Take it easy…

Posted on December 3, 2009 by Josh

Not sure if I’ve said this before, but it’s a good idea to take it easy when doing new things.

Kids will “go for broke” a lot of times, but because they’re so small, and still so resilient, the injuries that result from that exuberance are usually relatively minor (scratched knees), and heal relatively quickly.

The bigger and older you get, the harder it is.

I want to relate this to the barefooting experience, but first, a personal anecdote:

Back in 2001, when I was just starting out as a trainer, I decided it was a great time to try skateboarding. That was when I was 28, and weighed a good 200-210 pounds.

I bought all the gear, and started going to the skate park regularly. I also started to appreciate ice.

When a little kid falls, they fall from a distance of one, or maybe two feet. When I was falling, it was from a distance of three or so feet (as the skateboard shot out from under my feet).

What’s the difference? Well, a 90k (roughly 200lbs) mass falling from a height of 1 meter (roughly three feet), will have an impact force of 17640 Newtons. A 23k (roughly 50 pound) kid, falling from a height of .6m (roughly 2 feet), will have an impact force of 1352 Newtons.

I’m hitting the ground with a magnitude greater force than that kid is!

And that hurts.

Probably could’ve spent some more time getting familiar with the board. Acquainting myself with standing on it on a carpet for a couple of weeks. Progressing to using it in a parking lot or someplace very flat, but not very fast. I maybe could’ve spent a few weeks or months in that environment, before moving into the very fast environment of the skate park.

But that’s not what I did!

Barefooters (or anyone doing something new) will experience similar problems in this regard, and it will pay huge dividends to think about this before you start your new exercise program or routine, rather than contemplating it from the recovery room later.

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. If you’ve been predominantly shoe-bound most of your life, your foot and leg musculature are most likely not ready for a full-on barefoot (or Vibram FiveFinger) onslaught.

Keep your shoes!

Cycle the new activity in to your normal routine. Do it in small doses at first. Gradually build up your activity in that new pattern. And by gradually, I mean, consider how long you’ve not been doing that activity. Give yourself at least an equal number of years to be perfectly comfortable in the new activity.

This relates to weight-loss as well. I have people ask me how long it will take them to lose a certain amount of weight. My immediate response always is – How long did it take you to put that weight on, and how long have you been maintaining that weight? Once they answer, they’ve answered their own question.

Plan on it taking you just as long to take off weight as you’ve been carrying it around with you.

While it’s possible to lose weight very quickly, such fast change is rarely permanent. Your body adjusts its levels of (internal or external) activity to the ongoing demand it experiences.

This is like habit. You have to form a new pattern of activity for your body to adjust to. And then you have to maintain that pattern…

Anyway, the point is this – Take it easy. Take it slow. Take your time. Pay attention to the process. Feel the things happening in the moment. Don’t rush by them. Then you’ll be able to appreciate the end-result that much more.

Keep your shoes

Posted on December 2, 2009 by Josh

A lot of people have been commenting on my pictures from the time I spent last week with the Barefoot Sensei.

“Why is he wearing shoes,” they ask?

The answer is – because it’s really cold out there!!!

When it's cold, wear shoes.

Mick is the Barefoot Sensei because he believes that people have lost their primary connection in life – with the Land that supports their life.

The main way that most human beings experience the Land, most often and most easily, is through the soles of their feet.

Hence, Barefoot Sensei.

He does not require people to be barefoot, or encourage people to be barefoot all the time.

Instead, he asks people to use their mind.

The human animal is creative, crafty, and skillful. When the habitat is dangerous, it figures out a way around that danger – whether it’s sharp rocks, sticks, thorns, or…yes, shoes.

However, another good point that Mick makes is this – no factory currently in existence (it is a possibility) can produce a shoe made for your foot.

Hence the mukluks.

For those interested, Mick recommended two sources. The first is Steger Mukluks. Steger was actually also recommended by Tom Brown’s school when I attended it. The beauty of the Stegers is that they are not “custom made” (and so, relatively less expensive than others), but that they are made with traditional materials in traditional ways and so will utterly conform to the shape of your foot over time.

The second is Dave’s Shop. This couple are friends of Mick, and hand-make moc’s and mukluks based on a mold that you create and mail to them.

