Quotes from Christopher McDougall

a meat cleaver of a vocabulary when it comes to describing people. In the Tarahumara tongue, humans come in only two forms: there are Rarámuri, who run from trouble, and chabochis, who cause it.

If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you. —Gnostic Gospel of St. Thomas

There's something so universal about that sensation, the way running unites our two most primal impulses: fear and pleasure. We run when we're scared, we run when we're ecstatic, we run away from our problems and run around for a good time.

this ninety-five-year-old man came hiking twenty-five miles over the mountain. Know why he could do it? Because no one ever told him he couldn't. No one ever told him he oughta be off dying somewhere in an old age home. You live up to your own expectations...

You know what kind of nerves are in your feet? The same ones that network into your genitals. Your feet are like a minnow bucket full of sensory neurons, all of them wriggling around in search of sensation. Stimulate those nerves just a little, and the impulse will rocket through your entire nervous system; that's why tickling your feet can overload the switchboard and cause your whole body to spasm.

You could literally halt epidemics in their tracks with this one remedy," he said. He flashed two fingers up in a peace sign, then slowly rotated them downward till they were scissoring through space. The Running Man. "So simple," he said. "Just move your legs. Because if you don't think you were born to run, you're not only denying history. You're denying who you are.

You don't have to be fast. But you'd better be fearless.

E atat de simplu. Trebuie doar sa-ti misti picioarele. Pentru ca, daca nu intelegi ca te-ai nascut pentru a alerga, nu-ti negi doar istoria, iti negi propria fiinta.

Runners in shoes that cost more than $95 were more than twice as likely to get hurt as runners in shoes that cost less than $40.

Distance running was revered because it was indispensable; it was the way we survived and thrived and spread across the planet. You ran to eat and to avoid being eaten; you ran to find a mate and impress her, and with her you ran off to start a new life together. You had to love running, or you wouldn't live to love anything else.

Wilt Chamberlain, all seven feet one inch and 275 pounds of him, had no problem running a 50-mile ultra when he was sixty years old after his knees had survived a lifetime of basketball.

Exercise only with the intention to carry out a physical gain or to triumph over competitors," Hébert believed, "is brutally egoistic.

And if I really wanted to understand the Raramuri, I should have been there when this ninety-five-year-old man came hiking twenty-five miles over the mountain. Know why he could do it? Because no one ever told him he couldn't.

Talkers aren't listeners

I am a shepherd, too, like Polyphemus, so I knew all about it.

Deny your nature, and it will erupt in some other, uglier way.

In terms of nutritional content, a tablespoon of chia is like a smoothie made from salmon, spinach, and human growth hormone.

an hour in running shoes, I got almost instantly from these Kangoo boots," Ted says. "My worldview of what I needed was shattered." Furious and frustrated, he yanked them off his feet. He couldn't wait to shove the stupid Kangoos back in the box and mail them back to Switzerland with instructions for further shoving. He stalked

that it took him nearly the entire walk to notice what was happening: his back didn't hurt. Didn't hurt a bit. Heyyy … Ted thought. Maybe I can

The way to activate your fat-burning furnace is by staying below your aerobic threshold—your hard-breathing point—during your endurance runs.

Hébert had one firm rule: No Competing. Ever.

As much for his mind as for his body, Erwan likes to run it barefoot.

The reason we race isn't so much to beat each other, [...] but to be _with_ each other.

Unlike any other organism in history, humans have a mind-body conflict: we have a body built for performance, but a brain that's always looking for efficiency.