Born to Run

 

I started joining fun runs early this year. I’m not a pro in running but I enjoy doing it. A very dear friend of mine Reverie Llanes-Aniñon told me to get this book about running which she and her hubby has been reading. Rev,has been my long-distant-walking-book-review-adviser. She is 10x more of a book worm as I am. I recall college days when we spent out mall hours digging books on any book sale we can find or killing time browsing the books trying to get free-reads on book shops. She told me the book was truly inspiring and she will share thoughts with me about it once I’m done reading it. I promised her I will get the book as soon as I can and true to my words, I purchased one:

BORN TO RUN

A Hidden Tribe , Superathletes  and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen

by Christopher McDougall

Category: Sports;Memoirs

Published by: Vintage Books a division of Random House ,Inc

New York

First Vintage Books Edition,March 2011

I walked inside the bookstore, normally, I will stop at the first shelf of books and work my way to the last shelf browsing and reading back covers. This time, I knew what I wanted and I went straight to the bookstore associate. I asked if they have available copy of BORN to RUN by Christopher McDougall and the lady told me there’s two left. As soon as she handed me a copy I smiled, held it in my hands like a priced possession and went straight to the counter to pay for it. Normally  once again, I will never  walk to the counter to pay for a book not until I have my arms loaded with books that I want and has to stare at them for almost an hour before I will  decide which one I would take home and the ones I need to come back for.

Since it was getting late, I haul my self to a bus before the rush hour. Sitting at the bus, I tore open the package and signed my name on the first page with a date. I always do this on all my books so I can remember when I got them. I wasted no time flipping the pages and started reading.

Running. Why do humans run? Do they have to? Why does animals do the same? Do they really have to? Christopher McDougall’s story, a.k.a “El Oso”(the bear) is not just incredible. It will not only engage our mind but inspire our body the moment we realize that you, in fact all of us were BORN to RUN.  As humans, we are designed to have two lower extremities not only for the sake of posture or form. These extremities we called legs and feet are designed to walk, swim, jump, leap gallop…. RUN.

As I was reading each and every page , chapter by chapter I had lots of realizations on why we are all born to run. *"We run when we’re scared, we run when we’re ecstatic, we ran away from our problems and run around for a good time, and when things look worst we run the most*” The book featured not only the world’s champions and ultra runners but the most distinguished experts and researchers, the respected sports medical specialist as well as the giant sports shoe companies that up to this date are still working hard to find solutions and remedies on how to avoid fatal running injuries which basically pushed El Oso to this epic adventure that began with his one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? Aside from these known personalities in the running industry, this adventure lead them to the hidden tribe of super athletes isolated by Mexico’s deadly Copper Canyons, the fascinating Tarahumara Indians who have the ability to run hundreds of miles without rest or injury. They are The Running People sans expensive designer running shoes, sans training, sans stretching and warm-ups prior to race, sans power bars and energy drinks.

What made me love this book?

With this book, I realized I made the right choice purchasing barefoot minimalist shoes.Ha! Ha!… It’s pretty obvious I love this weird-looking toe-shoes called Vibram Five Fingers as I have mentioned in my previous blog. Naturally, a human don’t need  shoes to run good. According to Barefoot Ted “*our feet follows the concept of bricolage—that less is more,the best solution is the most elegant. Why add something when you are born with everything you need*” I have been using it for months, I got myself two pairs and I seldom suffer from leg cramps lately. I guess it is working good for  me.

On one of my recent blog To Do List, losing weight and working out is my To Do list that I can’t seem to finish off. Hopefully, as inspired as I am with this book, I will be able to mark it done by RUNNING. “* If you’re tougher than you think you are, and you can do more than you think you can*”. So, there is nothing impossible. I will run and I can be good if I want to. “*You don’t’ have to be fast, you’d better be fearless*” . I’m fearless enough alright. I know I am. Slowly but surely. I don’t have to go speeding off right away. I am walking now as much as I can and so is my friend Rev. According to the phantom Caballo Blanco’s lessons on running, just think of these four words EASY, LIGHT, SMOOTH and FAST. “* start with EASY, if that’s what you get, that’s not so bad. Make it LIGHT- effortless,don’t give a sh*t on how high the hill is or how far you will go. SMOOTH- smooth enough your embracing running that you forgot you’re practicing the first two words. FAST- get those first three and one will be FAST in no time*” Four words to remember and master. That would be easy. For us who are now inspired that we can be ultra runners (wishful thinking  ), to truly conquer something is to truly love it. Way to go Rev! Who knows?, We will be cruising with the Raramuri someday!

As I closed the book , few of El Oso’s words remain to linger on my mind. “Nothing works out according to plan but it always work out” Well then, I may still won’t be able to mark running as done on my To Do list soon but  definitely, I will be running.

“* When you run on the earth and you run with the earth, you can run forever!”

Happy Reading!

