Born to Run

“You don’t stop running because you get old.” The dipsea demon always said ”you get old because you stop running.”

I’ve run more or less every other day since I was a sophomore in college. I’ve run my share of 5ks, 10ks, I’ve run a half-marathon and a sprint triathlon. Sometimes I run fast, sometimes I run slow. I run to stay in shape, I run to reduce stress or to clear my head but mostly I run just for fun. I’ve never thought about human’s innate connection to the act running. In Born to Run Christopher McDougall explores how humans evolved to be physiologically suited for long-distance running—that our ability to sweat, take multiple breadths per stride, for example, are uniquely suited to hunt prey by chasing them to exhaustion. He also looks at how modern running shoes changed our stride and weakened our feet in a way that caused us to adopt inefficient running form that resulted in common running injuries like plantar fasciitis.

Born to run explores the science of our running roots alongside stories of a group of ultra marathoners including the mysterious Caballo Blanco (white horse), who organized a race with the Tarahumara, a tribe in the remote desert canyons in Mexico, who have sustained their ancient running culture.

So maybe we all love running so much because we are biologically built to run and are healthier, happier when doing so.