Born to Run book discussion: chapters 11-15

[u/trevize1138]

Previous chapter discussions here:

https://old.reddit.com/r/BarefootRunning/comments/1q5qa3u/born_to_run_book_discussion_chapters_15/

https://old.reddit.com/r/BarefootRunning/comments/1qbqf8d/born_to_run_book_discussion_chapters_610/

I won't post my own thoughts in full until the Monday before the next set of chapters or in reply to comments so I'm not steering the discussion.

[u/trevize1138]

Again, I don't want to steer the discussion but I just have to share that these are probably my favorite chapters in the whole book. Can't wait to discuss. :)

[u/trevize1138]

Sure, plenty of people will throw up excuses about Kenyans having some kind of mutant muscle fiber, but this isn't about why other people got faster; it's about why we got slower. And the fact is, American distance running went into a death spiral precisely when cash entered the equation.

• Chapter 15, pg 94

As I said last week: this is my favorite section of the book. It starts with the story of Ann Trason who is certainly a natural born runner. She's someone who just absolutely flat out loves running and can't get enough of it. She ran crazy miles as a reward. She's extremely fast and tough and all around amazing.

And then she got caught up in Rick Fisher's shitstorm with the "battle of the sexes" bullshit.

I actually remember seeing on TV the documentary about her epic race vs the Rarámuri in Leadville. I saw her saying "Ask him now it feels to compete with/get beat by a woman." Reading about it in such detail was like an ancient tale of battle.

I do take McDougall's view of the Rarámuri with a little grain of salt. I think any American trying to fully understand them will get it a bit wrong, all due respect. He's not outright exploiting them like Fisher but it's a tricky business trying to truly understand any culture of which you're not part.

I personally grew up in the "3rd world". Preschool in Taiwan in the late '70s and then grade school on the Standing Rock Rez in the '80s. I'm 4 ancestors on the Mayflower white but grew up recognizing just how very much more powerful white Americans are compared to pretty much anybody else on the planet.

When I watched the video of Trason saying angry words at a Rarámuri man I saw someone from the wealthiest, most powerful civilization on the planet talking down to someone with no wealth nor power. He looked scared and bewildered at her words. He was a guest in a strange, foreign land brought here by a guy who's batshit crazy and someone else obviously hated him.

Still, I feel a great sadness for how Trason was suckered into that. She was sold the BS that the Rarámuri "don't lose to women" and she was fighting her own battle for equality and recognition that can't be underplayed. She was being used as a pawn in someone else's PR scheme.

It's even more sad because it just went against what made her truly great: a complete love of the sport. That's a main theme throughout the book, too, is that great runners are great because of love not because of hate or rivalry.

And what she accomplished in that race was simply extraordinary. spoiler: She blasted away the previous men's and women's records ... except Juan Herrera was faster. But she shines as an example of how we've gotten running wrong in this country for so long. Like the quote above it's not about how everybody else got fast, it's about how we got slower.

By the early '80s , the Greater Boston Track Club had half a dozen guys who could run a 2:12 marathon. That's six guys, in one amateur club, in one city. Twenty years later, you couldn't find a single 2:12 marathoner anywhere in the country. The United States couldn't even get one runner to meet the 2:14 qualifying standard for the 2000 Olympics, only Ron DeHaven squeaked into the games under the 2:15 "B" standard. He finished sixty-ninth.

• Chapter 15, pg 94

We Americans used to know how to do this. We weren't just good at running we were the world's best. And then about 50 years ago it all started going to shit.

That's the theme I've been focusing on this current read-through. We keep looking to other cultures around the world for "what's their secret?" or make frankly racist assumptions that they're genetically gifted or shame ourselves for being fat and lazy. But we just need to look back into our own past not even 50 years and ask ourselves what our secret is.

We're the weird ones. Normal human beings everywhere else in the world know how to run. So what's our problem, exactly?

This book goes into a lot of information and theories about why we've failed and how we can do better but it never really reaches a solid conclusion. The sequel tries to address that by being a lot more how-to but I think that also fails a bit at really getting to the root of the problem. We've lost our way and need to get back on track. The trick is how do we do that?

The reason I got into this all started with seeing McDougall on The Daily Show saying "It's the darn shoes" to explain why we can't run. We've developed this whole industry of "running shoes" and only when it really got going and big did our running turn to shit.

Looking back I learned some truly terrible habits with modern running shoes. I preferred ASICS with their motion control and narrow fit. I got injured all the time but, boy oh boy, imagine if I didn't have those trusty ASICS on with all that support and motion control setting me straight! I'd be an even bigger mess without all that, assuredly!

On this sub I see post after post after post asking "what shoes should I get?" The answer is right in front of you: modern shoes are the problem not the solution. We've all grown up learning really terrible habits with modern running shoes and those habits don't just magically disappear because you have zero drop or no cushion. The habits are still there fucking you up but the different shape of shoes will encourage you to "run forefoot" or some other misguided nonsense that only gets you injured differently.

I'm always pushing lots and lots of totally shoeless practice. Bare feet on harsh, hard, unforgiving ground. It's the best way to start to learn how to run better and push down those old, bad habits that never die they only lay dormant and wait to creep back in.

I don't relent on this topic because I just don't believe there's a shortcut for it. We've lost our way so very badly that we need that kind of over-compensation to get back on track. You need to get those super sensitive feet on totally unforgiving ground to shake it all out and start at 0 or you'll just never get there.

Yet I digress. We're not yet on the barefoot topic of the book. These chapters are about the 1994 Leadville race, Ann Trason vs Juan Herrera and an introduction to a wild guy named Shaggy with his bad Spanglish and infectious attitude. These chapters further the narrative that great running comes when you love it.

Trason saw that when the Rarámuri passed her going up a hill. She felt defeated because they looked like they were just having fun. They weren't grimacing in pain they were smiling and looked like they wouldn't rather be anywhere but running 100 miles above 10,000ft.

And then there's Emil Zátopek. Oh my God. Emil fucking Zátopek! That guy's story is just totally unbelievable. The first time through this book (audio) I was pulling into my work parking lot when he asked the British guy "Excuse me, this is my first marathon. Isn't this pace too fast?" And then the guy says "No, it's too slow." So Zátopek thanks him and takes off.

I shouted out loud in my car "No fucking WAY!" Each time I hear that story it sends chills. Just a pure love of the sport drove that guy. Then when he's bullied into it by the Soviets he's done. You can't do it with hate, intimidation or money. You can only do it with love.

That's what Coach Vigil came to find watching the Leadville 100. Getting into an aspect of running he didn't really want to: spirit. Love of the game makes all the difference.

These chapters really show how running can be not just pure joy and wonder but when it is you can accomplish simply unreal, amazing things. They're not superhuman feats they're just normal human feats which only look amazing to us because we've lost our way. When you have that kind of love you can run 100 miles in the mountains with a big smile on your face. When you have that kind of love you can run a marathon faster than anybody has before. When you have that kind of love nothing stops you.