Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

Before we can tell you about the book we just finished reading, its probably best to let you know that: a) we do NOT know the author, and have NO financial interest in him or his book; and b) we’re not easy graders when it comes to giving praise for any literature about sports.  Oh, and c) the book in question isn’t EXACTLY focused on cycling, which may have many of you clicking away as we speak.  All we can say to that is, it’ll be your loss, my friend.

So let’s begin with a brief synopsis.  

You purchase a book about 300 pages deep, and turn a few pages.  A couple days later, after totally ignoring your family on vacation at the shore, you lift your head up and want nothing other than to i) buy copies for your friends, ii) relay stories and anecdotes from the book to everyone you can lasso into a conversation, and iii) re-imagine just exactly how your life in general, and your sporting life in particular, hold up to the wisdom that seems to have dropped into your lap from someplace where people are much, much smarter than yourself. 

That’s never happened before, and we certainly were not expecting any such experience when we spread the covers on Christopher McDougall’s new hardcover, which also comes with a title long enough to justify half the cost of the book at Amazon. 

http://www.amazon.com/Born-Run-Hidden-Superathletes-Greatest/dp/0307266303/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245295580&sr=8-1

What Mr. McDougall accomplishes, is nothing short of providing 4 parallel and inter-related stories in one non-fiction book that has a true-life tale of athletic heroism that no Hollywood writer could have begun to imagine.  In fact, if the book were a novel, we’d have said it was absolutely splendid, but unfortunately a bit far-fetched.  Instead, the whole story enveloped in the book is factual and supported with great research, which makes it all the more jaw-dropping.

So, exactly what is the story, and why would a book about running be highlighted on a cycling site, anyway, you ask.  And we’re happy to boil it down for you.  In short, the book is about an epic foot-race among the best athletes in the world, none of which you’ve probably heard of, running in an event which makes every – and we mean every – marathon race seem about as arduous as a Sunday stroll in the park with Grandma.  Imagine the Mexican Indian who runs almost 500 miles in a 48-hour foot-race.  Imagine a sixty-something man who dominates multi-marathon-distance races across the world’s toughest tundra, routinely plowing under younger athletes for whom an Olympic marathon qualification is seen as blase and unchallenging.

Residing from deep within the book is a message for all athletes, irrespective of their particular sport, and it relates to what it takes to raise the level of performance to a plane we couldn’t dream of reaching — but which we can.

Giving away the treasure of this book, we’ll tell you that the key turns out not to be about how scientifically one trains for their sport, but how much one allows their heart to embrace the beauty of their chosen sport, and allows themself to enjoy every minute of it.  

The day we completed reading this book, we went for the first bike ride in years in which we totally ignored the computer, and tried to ride for nothing more than the joy of doing so.  It has been a while since we escaped from the mode of every-ride-is-a-race, or at least training for one.  And yet here was fine book telling us, more or less, to break out of that mold.

We encourage you to get your hands on Mr. McDougall’s book.  We challenge you to examine your own life through the lessons it offers.  We expect you’ll find it a funny and, at times, shocking book, which you’ll want to hang on to for a long time.

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