#027 – Unforgetting: Christopher McDougall

Chris McDougall is well known for his 2009 book Born to Run, which, among many other things, tells the story of the Tarahumara (Rarámuri), the tribe who (literally) ran away from the Spanish Conquistadors in the 16th century – and never came back. The book features the stories of several colorful characters including the peripatetic runner known as Caballo Blanco, who died in 2012, the podcaster/antelope-chaser Scott Carrier and the effervescent ultra-runner Scott Jurek. For me, it was singularly important because it convinced me to take off my shoes and run barefoot.

Ever since seeing him on The Daily Show and then reading the book, I’ve wanted to ask Chris about the irony of embracing barefoot running in the 21st century, when every single technological advancement (and accompanying advertising) seems to implore us to do otherwise. This notion goes beyond athletics; our culture has deliberately forgotten myriad practices that our ancestors employed tens of thousands of years ago. Are we better off as a result? Chris and I seem to agree that we’re not.

Chris has recently taken up another ancestral activity: animal partnerships. As he details in his New York Times series “Running With Sherman,” Chris’s latest endeavor is burro-running, which more than anything else requires a quality our culture seems to devalue: patience. He’s currently working on a book about this venture, to accompany Born to Run and Natural Born Heroes (2015).

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