Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
My name is Jamie. I love reading fantasy and realistic fiction books. My favorite book is Percy Jackson & the Olympians. Hockey is one of my favorite sports to play, and I’m in the 7th grade.
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen is an incredible book that uncovers the surprising story of a native Mexican tribe that runs ultra-long distances at very fast speeds—without wearing shoes.
The book starts with a team of five training for a 100-mile race who find out about a tribe of super athletes and become interested. The Tarahumara tribe is a hidden band of runners in Mexico’s dangerous Copper Canyons. They will run up to 500 miles barefoot in deathly desert heat without stopping.
Micah True, known by the tribe as “Caballo Blanco,” is an American long-distance runner who watches how these special people survive in terrible conditions. Wanting to help them, he organizes an ultra-marathon in the horrendous heat. Word soon gets out and some of the best runners in the Northwest—Barefoot Ted McDonald, Ruth Heidrich, Luis Escobar, Scott Jurek and so on—come to train.
All of these runners train and train until the race day arrives. A gunshot rings through the starting line and the runners are off. Ted McDonald even runs after his feet have been burned and blistered so badly by the desert heat. The Tarahumara runners were in front by miles—nobody thought they were that fast. The Tarahumara win the race easily, 3 hours before any other contestant. Everyone is amazed, but the tribe only wants everyone off their land.
Overall, this was an action-packed book that I would recommend to anyone who likes running or a good story. I enjoyed reading Born to Run.
