Junnifer Ngo

Biology
Matt Leader
November 18, 2016
Born to Run Essay
The limits of the human bodies are set by a wide assortment of factors. Endurance has
been a topic of debate among many for years. Throughout Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe,
Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall, a
tribe of Native Americans, the Rarmuri, living in the canyons of northern Mexico's Sierra
known as Rarmuri. The Rarmuri are known for their amazing abilities in long distance racing,
being able to endure harsh terrain and keep themselves from wearing out. Their endurance is
highly praised by McDougall with a variety of experts adding to his aggrandized account of his
journey to understand the Rarmuri. McDougall explains his astonishment when he learns of the
Rarmuris typical diet and their ability to keep a lighthearted spirit in competition and
throughout races that would exhaust most others. The journalist even goes as far as looking into
the culture of the Rarmuri, seeing that their way of life could have much more to do with the
small tribes endurance. The Rarmuri confirm to be the living proof that daily habits, cultural
traditions and mental endurance are key factors in human endurance. Throughout his journey,
McDougall gawks at the Rarmuris diets, appalled meatless meals that lack the proteins other
ultrarunners live off of. The Rarmuris typical meal consist of complex carbohydrates that
make up about eighty percent of their diets. Its this balanced diet that gives the Rarmuri lower
pulse rates and blood pressure which allows them to bear with oxygen debt. This allows the
Rarmuri to be able to more comfortably live in higher altitudes, such as the canyon most

inhabit, but more importantly, run treacherous trails. Cultural importance is also very valued
within the Rarmuri tribe. McDougall goes into depth with how the Rarmuri take pride in their
running capabilities. Despite running being their pride, the Rarmuri dont receive formal
training. Instead, those who are able to run the fastest are revered as higher within their small
communities. The game rarajipari is briefly described by McDougall. He explains that its a
race where men dribble a wooden ball with their feet across rough terrain and run a total distance
up to one hundred and fifty miles. This race proves to be of great importance to the Rarmuri
people. Large races are the only few social gatherings Rarmuri people really attend. Instead of
being a serious competition, they value it as a social event where friendly competition is held and
those who win are more respected among their small communities. Theres also the overlooming
concept of mental endurance. This type of endurance is much more difficult to measure
compared to the physical endurance that can be seen by the Rarmuri are emphasized to take a
great deal of pride in their culture and strongly follow their cultures way of life. There are
various customs that McDougall encountered and accidently broke, quickly realizing and fearing
that his accidental disrespect would cost him the answers to the Rarmuris secrets of endurance
running. Its also this because of their strong pride n their culture that the Rarmuri have strong
mental endurance. In order to live in the Canyons, they give up so many of the modern worlds
conveniences. Instead, they choose to stand by their homeland and keep their traditions by
choice, enduring the knowledge that they choose this harder lifestyle.
Before McDougall goes onto this journey to find the Rarmuri and their amazing abilities
of endurance, hes confronted with the pains of ultrarunning. The sport is able to cause extreme
damage to the human body and many of the systems within. The muscular system is harmed
with any bit of exercise. Humans build stronger muscle by creating microtears within their

current muscles and allowing the body to fix itself while adding more muscle on top of the
previous layer in order to keep itself from being hurt again. However, ultrarunning causes
extreme stress on the muscles in the body and more times than not, ultrarunners dont allow the
body enough to time to fix the tears within the muscle and strengthen it. This leads to muscle
and tendon tears that could end an ultra runner's career. Not only is having well rested and
strengthened muscles important for any ultrarunner, but so is having a strong respiratory system.
Ultra races, and those that go up into higher altitudes especially, require large and healthy lungs
in order for the ultra runners to be able to intake enough air to oxygenate their system. Without
enough oxygen, blood in insufficiently oxygenated which can cause lightheadedness, nausea and
a variety of symptoms that will impair their running. Its because of this that the circulatory
system is greatly important in ultra-running. The circulatory system carries the blood, which
holds oxygen, carrying it throughout the body. Red blood cells flow through muscles,
oxygenating the body as they go. White blood cells fight off viruses, bacteria and other foreign
substances within the body the white blood cells deem potentially harmful. Platelets clog blood
flow when needed, scabing blood when a open wound occurs. Its the heart that keeps all the
blood cells flowing, pushing the stream of blood within the body bit by bit each second. The
heart regulates intake of oxygen as well as the output.
Through the curious lens of an outsider, McDougall starts to question if the Rarmuris
amazing ultra-running abilities are thanks to human evolution. He claims that running, a unique
quality, is they key factor that has allowed humans to survive through the days where predators
roamed around with eyes trained on human ancestors. The ability to outrun predators was key
for survival. Some scientists predict that homosapians, who evolved from apes, gave up the
capability to live in trees in favor of being able to run faster. Furthermore, human ancestors