^{*lines from the book}

^{Read More:}

- Second Wind (
http://caloybsecondwind.blogspot.com/
)

- Iron Jonas (
http://ironjonas.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/34-miles-in-90-hours/
)

- Running with Lobos (
http://ironjonas.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/34-miles-in-90-hours/
)

- Running Inspired Blog (
http://runninginspired.wordpress.com/
)

- FatSmokerIronMan (
http://fatsmoker2ironman.com/
)

-

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Check out related YouTube video clips:

Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon in Born to Run–Actual Photos during the race by barefoot Ted.

 

Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon–Taken two-days before the race when the participants walked the first section of the course together–by barefootTed

 

Featuring the Super athletes of Sierra Madre , the Tarahumaras with the phantom himself Caballo Blanco

follow the leader

 

As a follow up from my previous post “Competition” and “VFF- my feet’s new BFF”

Five Fingers started everything according to my understanding. The did research and promoted barefoot minimalist shoes by creating Vibram Five Fingers Barefoot Minimalist TOE shoes.

VFF shoes were created with lots of designs for men and women and  even children over which these designs were made in reference to the researches and studies done as well the sports and outdoor activities that these shoes were specifically made for.

They gained lots of VFF fans and avid users , myself included.

Like I have mentioned in my previous post, Competition makes this world go round. The demand to create the type of shoes has inspired other companies as well to create one of their own : So,.. follow the leader!

FILA has then given birth to FILA Skele-toes:

Not too long ago , Adidas has launched their very own Barefoot Minimalist shoes in the image of Adipure Trainers:

Before we all know it , other shoe manufacturers has been creating shoes in the same way to promote barefoot running:

  ZEM’s barefoot minimalist shoe in a “SPLIT-Toe” design.

  INOV-8 ‘s barefoot minimalist toe-shoe  design EVOSKIN

 

Regardless of the others having to create Toe-Shoes to keep up with the demand on the barefoot technology,It has been known that Vibram Five Fingers is the original. Unknown to many other shoe company will be coming with their own representation of toe-shoes sooner . Are we going to be surprise if one of the biggest like Nike will be having their toe-shoes soon? or have they already slowly started to ease their way up in creating them starting of with the Nike Air Rift in split-toe style?

Do you think Nike already did?… ha! ha!

What about this funny toe shoe imitations everywhere?

 

Impressive designs right????…… Here’s another one! =)

Guess I will just be watching for more designs coming up from other shoe manufacturers then. I still love Nike, Adidas , Fila and I will be caught having their products on anytime . They are already good for what they already have and known for, but for me, there is only one toe-shoe , it’s Vibram Five Fingers and the heck with the rest of the followers and the wanna-be VFFs.

competition

FUN RUNs has been an “IN” thing lately. It has for me. It is actually a good activity not just for pro runners but also for businessmen , clubs and organizations, fund-raisers, charity for a cause , local government and big companies promoting products. Aside for health and getting fit reasons, Runs and Races can be of multiple purpose. For pro runners, it could be a training, a passion,  or an assessment to beat their own pace , or beat a competition. For “fun runners” (which i belong) can just be a simple thing to unwind, to release stress , an activity to get pictures (to post on Facebook ha! ha!) or simply a way to get fit( seriously?…okay.. considered.!).

Whatever the reason to run every runner has , the results are always for the good. When we say run to race, it means competition. Not just for the runners as to who gets to the finish line first but the also for the “thing” that takes the runner to bring home the gold.- – - Yepper! it’s the RUNNING SHOES.

Now  here is the thing, How can running shoes take the runner to the finish line when science and research has shown and are promoting  barefoot running simply for medical and health reasons? We all want to get fit right?

As I get hooked up  with running on “fun runs” , it also got me interested with running. I started reading articles and blogs about it. I look for tips on how to take care of muscle pain and sore feet after runs. I read tips on how to train and prepare for an upcoming long distance run and of course it also got me interested the “fashion” with running. For me , it is more motivating than beating my current pace to advance my level. Fashion with running involves running pants, the proper runner’s bra to use, the new release trainer’s shirt , pedometers , gadgets , and of course SHOES.

I have been using Vibram Five Fingers for a couple of months now. For somebody that is not really an athlete nor a runner,  VFFs are expensive! I almost would have fever chills after the realization of the purchase has  sink  in but then as I started to put it on, I also start loving it. I walk all the time , and I love walking. I have been continuously using my VFF Treksports  for the first  2 weeks straight after its purchase. The very first time I switched back to my regular flats anf flip flops, I got blisters on my sole and the tips of my toes. Well , I guess I’m really loving it. I am planning to get my second pair anytime soon and I am checking the internet for any possible VFF model that I would get. As I was surfing  and browsing  I found this:

( from http://www.gizmodo.com)

Not looking at the photo’s caption, I am asking myself, “Are those from Vibram Five Fingers too?”, checking further I learned that it is not Vibram Five Fingers. It is actually………. Yepper! ADIDAS ADIPURE  Trainers Barefoot minimalist shoes!

If there is really a  demand to create a barefoot minimalist shoes , do they have to create it with TOES? Reading most of the articles, I somehow understand why Five Fingers got their product name , it is because their shoes have this FIVE toes  making it a barefoot shoe having Vibram as the sole.

Well I guess this is what we called COMPETITION… and it makes this world go round!