Born to Run

At the heart of Born to Run lies a mysterious tribe of Mexican Indians, the Tarahumara, who live quietly in canyons and are reputed to be the best distance runners in the world; in 1993, one of them, aged 57, came first in a prestigious 100-mile race wearing a toga and sandals. A small group of the world's top ultra-runners (and the awe-inspiring author) make the treacherous journey into the canyons to try to learn the tribe's secrets and then take them on over a course 50 miles long.With incredible energy and smart observation, McDougall tells this story while asking what the secrets are to being an incredible runner. Travelling to labs at Harvard, Nike, and elsewhere, he comes across an incredible cast of characters, including the woman who recently broke the world record for 100 miles and for her encore ran a 2:50 marathon in a bikini, pausing to down a beer at the 20 mile mark.

Amazing, really incredibly inspiring book, Quite simply the best book you'll ever read about running - it's brilliant, and brilliantly life-affirming., A classic ... in ultrarunners McDougall uncovers a tribe worthy of the pioneering drifters that fired the American spirit, and in McDougall ultrarunners have found their own Kerouac or Krakauer., Reaches the state of bliss that runners very occasionally experience in the midst of an endless run., Fascinating stuff, particularly for anyone who's ever been frustrated by the apparently shoddy mechanics of their own running body.

Christopher McDougall is a former war correspondent for the Associated Press and author of the international bestseller Born to Run. He does his own running among the Amish farms around his home in rural Pennsylvania.

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