so much involved in running that connects to the author’s stories, a reader might get lost in the intricate web created. See, the book wasn’t just written in chronological order of what the author experienced, there was other research and advice thrown in with each new topic or idea that was presented. If you are able to comprehend the direction that the author goes you will be sucked into a fascinating tale never before investigated, but if you slip away at the beginning because it’s an informational overload then you will gain nothing. Personally, as I started this book I was entangled in the ideas presented and soon wanted to see if there was any fact to its theories. I soon tried running the way it said to and have been looking for a chance to run barefoot. This is due to the author trying to explain that running barefoot gives your foot a chance to strengthen and return to it’s natural state. The natural state, as explained by the book, is with a strong arch in the foot that helps us run long distances and in the past would be useful in running animals to the ground. Research in the book clearly shows this yet the rest of the scientific community continues to ignore the idea. I wondered about this while reading and am still not sure why but with so much evidence in the nonfiction I wouldn’t pass it over. In fact I wouldn’t choose to pass over any part of the book. It had some true insight into running that showed me a better way and still created an enjoyable story. This book should not be looked over and I encourage all to read.


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