The Rarámuri or Tarahumara are a group of indigenous people of the Americas living in the state of Chihuahua in Mexico , the author explains how the tribe hold the record for longest ever consecutive run in 48 hours non stop for 435 miles! Tarahumara means one who swallowed age and even 80 year old tribe members can easily do marathons atop treacherous canyons. Even women and children could easily run dusk to dusk and average distances clocked non stop are in the range of 250-300miles! The Tarahumara folks have special drinks and nutrition to upkeep their running needs which they don’t reveal at all. Also Tarahumara tribe men are known to party with alcohol including corn beer and rattlesnake tequila so they are not always disciplined either. The Raramuri (or runner tribe) moved into interior canyons to stay away from intruders like Spanish, Mexican war lords and drug cartels and are almost anonymous. The author tries to follow the legend of the 'White horse' one anglican gentleman who became one among the tribe called 'cabello blanco'.
The Author Christopher Mcdougall himself a runner battles with chronic leg injuries like most runners do in late thirties and consulted top ortho surgeon for cuboid problem. He reveals the most common sports diagnoses involve cortisol to the feet and orthodontics which Chris is loathe to take and is intrigued by how nature and earth shapes our leg and running. Chris came to realize most of his running posture was incorrect after a tryst with Delaware sports surgeon Dr. Davies. Most of the sports physicians have advised chris against running hard and take alternative less painful options like biking. Chris mentions the feet has direct connection with our brain holding several sensitive nerve cells and hence the reason humans are addicted to running much like Sex which is pleasurable. Some spanish and latter year dictators also figured the foot can be a form of inflicting sado masochist punishments like Bastinado or foot whipping concentrating on victim's soles. The chapters get more insightful once Chris goes into mexico in search of the 'White Horse' and how he meets him , what he gets out of their conversations forms crux of this story . This is every runner's holy grail as it teaches things about posture , leg , hand movement , impact and recovery. Chris wonders why despite best shoes and attire modern athletes suffer whereas Tarahumara just keep running even without proper foot wear and warm up / down regiment.
Raramuri mean people running away from troubles and they ensure they are invisible at all times. There is a saying in mexico that Raramuri consider them 'Running away from most other people' and feel other kind 'causes trouble' not entirely untrue, given that spanish flu from invaders ripped apart most of raramuri and even now they don’t have immunity to most modern flu and other viruses. Raramuri will be seen only if they want to be seen - they have perfected invisibility for ages. In fact some world class explorers during the height of european imperialism voyages merely walked past huge settlements of raramuri without knowing they were there all along. Chris found Salvador a singer by trade who declared he knew how to get to the Raramuri tents. Along their trecherous journey chris and salvador encounter 'Narco traffickers' . In mexico narco traffickers are brutal known to murder people by droves there are some incredible stats like 6 killings in a week atleast . Narcos are known to target musicians especially stars who are good looking , fame and wealthy as they see it as an outrage to their own superiority . Salvador was narrating chris stories of how cartels feed captives to bengal tiger (which they have captured for this) and how they impaled policemen heads in front of police stations as warning . They also have murdered nosy journalists and reporters often leaving their heads in front of the Publishing houses as a warning. Given Chris is a journalist and Salvador is a musician they had heart in their mouths when a Narco truck just drove past them. Having cleared the danger they went straight into the depths of the Copper canyons or Barrancas - Chris narrates how the canyons with a tiny river going underneath seem like a vein in an old man's arm. Canyons have even kept the mighty drug cartel in abeyance.
After 48 hours of mind numbing trek into the depth of the canyons - Salvador & chris walked straight into a Raramuri tent uninvited violating the Raramuri custom . Typically the Raramuri elders would want guests to pay respect by sitting still for hours a dozen feet away from a raramuri tent , both Salvador and chris violated this . However to their luck a Raramuri elder was forgiving and fed them sweet lime and asked to rest in a boulder / tent several feet away. That is all they could manage for their first visit. The Raramuri elder said much of his family was suffering from flu and he had to take care of them. Chapter then cuts to Angel a half mexican Raramuri elder who has adopted both external ways into Raramuri tradition. Couple of Raramuri kids ran back panting saying they found a pale tall naked runner who could be a demon . The elders corrected them stating most raramuri ancestors roam around after dying collecting finger nails , hairs etc to help them go into after life this process takes 3-4 days. Ghost or demons are not so kind once spotted according to their myth. Angel half believed this but thought the kids may have encountered one actual stranger for example every month one or two travellers, explorers get lost into the Barrancas from say Colorado area or across border in Texas.