Me? I live in the City. I buy regular shoes. But I try to get ones that fit, that are flexible, and relatively unobtrusive to my feet – like the Vivo Barefoot…or flip flops.

Which points out another thing to consider – habitat. If you’re in a city, you can do just as much damage to yourself as if you’re in a desert, or in a snowy area. You need shoes when you’re in a place that might damage your feet. Consider your habitat.

The last, and most important thing to think about when using your brain (which you’re hopefully doing now) is this tendency to say “all-or-nothing,” and/or to automatically reject things that are foreign or out of the status quo, or your comfort-zone.

Watch out for this tendency in yourself. Shooting other people down, or crying “hypocrite” because you don’t have the patience to think through things is just as inexcusable as being dogmatic about your opinions or practice.

In fact, they’re basically the same behavior.

Bare Feet, Language, Saxons and Celts

Posted on November 30, 2009 by Josh

A recent article in Discover online describes the discovery of an English podiatrist that:

“Traditional English feet, Jackson says, tend to be broad and somewhat pointed–the toes form a steep angle from the first to the fifth. The Celtic evacuees, in contrast, had toe tips that were almost level with one another, and their feet tended to be longer and slimmer–except for a bulge at the base of the big toe, where bunions form.”

This led to the formation of plenty of bunions in those of Celtic descent.

What interests me here is that the article title, “Human Origins/Language/British Feet,” uses the word “language” in it, though there is no reference to language in the article.

I don’t think it’s incorrect, however!

As the Barefoot Sensei told me during my stay with him, language and walking are very intimately connected.

Since then, I’ve been doing some digging of my own.

More soon!

Ethics in Science

Posted on October 28, 2009 by Josh

Ethical considerations are very important in the design, practice, and reporting of scientific research.

However, I think there is something else behind the need for a document like the APA’s extensive manual. A quote from the Tao Teh Ching will help to illustrate this:

Chapter 18
When the great Dao is lost to sight,
codes of goodness and morality appear.
When cleverness and shrewdness are produced,
massive hypocrisy appears.
When family relationships lose natural harmony,
“filial piety” and “devoted parenthood” arise.
When there is strife and anarchy within the state,
“loyal patriots” abound.
(trans. Chilcott, 2009).

I don’t think that a manual like the APA’s points, necessarily, to rampant unethical behavior. As one of my graduate professors pointed out, ethical “breaches” are reportedly around 1-2%. But the manual does point to something, which is the issue related to the field of kinesiology, and ethics in science that I’d like to address here.

It is the habit we have gotten into as scientists of investigating symptoms, instead of causes.

The first example that comes to mind is that of modern gait research. Modern gait research studies the human foot in a shoe. However, “The human foot was anatomically modern, and therefore fully functional for bipedal walking and endurance running, more than 100,000 years ago” (D’Aout, et al., 2009, pg. 103). The use of footwear in general has only been seen in the fossil record as early as 30,000 years ago (Trinkaus, 2005, pg. 1516). Habitual use of the type of rigid footwear in vogue in our current culture extends back to the 17th century – and at that time was seen mostly in wealthy, or aristocratic populations. Widespread use of rigid footwear by a majority of Western Europeans probably began only around the time of industrialization – about 150 years ago.

As reported in D’Aout, et al. (2009) – “Habitually shod Indians wear less often, and less constricting shoes than Western people. Yet, we found significant differences with their habitually barefoot peers, both in foot shape and in pressure distribution” (D’Aout, et al., pg. 104). This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Modifications of tissue morphology following the use of a plaster cast are well known to anyone who has ever had to wear one. Modern footwear, or even sandals (as shown by D’Aout), alters truly normal (as opposed to an “observed” or “cultural normal”) foot kinematics in much the same way as a plaster cast.

In Western European culture (or those of Western European descent), which have generated the majority of gait research in the past 100 years, the large majority of research has been on individuals who habitually wear shoes.

Can we safely say, then, after 100 years of research, that we truly have a good understanding of normal human gait (as in “physiologically normal” – concerning the human animal as a species that has existed without footwear for roughly 100,000 years)?

