(Notice the man on your right is running in sandals.)
Born to Run
(Notice the man on your right is running in sandals.)
Born to Run
| Thanks
to my neighbor, Lorenzo, I got back into running for a time in 2010 –
until I fell off a ladder that summer. The running itself wasn’t quite
as easy as when I first took it up the exercise over 30 years ago. But,
it was a bit different. Because the neighbor lent me a copy of a book called
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Chris MacDougall. The book is of interest for obvious reasons. Less obvious ones are its implications about the perceived need for runners – and other folks – to wear shoes. Medicine and commerce have wheedled their way into so many aspects of modern life. The writer’s tale is about the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico who run everywhere and almost endlessly wearing huarache sandals – up to 120 miles on one occasion. Not quite barefoot, but pretty close. Born to Run was a fun read. Steven Sashen in Colorado has taken up the cause, sells and promotes the huaraches through his site at http://www.invisibleshoe.com/ Steven also has two new running videos at http://www.invisibleshoe.com/1332/ I liked the first one better, but they both are interesting, funny and brief. Of particular interest are his pokes at the running shoe business and the orthopedic medicine business. See if you get the message watching either of the videos. |