"The Men Who Live Forever"

Tarahumara men have a taste for corn snacks and beer, for instance. They're hard workers, but come downtime, they party like a rap star's roadies... Tarahumara men love sports, booze, and gambling so much, they'll stay up all night to watch a game, down enough beer in a year to spend every third day buzzed or recovering, and support their teams by literally betting the shirts on their backs.

Sound familiar? But here's where American and Tarahumara men part company: Many of us will be killed by heart disease, stroke, and gastrointestinal cancers. Almost none of them will.

That's an exerpt from an amazing article in Men's Health written a few years ago by Christopher McDougall that still doesn't cease to amaze me. A friend of mine pointed out it out to me and I've referenced it in my NYC Marathon blog post.

It's a long article but worth the read if you want to hear about how these people can run for miles, party like rock stars, and live for a very, very long time. The main point of the article is whether or not an outsider can live like these people, do the same things, compete in long distance races, and run for miles on end without injury.

In particular, McDougall goes through a number of factors that contribute to their success. Their running form lands them squarely in the group of people who don't land on their heels when running.

Mierke believes there is a perfect, Tarahumara-like footstrike that can guarantee you will run longer and faster, and drastically reduce your chances of injury. The key is to stay off your heel and to use your leg as a pistonlike shock absorber.

"You wouldn't jump off a ladder and land on your heels, right?" Mierke asks. "Same with running. If you land on your heel, your leg is straight, and the impact is smashing into one joint after the other. If you land on your forefoot, however, with the leg bent, it absorbs shock using elastic tissues instead of bone."

Really? This is unbelievable. And they use nothing but simple sandals as their running shoes. Tell me more...

Running shoes have become so supercushioned and motion-controlling, they allow our foot muscles to atrophy and our tendons to shorten and stiffen. Without strength and flexibility, injuries are inevitable.

One of Hartmann's star clients, marathon world-record holder Paula Radcliffe, has been training in the Nike Free, a new, minimalist slipper designed to mimic the range of motion of a naked foot. Alan Webb, America's best miler, also works out in the Free. Webb had been hobbled by foot injuries early in his career, but after he started barefoot exercises, his injuries disappeared, and his shoe size shrank, from a 12 to a 9. "My foot muscles became so strong, they pulled my arches up," says Webb. "Wearing too much shoe prevents you from tapping into the natural gait you have when landing on the ground."

Nobody can do this all with this running without a well balanced diet, right? Of course not, the answer is one loaded with carbs.

The Tarahumara are warm and extremely hospitable. The owner of the hut, Avelado, invites us to scoop from the family's pinole bucket, a plastic tub half-filled with a soupy mix of water and ground corn. It's surprisingly tasty, with the texture of instant oatmeal and the aroma of movie popcorn. Pinole to the Tarahumara is like rice to Asians; it's the major component of every meal, occasionally topped off with pinto beans, a little squash, sometimes mice or a chunk of rabbit. Most of the time, Avelado says, he just sips it by the cupful throughout the day.

The full article can serve as a guide to long distance running as well as a motivational tool that will keep you inspired to keep running. Enjoy.