Further, if, as Booth and Laye point out, it is true “that removal of 8500 steps (dropping from ~10,000 to ~1500) in the absence of a structured exercise program for two weeks results in abnormal physiological changes in healthy young men” (Booth and Laye, 2009, pg. 2), and we have not noted the daily activity levels of participants in gait research studies, can we claim to have studied “physiologically normal” human gait at all (with or without shoes)?!

First, we are studying an abnormal population in terms of morphology and kinematics, due to the use of footwear (both the restrictive effect of footwear on truly normal movement of the foot, and the accompanying loss of tissue tonus and function accompanying that loss of normal movement). Then, we are studying a potentially (in terms of gross physiology) abnormal population (in terms of evolutionary history of the animal) due to lack of sufficient movement in general, and the accompanying loss of proprioception and tissue strength/tonus.

When we then begin to recommend “orthotic inserts” as solutions to musculoskeletal or movement impairments, based on those studies of “normal” human gait, are we treating the problem(s) itself (or themselves – namely, lack of physiologically-normal movement, both in quality and quantity), or are we treating the symptom of the problem (i.e., dysfunction caused by lack of physiologically-normal, not culturally-normal, movement)?

What are the ethical implications of pursuing science in this manner? And shouldn’t the discussion and resolution of this ethical issue precede the practice of designing, performing, and reporting scientific research?

Booth, F.W., Laye, M.J. (2009). Lack of adequate appreciation of physical exercise’s complexitiescan pre-empt appropriate design and interpretation in scientific discovery. Journal of Physiology, Ahead of Print.

Chilcott, T. (2009). Daode Jing. http://www.tclt.org.uk/translations.html

D’Aout, K., Pataky, T.C., De Ciercq, D., & Aerts, P. (2009). Plantar pressures in habitually barefoot walkers. Footwear Science, 1(1), pp. 103-105.

Trinkaus, E. (2005). Anatomical evidence for the antiquity of human footwear use. Journal of Archaeological Science, 32, pp. 1515-1526.

I shouldn’t be alive

Posted on October 3, 2009 by Josh

It all started when my buddy Charlie said to me [film cuts to show actor-Charlie, talking to Josh casually over a beer]

Hey, let’s run to Tiburon next week. I mapped it out. It’s 14 miles. We can start at the Golden Gate Bridge, and then take the ferry back.

[cut back to Josh]

I just said “Hell yeah.” But then I thought about it. That’s 5 miles further than my furthest run yet. Is that too much?

All of my friends said I was totally nuts. [cut to friend talking to Josh] “You know, you’re only supposed to add like 10% a week to your run distance.”

[cut back]

But I was like, how do I know what I’m capable of, till I try it?

The run started out well enough. We jogged over the bridge, down into Sausalito. We stopped at a local grocery store to get some water, and an energy bar.

That’s when things went horribly wrong.

Charlie asked the lady behind the counter the best way to run over to Tiburon. [cut to checkout lady] “Go up to the light and then hang a left, and go under the freeway. You’ll run up the hill, and the trail is up there.”

Okay, we thought. No problem!

Off we went, jogging under the freeway, as directed, and into a housing project. We could’ve got mugged or shot. But there was no one around who wanted to shoot us, so it didn’t go down like that. So that was a close call.

We jogged up a very steep hill, and ended up walking half of it. As we were coming down, we saw a guy working on his car. Charlie asked him [cut to Charlie-actor asking guy-working-on-car-actor] “Do you know how to get to the path that leads to Tiburon?”

The guy laughed a little, and said “Well, Tiburon is that way.” pointing back the way we had come. We stared at each other for a second, then started running back the way we had come.

As we were running down the hill, the cops drove by us…one…two…three times. They looked at us each time, but never stopped, or talked to us. They could’ve shot us. That was close. Two near-shootings in one day. I was exhausted.

Back down the hill, and under the freeway, we made it back to the path we’d been on to begin with. We ran flat out for a while, finally coming to rest at a little park. You see, we both were seizing up around the legs. Not just the hips. Yes, those were seizing up. But also the quads, the hamstrings, the TFL, the calves, the anterior tibialii. Everything was seizing up. We could’ve seized up right there! None of those soccer moms probably knew how to relieve seized up legs. We would’ve died on the spot!

