Ultramarathon Book Review: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
By David Hanenburg on 03 Dec 2009 at 11:29 am | Tagged as: running books
“Think Easy, Light, Smooth, and Fast. You start with easy, because if that ‘s all you get, that’s not so bad. Then work on light. Make it effortless, like you don’t give a shit how high the hill is or how far you’ve got to go. When you’ve practiced that so long that you forget you practicing, you work on making it smooooth. You won’t have to worry about the last one – you get those three, and you’ll be fast.” – Born to Run
I recently finished the highly talked about running book, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall.
One word description – Entertaining!
When mystery, danger, Leadville 100, a reclusive society of Mexican Indians, and current top trail/ultra running athletes and personalities ( Ann Trason, Scott Jurek, Jenn Shelton, and Barefoot Ted) are all weaved within an exploratory adventure to uncover the roots of running, you have a page-turner for almost any endurance athlete.
For ultrarunners, this book is somewhat of a accolade to the beauty, challenges, and kick ass fun of the sport.
For others, this book will further confirm the insanity of the ultrarunning community.
I also suspect many new adventure seekers will be introduced to this sport and will request entry into the welcoming ultramarathon asylum.
Born to Run includes running science and history while being entertaining. But even greater than that, it contains a thread that connects everyone who has ever decided that – today I run.
Be active – Feel the buzz!
David – EnduranceBuzz.com
About the author
David Hanenburg is the passionate dirt-lovin' creator of Endurance Buzz and has been playing in the endurance sports world since 2000 after knockin' the dust off of his Trek 950 hardtail thanks to a friend asking to go ride some local dirt. In 2007 he ran his first ultra on the trails and fell in love with the sport and its people. For more information on David's endurance sports journey, check out the About page.
As a barefoot ultrarunner, I found the book to be a complete validation. It provided a “Hey, I’m not crazy!” moment. It is an excellent book, I would highly recommend it to runners and non-runners alike. It seems to have already made an impact on the ultra community. I have encountered a large number of ultrarunners that are interested in transitioning to a minimalist shoe.
Great review, David!
Hey Jason – Thanks….and yes, I am one of those people thinking about shoe choices a bit more closely. I have also watched various vidoes of barefoot runners and then those same runners wearing a standard shoe. It becomes quite apparent that the shoe is causing a significant foot strike change. Whether that is good or bad, each individual must decide but I am leaning towards less obstruction with the natural gait.