Quotes from Christopher McDougall

Comencé a embriagarme con la vista que tenía alrededor, observando como el sol se alzaba sobre la falda de la montaña, tiñendo el río de dorado. En breve me encontraría a la altura de esa cima.

Es hace poco que contamos con la tecnología necesaria para convertir el holgazaneo en una forma de vida; hemos cogido nuestros cuerpos vigorosos y resistentes de cazadores-recolectores y los hemos dejado caer en un mundo artificial de ocio.

Ultra god Scott Jurek summed up the Young Guns' unofficial creed with a quote from William James he stuck on the end of every e-mail he sent: "Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own; sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction." As

Y como todo lo demás que amamos en esta vida -todo aquello que, sentimentalmente, llamamos nuestras "pasiones" y "deseos"-, es realmente una necesidad ancestral codificada. Todos nacimos para correr; todos nacimos porque podemos correr. Todos somos La Gente que Corre, como siempre han sabido los tarahumaras.

de la misma forma que alzamos los brazos automáticamente cuando resbalamos sobre hielo, las piernas y pies instintivamente caen con más fuerza cuando perciben una superficie blanda. Cuando corremos con zapatillas con protección, los pies van a través de las suelas en busca de una superficie dura, estable. «Llegamos

we were perfecting the art of combining our breath and mind and muscles into fluid self-propulsion over wild terrain.

In the Tarahumara tongue, humans come in only two forms: there are Rarámuri, who run from trouble, and chabochis, who cause it.

Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own; sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction.

Ann knew she needed more than willpower: she needed fear. Once she was out front, every cracking twig would spur her toward the finish. "To move into the lead means making an act requiring fierceness and confidence," Roger Bannister once noted. "But fear must play some part … no relaxation is possible, and all discretion is thrown to the wind.

The art of the hero wasn't about being brave; it was about being so competent that bravery wasn't an issue. You weren't supposed to go down for a good cause; the goal was to figure out a way not to go down at all.

The art of the hero wasn't about being brave; it was about being so competent that bravery wasn't an issue. You weren

Months later, I'd learn that iskiate is otherwise known as chia fresca—"chilly chia." It's brewed up by dissolving chia seeds in water with a little sugar and a squirt of lime. In terms of nutritional content, a tablespoon of chia is like a smoothie made from salmon, spinach, and human growth hormone.

Here's the truth," Eric said. "You've got zero margin of error. But you can do it." I'd have to forget everything I knew about running and start over from the beginning. "Get ready to go back in time," Eric said. "You're going tribal.

había entendido que no corremos para ganarnos los unos a los otros, sino para estar junto a esos otros.

All my pacers are women," Chlouber says. "They get the job done.

Opportunity makes thieves." What

while Jack Kirk—a.k.a. "the Dipsea Demon"—was still running the hellacious Dipsea Trail Race at age ninety-six. The race begins with a 671-step cliffside climb, which means a man nearly half as old as America was climbing a fifty-story staircase before running off into the woods. "You don't stop running because you get old," said the Demon. "You get old because you stop running.

Ask nothing from your running, in other words, and you'll get more than you ever imagined.

error. It was Saturday evening, February 25, 2006, and I had twenty-four hours

Korima sounds like karma and functions the same way, except in the here and now. It's your obligation to share whatever you can spare, instantly and with no expectations: once the gift leaves your hand, it was never yours to begin with.

it's like in life, you have obstacles and you train to overcome them. You search for the best technique. You keep the best, you repeat it, and then you get better.

You don't stop running because you get old, the Dipsea Demon always said. You get old because you stop running… .

Gradually, the backroom brawler named Mike Hickman disappeared. In his place arose Micah True, a name inspired by "the courageous and fearless spirit" of the Old Testament prophet Micah and the loyalty of an old mutt called True Dog.

I didn't love running, but I wanted to.