We stretched out for a bit, then started off again. We ran into this ridiculous neighborhood. The streets were all on hills. Like some kind of Dr. Seuss book. But it was a ghost town. We didn’t see any people at all. I just thought…”Man, if one of us sprains an ankle, we’ll die here.” It was serious.

By the time we got out of that neighborhood, neither of us could run anymore. That was the 11.5 mile mark. We still had a good 3.5 miles to go. What the hell were we going to do?!

Of course, we were both pleased that we’d exceeded our previous distance by almost 20%! Awesome!

Anyway…there we were. The longer we walked, the more our legs seized up. I felt like my skin-suit had shrunk on my whole body…I couldn’t lift my arms over my head…my legs felt like rusty two-by-fours…my left knee felt like it had a curling iron on it…my feet felt like somebody had eaten them and then put them back on my legs…

Yeah. If it doesn’t make sense to you, then you know how I felt!

At that point, we easily could’ve spontaneously combusted. In fact, Charlie did, once, but he got better. We kept walking, but the worst was yet to come.

If you’ve ever been to the San Francisco Bay area in the months of January-December, you’re probably familiar with something called “wind.” As the sun goes down, the air becomes frigid, and the wind kicks up. All at the same time. It’s like a Vampire’s wet dream. Because it happens fast, too. I mean, one second it’s nice and sunny, and the next it’s dark and windy, and cold, and God is laughing at you. He says He’s laughing with you. But he’s lying when he says that. He’s not.

Well, that happened to us. We both were wearing only t-shirts and shorts. That wind felt like being dragged on a cold wet beach backward by a helicopter. Oh yeah, because there was a bunch of sand on the path. So everytime the wind blew, it gave us exfoliation. Free exfoliation was nice. But hypothermia sucks.

And that’s where I knew we were going to die. We were both walking like we were competing for the role of the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz. We were becoming delirious, singing hair-rock songs really loud, and doing chorused guitar parts. I knew death was breathing on our necks.

It seemed like it took forever to get to Tiburon. At one point, Charlie looked at me and said [cut to Charlie looking at Josh and saying] “I just hit the Wall.”

If you’ve ever done something you didn’t think was physically possible for you, you know what that means. If not, imagine walking into a wall with your face. It feels like that. And you have to keep doing it.

But we finally got there! We were freezing! We walked into the grocery store and asked when the last ferry was. The guy said “Check the paper.” and pointed to a stack of papers at the end of the checkout counter [cut to guy pointing and mouthing the words "check the paper"].

Well, we were in luck! The last ferry wasn’t till 8:05, and it was now only 6:45! We had time!

You see, neither of us brought a phone. And we hadn’t checked the ferry times before leaving. We realized this around the time we started walking. But nobody wanted to talk about it. It’s like the time somebody in your family farted at Thanksgiving dinner. Yeah. Nobody wants to talk about it.

I still wasn’t convinced we’d make it out alive. And boy was I right!

We ate a pizza and drank beers at the local pizza shop, which helped to numb the pain. Then, got onto the ferry. But there were no life-jackets. And we hit an iceberg, or a giant wave. And it splashed on the boat. Close call.

When we landed at Pier 54 I leaped off the boat and kissed the ground. OH HALLELUJAH!

But the worst was yet to come.

It was about 10 degrees in SF at that point. And the beer was wearing off. We were trying to catch a cab in the only city in America that, as Eddie Izzard points out, has only 5 cabs. Luckily, Charlie noticed the hot-shit tourist hoodies for sale. We got some, and looked like homeless hobo twins with black feet.

Just then, Charlie spotted a cab and I flagged it down.

Mr. Cabbie had no fear of death. He never wore a seatbelt, and drove 50 miles per hour as quickly as he could get to it, for as long as the lights would let him. I surreptitiously buckled my own seatbelt…quietly, in case he had some moral issue with them, and might kick us out for using them.

When we got home, I wept. Well…that’s right now.

Thanks.

Feelmax update…

Posted on September 24, 2009 by Josh

Here’s the promised update on the Feelmax Panka shoe.

First off, it feels AWESOME to wear these shoes around town. The sole is so thin, it’s about as close to barefoot as you can be without having nothing on.

