Born to Run - What a Read!

What a read! Who would have thought I’d be mesmerized by a book on a bunch of Mexican Indians (Tarahumara) in the Copper Canyons in Mexico, racing against some of America’s best ultra runners like Scott Jurek. It was fabulous and brought tears to my eyes at the end. Perhaps the “star” of the book, “Caballo”, said it best in the end when offered a sponsorship from North Face: “No, thanks, I don’t want anyone to do anything except come run, party, dance, eat, and hang with us. Running isn’t about making people buy stuff. Running should be free, man.” And isn’t that what its really all about – living free and having fun? Which is pretty much what the Tarahumara do all day, every day – eat (corn, chia seeds, beans – they’re vegetarian!), run, drink corn beer, and sleep. Sparing you a long review (you can get those anywhere on the web!), suffice it to say it’s a good read with a spectacular ending where Caballo tells his life story. How he was born a scrawny marine kid who took up boxing to “fight” off the wise cracks of being a geek; how he got famous boxing, lost his girlfriend to another guy (and was devastated), and ended up in Maui living in a cave and running the side of the dormant volcano, Haleakala (Ricky and I were there!); how he to-this-day lives in a hut in Mexico and runs “free” with the Tarahumara and only goes back to the states to make a couple bucks to survive another year. The author did a fabulous job of pulling the characters together and describing the uniqueness of them all. Barefoot Ted, Jenn and Billy, the Tarahumara, Caballo (above in the pic), and of course himself, Christopher McDougall who works for Rodale (writes for Runners' World and Men's Health) and lives and runs in central PA! (don’t they all!?) Born to Run is currently #68 on Amazon's top sellers list. I think I’ll go for a run now!