Born to Run : The hidden tribe, the ultra-runners, and the greatest race the world has never seen Synopsis
At the heart of Born to Run lies a mysterious tribe of Mexican Indians, the Tarahumara, who live quietly in canyons and are reputed to be the best distance runners in the world; in 1993, one of them, aged 57, came first in a prestigious 100-mile race wearing a toga and sandals. A small group of the world's top ultra-runners (and the awe-inspiring author) make the treacherous journey into the canyons to try to learn the tribe's secrets and then take them on over a course 50 miles long. With incredible energy and smart observation, McDougall tells this story while asking what the secrets are to being an incredible runner.
Travelling to labs at Harvard, Nike, and elsewhere, he comes across an incredible cast of characters, including the woman who recently broke the world record for 100 miles and for her encore ran a 2:50 marathon in a bikini, pausing to down a beer at the 20 mile mark.
'Memoirs usually rearrange events to suit the author and downplay their shortcomings. Springsteen doesn't spare himself.' Sunday Times Magazine
'By the standards of most rock star autobiographies, Born to Run is neither sensational nor self-serving... Springsteen has delivered his story with quiet dignity. Give thanks that we can't get rid of him.' Guardian
'I can't think of a more honest or revealing memoir by any rock musician: in comparison, it makes the efforts of Patti Smith, Keith Richards and Bob Dylan seem strangely commonplace.' Mail On Sunday
'Astonishing.' Vanity Fair
'An utterly unique, endlessly exhilarating, last-chance-power-drive of a memoir.' Rolling Stone
'Frank and gripping.' Atlantic
'Intensely satisfying...Born to Run is, like his finest songs, closely observed from end to end. His story is intimate and personal, but he has an interest in other people and a gift for sizing them up...' New York Times
'Springsteen can write-not just life--imprinting song lyrics but good, solid prose that travels all the way to the right margic...And like a fabled Springsteen concert-always notable for its deck-clearing thoroughness -Born to Run achieves the sensation that all the relevant questions have been answered by the time the lights are turned out. He delivers the story of Bruce-in digestibly short chapters-via an informally steadfast Jersey plainspeak that's worked and deftly detailed and intimate with its readers-cleareyed enough to say what it means when it has hard stories to tell, yet supple enough to rise to occasions requiring eloquence-sometimes rather pleasingly subsiding into the syntax and rhythms of a Bruce Springsteen song.' New York Times Book Review
Author
About Christopher McDougall
Christopher McDougall is a former war correspondent for the Associated Press and is now a contributing editor for Men's Health. A three-time National Magazine Award finalist, he has written for Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Outside, Men's Journal, and New York Times.
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