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grant_volpe 's review for:
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
by Christopher McDougall
I enjoyed the story for the most part and it definetly got my hype for my first half marathon. BUT the individual backstories of each competitor in the final race got kind of boring at times, especially with each of them being labeled “the best ultra runner of all time” at one point or another. There should only be one right? My other gripe is that there is laughably brief snippet on actually how the author himself went from injury-ridden runner to in the best shape of his life. I was expecting a lot more detail about how us readers can take action and make change to their form/technique to prevent injury and run longer distances with less pain. (Other than running barefoot….which he then goes on to say you shouldn’t switch to suddenly. So when exactly are you supposed to go from shoe running flat sole’d???) The whole basis to the story of discovering the secrets of the Tarahumara was because of McDougalls foot injury but he just kind of breezes over how he went to some expert exercise physiologist and miraculously corrected everything about his form without actually giving readers actionable steps to improve themselves. So that was probably the biggest letdown. I also still don’t get how some of the best runners in the world like Kipchoge use the most up to date, high cushion, low impact running shoes, but half this books is basically a hit piece on the running shoe industry….like if running in flat foot sandals was really the best then why do all the top runners (at least the ones who actually WIN ultra marathons) not do it? Also at one point he pointed out a study that said stretching makes you more injury prone which I just don’t know if I completely buy.