The Tarahumara have very dangerous sports based out of bare foot canyon running . Two teams of 3 young men each fighting literally in crevices for a ball to cross lines across miles. Salvador made Chris take his first Iskiate a cocktail of Chia seeds, lime and sugar . Chris finds Chia seeds which can be grown easily anywhere in Desert conditions is a rich source of anti oxidants full of omega 3 & 6 sources. A small gulp of chia seeds help people climb heights like nothing else , its like a home brew of Red bull only with natural ingredients. Salvador and chris in their pursuit of Cabello Blanco come across villagers who claim they seen him a while back to few days back . As always the white horse proves a myth and mystery. Chris somehow found a trail that led him to a hotel where cabello blanco was staying , he caught him unawares and by merely quickly revealing how many mutual acquaintances they shared , Chris prevented himself from getting bashed or worse killed. Cabello blanco also had a notorious reputation of a Loco in the area. Once Chris gave Blanco company for his voracious appetite and beers then slowly the white horse opened up - He told him a story a very compelling story of the last decade that also included how blanco a Gringo from colorado ended up as one of the Tarahumara tribesman .
Ken was a businessman in colorado and saw the potential the gritty mountainous town in Colorado called Leadville had to offer - usually US sees peak in long distance and adventurous running during periods of calamities the Great depressions , WW and during the cold war scandal era , so fresh after the asian debacle in vietnam running became vogue again. 1985 Leadville people were desperate to put their town in the US map again after suffering worse economic times for past several decades - Using this and the steep 15K feet cold dangerous Rocky terrain as a bait , Ken crafted the iconic Leadville ultramarathon 100 miles for the very best of runners to test how much they can go… As expected adventurous runners and professionals queued up to test themselves against frost bites, blank nights , crevices, dangerous turns and serpants and unforgiving terrain. Rick Fischer was a wannabe journalist who wanted to become famous and he was chasing after the Raramuri for a story deep into the copper canyons when something clicked if only he could bring these indigenous runners into the Leadville 100 pitting against tried and tested professional - there was a wonderful story to be had here. Fischer in 1992 unsuccessfully got few peripheral Raramuri runners into Leadville who spectacularly failed as most were unused to Running gear , flashlights and more importantly they were not the best the Tarahumara had to offer. Fischer aimed at correcting his mistakes and spent countless days going deep in search of the very best Tarahumara runners and found Victoriano 52 and his hordes. Now the Raramuri believe in running as a group with the elders bringing through youngsters and that is precisely what happened at Leadville , despite Espn and media coverage the Tarahumara came well prepared. They tailed off the professional runners till the last 20 miles and suddenly picked up speed and tumbled on through the reminder of Rockies setting incredible records. Victoriano became oldest winner at 52 with a record of 17 hours that stood for next 8 years , next came the youngest raramuri at 18 years . By 1994 Tarahumara and Leadville became cult phenomenon and sponsors were lining up big time. Rockport used Tarahumara to promote their 1994 athletic gear , however they had to overcome a running cyclone named Ann.
Ann was a biochemist and doctorate student in California who took up long distance running to leave off steam . Eventually she discovered her body had gift of recovery and going unhindered for several miles and she took up Ultramarathon as a sport. Her husband Carl became her moral support and Ann won all the top ultra marathons consecutively in the Female category from 1985 for next 20 years truly becoming best all time female long distance runner. However in 1994 the media and Fischer/ Ken pitted her against Tarahumara at leadville in what became renowned as 'Battle of sexes' . There were media propoganda mentioning how the Tarahumara cannot fathom a female beating them, when in reality the Tarahumara are one of the most egalitarian tribes there is . Men take care of raising infants and allow women space to lead and run equally. However the media went along with this , while Tarahumara did not understand what was going on , Ann took the bait and she desperately wanted to win for womankind. Fischer only recruited two of the very best corn farmer cum runners in Juan Herrera and his master . They were promised a ton of corn and ton of beans for their villages . Fischer tried to pit them against other village Tarahumara not understanding that Tarahumara believe in coming together to run and not compete viciously. The race began in dark and while Tarahumara sped to a lead , Ann's expertise and familiarity of the Leadville turns ensured she became leader for first 40 miles straight and as per rules after a medical check up in the middle when Ann famously verbally taunted the Tarahumara runners , everyone were allowed to take up pacers on Mule. Fischer had arranged some good locals to lead the Tarahumara for last 50 miles on mule and Ann had carl join her as Pacer.