Now, a couple of criticisms:
1. They’re starting to wear through. After about two weeks of solid use, a small hole began forming under the ball of each foot. Because of that, I’ve actually discontinued wearing them on a regular basis. At $70 a pop, I’m not interested in burning through them that fast. They’re now an “indoor-only” or “grass/nature-only” shoe for me.

2. The insoles kept riding up on me. Because the shoe is so formless, and offers such a high degree of foot flexion (I mean, true foot flexion – bending from the center/arch of the foot, not foot flexion from the ankle – one of the greatest things about wearing these shoes) the insole constantly gets pushed backward, up your Achilles tendon. I wrote the company about it, and they said if you’re feeling good, just get rid of the insole. They actually include the insole as a buffer for people who aren’t used to being barefoot. Problem solved.

I still think these shoes are awesome. I just wish they could get the sole a little more durable while still maintaining that thinness (pipe dream?). Apparently, Vibram is releasing a “moc,” with the bottom completely free to move as your foot does. There are just pads of Vibram sole under the heel, the ball of the foot, and under each toe pad. The rest is floppy kangaroo leather. Unfortunately, the instructions say you shouldn’t wear them outside…”indoor use only.” I’m writing to Vibram today to find out more.

To make a long story short – if you have the $70 to blow on a pair of shoes you can wear indoors (mostly), or in nature (just not man-made nature…no asphalt/concrete), get a pair.

If not…just go barefoot more often.

Exuberant Animal East Coast Jam – November 7 and 8

Posted on September 19, 2009 by Josh

Hi!

Exuberant Animal is holding its first ever East Coast event on the weekend of November 7th and 8th, at the Gerstung Intersport Center, in Baltimore, MD.

The event is only $150, and includes 2 full days of play and learning, dinner on Saturday night, and a party.

Click this Picture to Download the Event Flyer

For those of you who don’t know, Exuberant Animal is a group founded by Frank Forencich that promotes health, vitality, and happiness, through physical activity – in particular, in play and play-based movement.

EA is built around a concept of fitness that comes from an evolutionary perspective of the human animal. We advanced through eons of development by being playful – inquisitive, adventurous, daring – by experimenting with new ways of doing things.

This evolutionary perspective is a large part of the EA mission, and includes addressing not just the ills of sedentarism, but also the ills caused by some of our modern “conveniences” – shoes, computers (and other devices leading to repetitive stress syndromes), hard flat surfaces, etc.

Because of this, you find people as diverse as Mick Dodge (the Barefoot Sensei), Barefoot Ted McDonald (barefoot running expert, and one of the cast/characters in Chris McDougall‘s new book “Born to Run“), Kwame Brown (neuroscientist, child-development expert, and board member of the IYCA), Dr. Stuart Brown (head of the National Institute for Play).

As different as we are, we all share a common belief in the benefits of play for all people.

For me, being a part of Exuberant Animal has been a transformative process.

Having been in the fitness industry for 9 years now, and involved in play (in every aspect of life) and physical activity for my whole life, I’d come to a point where the traditional approach of sets, reps, and boring static exercise using machines, dumbbells, and other equipment, just wasn’t making sense anymore. I could feel the boredom flowing between my clients and myself after their umpteenth set of squats, bench press, or other “traditional” exercise.

Taking the reps/sets out of exercise, and injecting play in its place, brings diversity to movement. From that diversity, happiness grows.

As anyone knows who ever played competitive sports, you were at your peak when you weren’t focused on how much conditioning you did that day, but on how much you were “in it” – in the flow state. This is the state of play – where possibilities are open, you are unselfconscious, able to enjoy using your body in the moment to have fun and accomplish your desired goal.

In my experience, what most clients suffer from is a lack of motivation. Then, they come into the gym and we put them into bizarre circumstances where we’re observing and correcting them, making them even more self-conscious.

EA provides alternatives through fitness “games” that make the process interactive, playful, and most of all FUN. You still get to work people in all three planes of motion, you still get to use whatever equipment you like the most, but now you also get to engage your client’s spirits in their workouts.

If you’re on the East Coast, and you’re at all interested, go to the EA website, check out the details, and register for this event. It’s going to be great – and even greater if you’re there!

