A couple of months ago when I was first starting my marathon training I picked up this book at the bookstore (with my own hard-earned money, I might add)

{Source - which also has a great review on the book and quotes many passages that give you a better sense of McDougall’s writing style}

I’ve been reading it slowly over the last few months – not because it wasn’t a great book, just because I don’t have a lot of time and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo distracted me for a good week

The Book

Born to Run is a book about running (obviously). It tells the story of the Tarahumara tribe in Mexico who are considered the best runners in the world. The entire book builds up to a fifty-mile race in the Mexican desert and canyons between the Tarahumara and modern-day ultra-marathoners like Scott Jurek.

While telling this story, McDougall also delves into the history of the running and shows through some pretty compelling evidence that people are in fact meant to run, and the fancy schmancy shoes we are wearing are what is actually causing us injury, not the action of running itself.

The main storyline is the race that takes place in the Mexican canyons and the characters that run it. But in different chapters McDougall jumps into narratives about other ultra-marathoners and ultra marathons, like the Leadville 100-mile race, he goes into the history of the running shoe and emerging theories about barefoot running and more. However, every chapter has a common theme that ties back to the main point of the book: We were Born to Run.

His writing is clever, quick-witted and descriptive without being overly descriptive. The book held my attention easily every time I picked it up.

Here’s an interesting quote about running shoes:

Page 168: “A lot of foot and knee injuries that are currently plaguing us are actually caused by people running with shoes that actually make our feet weak, cause us to over-pronate, give us knee problems. Until 1972, when the modern athletic shoe was invented by Nike, people ran in very thin-soled shoes, had strong feet, and had much lower incidence of knee injuries.”

That part of the book also goes on to say that between 65% and 80% of runners will have some sort of injury every single year! That’s a lot.

Of course, he quoted several different studies showing that people who ran with highly-cushioned, stable shoes suffered more injuries but I won’t get into it because then this post will be far too long. You’ll just have to read the book

My Thoughts

First, as a runner I really enjoyed this book. It made me want to run an ultra. I know what you’re thinking “Amber, calm down, you haven’t even ran your first marathon!” But have you ever read a book that’s so compelling it makes you want to do the thing its telling you about? That was this book for me.

I find the whole barefoot running thing absolutely fascinating and I’m actually hoping to score myself a pair of Vibram’s while I’m in the States this week. I don’t know if I will ever fully convert to being a barefoot runner but I’d love to have some Vibram’s to wear around on the weekends while I’m running errands and maybe even work up to a few shorter, 2 to 3 mile runs in them. I’m curious to see if they actually do strengthen my leg and foot muscles to make me a better runner. If they really do that then I’m sold!

Also, this book confirmed what I already knew about our bodies being meant to run. I am so sick of people saying “Running is ruining your legs” “Running is ruining your body” “Running is bad for you”.

Our bodies are meant to move. If you look at generations before us you can see there lifestyle is far more mobile than ours. Do you really think our bodies are meant to sit at a desk all day and then sit on the couch all night? No. Why do you think more people than ever before have heart disease and back pain. This isn’t a coincidence.

My body is meant to run and move and I’m going to keep running and moving my body in different ways through yoga and biking and strength training for as long as I physically can.

Giveaway

After reading the book, which I want to stress I bought with my own money, I contacted McDougall’s publisher at Random House and asked if I could have a copy of the book to give away on the blog, she happily agreed.

I highly recommend this book if you are a runner, wannabe runner or have someone close to you who is one of those things, or if you just like to read – it really is a thought-provoking, well-written book.

Here’s how you enter. Make sure you leave a separate comment for each one please.

One.

Leave a comment on this blog post telling me YOUR thoughts on the barefoot running phenomenon? Do you think that shoes with all this extra support, gel etc. are ruining our feet or do you think that’s a load of crap? Why or why not?

Two.

Tweet or Facebook about this giveaway and then leave me a comment with a link to your tweet or facebook post.

I’ll make it easy for you, here are a couple of sample tweets:

I want to win a copy of Born to Run from @AmberYake: http://bit.ly/at6sAh

Want to win a copy of Born to Run? Check out @AmberYake’s blog: http://bit.ly/at6sAh

Three.

