I have to say that Christopher McDougall’s book, “Born to Run” changed my life when it comes to running. As soon as I finished the book, I immediately went for a run barefoot. While I don’t always run minimally, I carry the lessons I read from the book on every run. I’m still in awe of some of the people mentioned in the book: Scott Jurek, Jenn Shelton, Billy Barnett, Caballo Blanco and wanted to see if I could do a quick interview with them. While Jenn Shelton politely turned my down, I was able to make contact with Caballo Blanco (Micah True) for a quick Q & A session. Through my correspondence with him, he’s a really interesting guy and would definitely like to meet him one day.

ORB: When you set off to live among the Tarahumara, what were your initial expectations?
CB: I had no expectations.

ORB: Was Christopher McDougall seeking you out in the Copper Canyon a blessing or condemnation?
CB: It is what it is and up to me to make the best of what it is.

ORB: How/Who gave you the nickname “Caballo Blanco?”
CB: Mayan Indians of highland Guatemala where I wintered in the 80′s.

ORB: Through your Copper Canyon UltraMarathon’s you’ve been able to provide for many families in Northern Mexico. Can you tell me all that you’ve been able to accomplish?
CB: I have helped encourage the people to help themselves to continue to run free. And in many cases, to run again. To have pride in who they are and for the Mexican people to look upon the Raramuri as a natural resource to be cultivated and not exploited.

ORB: Tell me how you feel the shoe companies are capitalizing on a problem they in fact created?
CB: Less is more, and costs more, too-:}

ORB: What’s your drive in life?
CB: To run free

ORB: When history looks back on “Caballo Blanco,” what legacy do you hope to leave behind?
CB: No legacy; just keep it real.

During our emails back-and-forth I think his best response was to my mention of how I just recently started running minimally. Here’s his response:
CB: What is “minimalistic running?” Running as little as possible – hardly running? Or the maximus marketeering of nothing? Not sure what that is-:] To me, minimalistic means normal way of being without being sucked into the commercial. And the commercial now is minimalism…but, whatever.

RMFR

When my wife first presented this book to me a couple of weeks ago, I had mixed emotions. I had heard all the hype. Christopher McDougall wrote a book preaching about running barefoot…yada, yada, yada. The great debate on whether the running shoe industry is ruining those it caters to. That humans were natural runners and the foot should be left alone. In all honesty, I’m tired of this subject and didn’t know if I really wanted to read about it…AGAIN!!!

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Born to Run ranks right up there with one of the best running books I’ve read. What Christopher McDougall has done is craft one of the greatest race accounts I’ve come across (before this book Duel in the Sun had no contest). He had me hooked from the first sentence.

“For days, I’d been searching Mexico’s Sierra Madre for the phantom known as Caballo Blanco – the White Horse.”

White Horse? It’s a person? What in the world is going on?

From there, a wild running story is crafted. Set in an exotic location with a crazy cast of characters I never would have imagined the story that awaited. I couldn’t wait to dig in and get my hands around his experience that not only clued me in on some of running’s history but also of those who were responsible for carving it.

The Tarahumara Indian’s of Mexico’s Copper Canyons, Caballo Blanco (aka Michael Hickman, aka Micah True), Scott Jurek, Jenn Shelton, Billy Barnett, Luis Escobar and “Barefoot Ted”. As soon as I was done reading the book, I spend a couple of hours reading up on these runners and all their accomplishments. It’s quite a resumé and outside of Scott, you’d have a hard time recalling any of these great runner’s unless you were an Ultra geek.

Besides spinning a great tale, Christopher McDougall did something pretty ingenious. The aforementioned “running debate” was snuck in as part of the story. The best way I can describe it as commercials to the story. He didn’t come out and preach for 5-10 chapters but wove the research and medical opinions so they flowed with the story. Not only did it soften the blow of the topic for me but it actually got me doing a little preaching myself. There was a longer segment toward the back of the book where I thought it was a little long but maybe it just seemed that way because I wanted to get back to the “Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.”

To give you the Cliff Notes version of this book wouldn’t do the story justice. Please do yourself a favor and go grab a copy from your nearest library or bookstore.

Before reading this book, I had already started converting over to minimalist running by ditching the clunky shows and going for a trimmed down version (Nike Free). After reading this book, I’m ready to start incorporating barefoot running into my training schedule.

RMFR