evolved longer legs for lengthy strides, allowing quicker movement. The current day feet that
Homo sapiens have evolved are designed so that the balls of our feet efficiently. Additionally,
our shoulders have developed in a way that makes it easier for rotation, allowing us a better
balance with our heads. These all play a part in the current dynamics of Homo sapiens running.
The human body is made with intricate complexity and the central governor theory only adds
onto the ball of mystery behind human endurance. The central governor theory suggests there is
a part of the brain that sends signals to the body of pain when running out of energy in an attempt
of conserving an emergency energy supply. A few cases have shown that this part of the brain
can indeed be tricked into submission under certain circumstances and can be overcome by
mental endurance.
Mental endurance can be defined differently for any case. However, for running, mental
endurance is characterized as the ability to perform at the limits of the human body and being
able to ignore the distractions or be hindered by the conditions of a trail. McDougall frequently
mentions how hes amazed by the smiles he sees on the faces of Rarmuri runners as they speed
at a pace he would be enduring with great pain. He mentions a time when he sees a young
Rarmuri boy racing with a large stone ball, carrying it to the finish line by foot as he ran. The
grinning and excited glee McDougall perceives on the young boy astonishes him as he watches
the boy race across the rough terrain in measly sandals. His pride in his culture and his teaching
based on running shines through any pain he mightve been feeling. Its later when recounting a
tale where the Rarmuri participate in a towns ultra race where its shown that mental endurance
is stronger than the equipment being worn. The Rarmuri running were provided sport shoes and
were designed to help runners prevent injuries and support speed. However, the Rarmuri
runners stop and kick off the shoes in favor of their worn sandals. Its in these sandals that

theyre able to run their fastest and speed closer towards the finish line. Their ability to run up
and down the hazardous trail was due to their ability to perform at their best, despite having to
force themselves up steep hills and down winding curves for days.
Back to Born to Run, the main characters that shape McDougalls novel was the narrator himself - a Rarmuri ultrarunner named Caballo Blanco, and the known ultrarunner, Ann Trason.
The narrator himself is an ultrarunner struggling with Cuboid syndrome where a small injury
occurred on his calcaneocuboid joint and ligaments. McDougall goes into depth with how
running harms the human body in the beginning where experts explain to him vaguely why. He
then does onto talking about what he experiences and sees and talking about what his later
research explains. For example, after trying the drink Iskiate from the Raramuri, he explains that
another name for it is Chia Fresca and its made from chia seeds that are known to be packed
with calcium and a variety of vitamins. Later, McDougall is shown giving up his running due to
multiple diagnosis of famed experts explaining how ultra-running damages the human body.
However, while in Mexico, McDougall pick up on the stories of the Rarmuri which complexes
him. The awe that theyre able to run in harsher conditions with less technology while very
rarely falling under the hands of an injury spurred McDougall into looking for Caballo Blanco.
Caballo Blanco was part of the Rarmuri tribe, however, he was unlike most. While most from
the Rarmuri tribe prefer not to stray from their small communities, Caballo Blanco often left to
visit more modernized civilization. Caballo Blanco doesnt touch upon much of the biology of
ultra-running but instead leads the narrator to a goal and reminisces on a the historical rising of
ultrarunning and the Rarmuri. His story dives into the Leadville Trail where the Rarmuri truly
showed their abilities as strong runners against ultrarunner Ann Trason. Ann Trason goes on to
narrating the physical endurance and the mental challenges that runners must face in ultra-

running. She explains the desperate need to proper pacing and knowing when risks are needed.
Trason shows that understanding the strengths of your body is necessary when running in order
to plan the best way to take the next step ahead of you.
Born to Run, although is over exaggerated and has little science within it, gives a detailed
account of the true limits of human bodies. As someone who doesnt run as a sport, I had to
learn about the basics of running. Learning that so much human biology goes into what seems
like a simple sport has amazed me. Each component of the human body must work together to
in order to grow stronger and have better endurance. The human body is structured to have an
efficient way of running, however, the emphasis placed on training equipment has overrode the
concept that human endurance is highly based on the mental endurance of an individual. The
Rarmuri have a certain mindset placed into them from their culture that revolves around
running. Its this that allows them to break the limits that we put on ourselves. Where many see
running as a sport, a hobby, an accomplishment, they see it as the part of their identity. They
have so much more to lose. Theyve retained the natural way of running, resorting to their
sandals over our modernized sports shoes and their scraps of clothing then our enhanced
sportswear. The Rarmuri truly take advantage of the current human body structure as it was
purposely evolved to support endurance running.