After his extraordinary meet up with Cabello Blanco, Chris started corresponding with him and also published all about his eccentric lifestyle and proximity to Raramuri in the Men's health magazine. The article turned a lot of heads and got even more attention to the Tarahumara and copper canyons. The book now veers to other people who were inspired by Tarahumara namely a reputed running coach called Jonah V Hill who lived in California harbouring ambition to meet up with Raramuri but could not do that in his lifetime . He coached elite runners in the Raramuri ways especially that running is all about healing, community and giving rather than boosting self ego. Hill was very successful in his methods as his protégé Deena Kastor won bronze in Athens marathon 2004 also a time when Hill recovered from a heart attack through triple bypass. Deena has since documented in numerous forums the power of positivity and good nature helping people achieve unthinkable. Meanwhile Chris recounts how giving a nike streaker to Blanco nearly turned fatal for him. Blanco's soles swelled like elephanticitis once he took up the shoes instead of his usual sandals and even wrote to chris saying his running days were over. Blanco usually had to run 30 miles in trecherous mountains, cross a river into a small village school where he used a dial up to connect to emails . Chris wondered numerous times when he did not hear back from Blanco if he was even alive , such was his life.
Scott Jurek from Minnesota in the late 90s and early 2000s became one of the greatest ultra runners in the world , he set several records and wanted to challenge himself in unknown territories and best runners. This quest took Scott to run the famed Bad water ultra in the hottest place on earth namely death valley. Defying everything Scott won in a record 24 hr timings and that made him finally relent to Blanco's unusual requests . Blanco had been planning a copper canyon ultra pitting scott against Raramuri and the apache people . Scott wanted his name to be etched forever as the very greatest and so he took up the offer. There were two texas wannabe adventure runners Jenn and Bill who joined scott in this incredible expedition. Chris despite faciliting things when he told them he hardly knew Blanco they all were taken aback. There was some suspicion Blanco could be a psychopath and them coming to middle of nowhere was not a good idea at all. This was in 2006 when Scott had conquered spartathlon and badwater ultras. Scott always waits after race to congratulate all participants. Scott famously vomitted, wheezed for full 10 mins in the middle of badwater and then went on to win it actually ace it.
Jenn and Bill met in what most would say weird circumstances - Bill was a surfer in Virginia, Jenn wanted to explore Life guard courses and Bill smitten by her boldness offered to groom her , if she went full frontal to the beach and back! So the journey started and both ended up taking up courses in a university together had penchant for Surfing, Books (Mysteries, thrillers) and adventure. They were beach animals but wanted to explore the mountain trails via Running and aimed big to attempt 50 mile runs . Both had enormous endurance but Jenn was cut from a different cloth , she did everything at 200mph and famously set records in the Female category for National conference rugby. Jenn started crushing the Rockies mountain circuit 100miles and her record of 14 and half hours still stands in US for female. Jenn became one of the best ultra runners in the country at a young age and with a surfers body image she had plenty of admirers. Jenn and Billy in their wild ways consumed large swathes of margaritas in mexico right before Blanco's arduous trip to the copper canyons - Chris had to chaperone bill and clean up after Jenn who wounded up in a bra and shorts partying in some marriage hall in the middle of the night!
Barefoot Ted was another character who joined the above runners in the Copper canyon race . He could talk like no other often stopping after sermons ranging 5-10 hrs straight. Ted stayed with celebrities in burbank namely joyce chen her brother chase a famous artist and ended up marrying a bouncer named Lisa. Ted felt liberated in his pauper ways and took up barefoot running inspired by barefoot runner club and Bob ken. Ted conquered numerous ultra trails and setting records through barefoot running and maybe some rubber soles to go over asphalt and broken glass. According to Da vinci human foot is a master piece of engineering and can withstand n no. of terrains and alter its shock absorbers naturally. Barefoot ted became an icon for barefoot running world over and now was in the canyons going on a sermon about his life to Blanco. Blanco stopped everyone in the middle of the canyon crossing asking everyone to swear they take full responsibility should they get hurt , killed or go missing - This in the wake of extraordinary crimes being commited in the canyons off late (2006) thanks to the drug cartel. Even some Tarahumara runners were not spared.
Blanco took the crew along with Lewis and his dad into the canyons . They stopped at Mama's and munched over whatever they could including Beef & chicken stew . Scott explained how the Vegan diet has helped him with his ultras and healing process in fact there are japanese monks in mountains who are vegetarian relying on tofu, rice, vegetables and do ultras every week. Blanco and Don (Who is another outsider gringo who lives in the canyons) who are the only one to have been allowed into the Tarahumara closed confidence group mocked at Ted's barefoot and rockport fingers (which actually is like a glove for the feet made by Tony Post of Rockport) . The Fingers actually help yachting and other athletes. Ted's sermons and chris research shows that since 1970s thanks to Nike's policy of releasing new and updated running boots every year sports and running injuries skyrocketed. In fact podontics , orthodontics came to be ill reputed as at one point in 70s they were doing surgeries to remove cartillages for Runner's knee. It took early 2000s when so much clamour and support for barefoot running that Nike backtracked and came out with Nike Free almost like a sandal with less cushion . Research in the last few decades confirms that pro nation , super nation are all a myth generated by extra cushions and unnecessary bio mechanics of the shoe industry. In fact millions of years of evolution have helped human foot to be able to feel and flex its way over hard rocks, sharp surfaces and even prepare for thorns, bushes , asphalt etc. Running shoes from Ascas, Adidas , Brooks, Nike with their enlarging cushions, gels and comfort are spoiling the foot's natural radar ability and it is programmed to hit the landing hard when it is squishy as with the cushion and therefore leading to several problems . Research from Bill bowman , Irene davies and others have categorically proved that running barefoot or with less expensive footwear is beneficial . In fact a rule of thumb any shoe costing 45$ or less is worth it ! Costlier the shoes the more the issues. Most african marathoners run barefoot till they are into teens and that has helped their foot immensely.
