Throw Away Your Shoes? Pt 1

A friend gave me the book "Born To Run" by Christopher McDougall yesterday. At the half-way point right now and I can say that it is a fun read. The book has great characters and weaves an interesting story from a equally interesting Beat perspective and is all purportedly a true story.

In the past 3 - 4 years I have become a regular reader of Mark Sisson's blog. He is also known as The Primal Man guy. Mark's research of current science yielded the conclusion that man evolved as a long-distance walker who can run short distances at high speed.

The Born To Run thesis is that man evolved as a long-distance runner to, for example, run down his prey by exhausting it death. Mark's take on the argument was posted on his blog last month.

In Born To Run, the book focuses on the elusive and little known Tarahumara tribe in Northern Mexico. They run in sandals and supposedly have created an idyllic society and lifestyle around long-distance running.

In a way, the argument about who is right regarding human evolution and whether we are long-distance runners by genetics and birthright are moot. The real take-aways for me are: 1) if you have back, feet, ankle, knee, etc problems, try going barefoot and see what happens. 2) Love what you are doing all the time - even the pain and exhaustion during extreme exertion.

Happy Trails

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