If you have been a reader of my blog, you know I am not into running for weight loss. Personally, I love the challenge, and there is something truly theraputic to taking a long distance run or bike ride that just seems to clear your head of the daily stresses. However, having someone who is 80lbs overweight and having them pound the pavement for 5 miles 5 days a week is a sure recipe for injury.
Running for weight loss, and running for sport are two COMPLETELY different things. When people run for weight loss, they end up doing more harm than good usually due to improper body mechanics. When people run for the love of the sport – (with the right mechanics) it is a totally different story altogether.
Born to Run by Chris McDougall was one of the most exciting reads of 2009.
Part Competitive Sport Story
Part History book
Part Biomechanical Technique Manual
It tells the thrilling story of a group of ultra-marathoners and follows their journey to compete with a Native Indian running tribe that has an ancient history of running ultra-marathons with the latest state of the art running shoe technology –
Yes, they pretty much ran barefoot. The interesting thing is the fact that members of this ancient tribe had NO INJURIES! Compare that to North Americans who run – the injury rate for runners in North America is a staggering 80%! To pu it literally- 8 out of 10 people who start running will get get injured. Add to that the fact that this statistic has been remained unchanged since the 1960’s!!!! Most of this is due to poor body mechanics, and thick cushioned soles of running sneakers.
What is an Ultramarathon? – These are 50 to 200+ mile races that can last for days. Yes, they really do exist! And yes people are crazy enough to run them.
Ultramarathons make our NY Marathon look like an elementary school recess game!
Runners of this sport are highly dedicated and super competitive. Beyond that, Mcdouggal goes into a lot of the technical aspects of running, and why people get injured, what are the right mechanics, and how to run properly.
The book suggests that if you run barefoot, or close to it, as we evolved to do all those years ago, you don’t get hurt because the flesh of your feet and your joints can’t take the pain. Over years of barefoot running, our ancestors built up adequate tolerance to barefoot running over time, so that they eventually could run for long distances without pain. The addition of fancy-schmancy running shoes allowed turned running into a cardio exercise at the expense of our feet, knees, and backs–which haven’t built up the tolerance to barefoot running because of the running-shoe work-around.
It’s an interesting argument, and a powerful one, I think: if learning to run barefoot comfortably ensures good mechanics, then we cheat ourselves of the bio-mechanical learning process by wearing thick-soled running shoes. It’s a cheat.
The characters in the story are hilarious and you can really feel where each of them comes from. Mcdouggal’s prose just left me spell bound to the book, by the end I truly wanted to strap on my Vibram Five Fingers, and just run through the trails like a mad man!
I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever tried running. You will learn a lot from this book, and the story will keep you hooked!
Enjoy!
Stay strong,
Joey