Blog about this giveaway and leave a link to your blogpost.

This giveaway will be up until a week from now, Monday October 11 at 10:00 PM PST. I will choose a winner using random.org and announce it on Tuesday, October 12.

Good luck!

It’s been awhile since I did a Friday Five post and I know my IRL friend Tammy (Hi Tam!) enjoys them so here we go.

One.

I was talking to my friend Tiffany on Facebook yesterday and she was telling me about her latest dating escapades etc. and then she said, “So, what’s new with you?” and I was kind of at a loss because nothing is really new. At all. I work, I run, I blog/read blogs and I do my freelance work. Oddly enough, it’s kind of nice not to have anything “new” going on right now. I’m still very busy, but overall life is good!

Two.

So remember how I wanted to lose weight? Well about three weeks ago I started calorie counting again on Spark People and whaddya know, I’m losing weight. I guess I *still* have not mastered intuitive eating. Will I ever? Sigh. But it’s working, I’m down 4 pounds in about 3 weeks.

Three.

I am so ready for Eric to be here already. Remember how I wanted to be independent and single and live alone? Ya, I’m over that. Not that I didn’t enjoy doing those things and think that it was a really important experience for me to spend the last year living alone, but now I’m done with it. 11 more sleeps, 11 more sleeps, 11 more sleeps…

Four.

Who else is watching Big Brother 12? Anyone? I remember last summer when I was obsessed with it there were barely any other fans. Boo to that. Big Brother is the one reality TV show I enjoy. Bachelor/Bachelorette? PLEASE, so fake and stupid. Survivor? Ditto. I don’t really care for all the drama/plotting on Big Brother but the competitions they have are hilarious. HILARIOUS. I still haven’t decided who I like this season, but I’m leaning towards Ragan, Matt and Brittany.

Five.

I’m currently almost done American Wife. After the blogger book club read it a couple of months ago and all blogged about it I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it but my library only had the audio version. So Becky was super sweet and mailed me her copy! I will do a full post on it next week, but it’s seriously SO GOOD. Like, one-of-the-best-books-I’ve-ever-read good. I am very sad that I’m almost done.

What are your Friday Five this week?

The most-read post on my blog right now, by far, is the one I wrote a few weeks ago entitled How a book changed the way I eat.

In this post I do a review of the book ‘Eating Animals’ and explain that since reading this book I have no appetite for meat anymore.

Today I want to talk about  the fact that I haven’t ate meat for over two months, don’t plan on starting again anytime soon and I’m training for a marathon.

The #1 question I get, usually from people who’s mouths are hanging open and have no experience doing anything remotely close to training for a marathon is “Well, where do you get your protein from?”

After I calmly explain that I still eat dairy products, lots of beans and use protein powder in my smoothies etc. 99% of the time I get a, “That’s not enough protein!” response.

First, I’m going to point you to this blog, this blog, this blog and this blog. All blogs of athletes who have done insane things, think ran marathons, biked 100′s of miles, ran ultra-marathons, participated in triathlons, ran 8:00-minute miles etc.

All of them? Vegetarians and, in one case, Vegan.

The simple fact is that we do not need as much protein as we are made to believe and we can get our protein from other, non-meat sources.

I am not trying to force anyone to give up meat! It’s certainly not for everyone and I don’t even know if it’s something I will continue forever. But right now I literally cannot stomach the idea of eating meat, so I don’t.

It’s been better for my grocery bill, too

Here are some things I have been eating. On a side note, I need to get better at taking photos of my food because it’s usually pretty darn delicious!

Portabello mushroom burger with some veggies and a baked potato with cottage cheese. Some nights, when I’m tired and get home late, I throw a baked potato in the microwave, plop some cottage cheese on top and call it a meal. True story.

A scrambled egg wrap with spinach and mushroom, salsa for dipping and fresh cucumbers and tomato on the side.

I’ve also made a couple of batches of vegetarian chili in the crockpot with homemade cornbread and some really good veggie pizza!

So I’m curious to know if anyone else is in the middle of reducing their meat intake? And, whether you’re a vegetarian or not, what’s your favourite veggie-based meal?