Blanco or the white horse hated Ted's rambling about barefoot running and wished he had not come. Blanco took scott, ted, Billy , jen , Chris , lewis and Eric on a practice run to acclimatize with the canyons . This was not far only about 7 miles in scorching heat but it was nothing like what the crew had experienced. Jenn and Billy got lost in the first fork thanks to their hangover, lack of proper eating and sleep and wandered around for 6 hrs barely with anything to eat and dehydrated. They had to fill up on mud pool despite knowing they could get seriously ill - thanks to luck they got saved by Eric who spotted them after some well meaning howling and shouting and saved them with water , meds. Chris marvelled at how scott, Ted , Blanco despite wearing different footwear ran in exact same stance and movement which showed correct science for running. Chris also marveled at the wannabe 22 year olds Billy and Jenns' amazing ability to bounce back and run as if nothing happened after such adversity.
When Biologist David Bramble collaborated with top Anthromorphologists he could figure out that human body as Homo sapiens started to evolve with sole purpose of being better endurance athletes. The rubber band like tendons in our legs set us apart . The bigger butts and ability to stand erect to inhale more air when running the vast savannah grasslands and importantly muscles and tendons in our neck that set us apart from other ape cousins show us that somewhere in our evolution , mother nature conspired to create Homo sapiens as super runners. The neck tendons are there to keep the head still when running something dogs, horses have and not apes. Neanderthals perished about 100,000 years ago despite being stronger, taller , muscular and big brained than homo sapiens why ? Because climate changed and vegetation totally transformed to grasslands favoring movement in foot . Neandarthals could not run because they were heavier and relied on tools entirely for ambush. Homo sapiens formed endurance groups that could hunt with deception and wear out one or two stray deers, antelopes out from herd in the long run . Most of the herbivores are built to run sprints and are no match for humans in trotts and long runs. Several african tribes , tarahumura and the Australian Aborigines show us that 'Persistence hunting was a thing' . David and team proved this with a recent practical study of Lewis the physicist in southern africa . Lewis along with few bushmen (rare exception) hunted down several antelopes following methodical 'Persistence hunting' . Lewis recounts how this is better than using a bow and arrow . Humans are 'Born to run' , evolution has given us 'Endurance running' as our Super-power. Most of us don’t realize it or use it. Even males, females are reasonably egalitarian in running and also physique wise in human race than in neanderthals or apes. Females use meat protein in infancy , feeding and pregnancy. Going back to endurance running is proven to reduce risk of heart ailments, cancer, depression , obesity etc.
Meanwhile Cabello blanco was pleasantly surprised his copper canyon race had so many takers particulary on the Tarahumara side. Even the recluse Manuel Luna (who lost his star child) turned up and Ted befriended him. Cabello gave everyone nicknames 'Raramuri' style . Ted became monkey, scott the deer , Jenn the 'Witch' , Eric the Hawk and so on . Blanco was very cautious initially on how the gringos would mingle with Tarahumara but everything was laid to rest once they got together so well at the village the week off the race. Billy bonehead was a major crush for the village girls for his swimmer's body and he became the dolphin.
In the race the urique tarahumara got disqualified after taking short cuts not stipulated by race rules - Blanco as director of race found this behavior disappointing but realized how westernized the corn villagers of urique had become. They revered their western clothes and footwear and forgot their great running traditions altogether. However Chris sights several altruistic themes in the race which largely stuck to Korima (the circle of sharing, and act of giving without expectation of return, what I have is yours)
Raramuri kids waiting for Chris whenever they saw him panting in the treacherous 50mile race, Chris passing his last bottle of water to a near pale barefoot Ted in his last 5 miles, Exhausted Jenn offered a refreshing coke to kickstart last miles alongside Billy and importantly Scott waiting and urging his close race partner sylvinho in the last competitive miles of the race ... Scott may have almost given up podium to the legendary Raramuri runner al roofo .. Bob helped Chris up for his last 10 miles giving him much needed mango juice ..Bob and Blanco exemplified how gringos can transform into Raramuri ways. Chris finishes the book calling that humans were born to run but distance running takes sharing love and cooperation and that is everything Raramuri and our ancestors in Africa espoused off.