I’ll see you there!

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Barefoot Running Seminar @ ZombieRunner

Posted on September 13, 2009 by Josh

I attended a seminar this past Saturday at ZombieRunner in Palo Alto. The presenters were Barefoot Ted McDonald, and Christopher McDougall. Ted is a longtime barefoot running, and minimalist-footwear expert. Chris is the author of the book Born To Run.

Ted Transmitting the Know-How

The seminar was great! Ted covered the three foundational elements for a good barefoot running practice:

1. Land Gently/Silently

2. Have a fast foot turnover cadence – it should be around 180bpm

3. Have a relaxed and upright upper body posture

Another great idea that Ted shared was holding sticks or other straight objects in each hand when you run, to make sure your arms are swinging as directly forward/backward as possible, and not across the midline of your torso (creating torque, wasting energy).

If you’re just getting into barefoot running or running with minimalist footwear (Vibram Fivefingers, Vivo Barefoot shoes, or Feelmax shoes), try the tips above. For cadence training, it’s helpful to buy a metronome, or download one that you can play on your MP4 player, or iPod/iPhone touch (there are a couple).

Here are a few great quotes from Ted:

For safety, tie together your eyeballs, your brain, and your feet.

You perceive unfamiliar signals [such as pointy rocks that you're stepping on barefoot] as emergency information. That starts a feedback loop. You have to learn to recognize the difference between true emergency information and just uncomfortable sensation again.

Extend the imaginary boundaries of what you believe to be possible for yourself. Iti’s only by practice that you learn what your capacities are…

Feelmax shoes…another great addition to your barefootwear

Posted on September 2, 2009 by Josh

A Finnish company called “Feelmax” began producing a “barefoot shoe” a while back. The first time I saw one was at the last Exuberant Animal conference…Barefoot Ted had a pair of the Niesa’s that he was trying out.

Feelmax Panka - Panka You Very Much!

I didn’t think about them much when I got back to SF until my Vibram Flows started to STINK. If you don’t know, the Flows are neoprene all around. Probably great for water-sports, or short-term wear, but, friends, heed my warning – wear these things all day at your nose’s (and the noses of those around you) dire risk.

STANKY!

(on a side note, I did order a pair of Vibram KSO’s as well…hopefully they’ll be less stinky)

I tried everything to get the stink out. Ended up using a wetsuit cleaner called “Sink the Stink.” It works pretty well, but I still can’t wear them all day and not have Limberger cheese feet. Your feet will also get a little wrinkly, from stewing in their own juices all day.

I finally broke down. Having seen the Feelmax shoes, and being EXTREMELY HAPPY with my Vivo Barefoot shoes, I figured it was worth a shot.

I contacted Feelmax directly, because they don’t have a US purchasing option on their website (yet?). They sent me contact info for a company in the US that is a distributor. After about six failed attempts in trying to contact that company, I reached out to a friend of mine in Austria (thanks again Michael!), who was kind enough to ship a pair to me.

As it turned out, Feelmax had sent me the wrong website. The actual US distributor is “Extreme Outfitters.”

I got them Monday, and have been wearing them solely (har har) since.

What are they like? They’re great!

They are super lightweight. I don’t think they’d even register on any scale I could get my hands on. The sole is ultrathin, impregnated with some sort of puncture-resistant compound. The beauty of them, to me, is that you can actually flex your foot in them (something you can’t do in Vivo Barefoots or Vibram’s…the sole on those shoes is too thick to allow for true foot flexion).

The only complaint I have is that they’re actually a little narrow for me, now that my feet have spread after wearing Vibram’s and going barefoot a lot more often. But I have a feeling that they might “give” a little with continued use. We’ll see.

Another mark in Feelmax’ favor is that they look like normal shoes. So far, no one has noticed that I’m wearing something “different.”

In all, I highly recommend them to anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Born to Run

Posted on August 18, 2009 by Josh

First off, sorry it’s been a while. If you’ve been reading for a while, you know my grandmother passed away about a month ago. Between that and “life,” I’ve struggled to keep up recently.

However, “here I’m is,” as they say.

I just finished reading “Born to Run.” Christopher McDougall’s excellent book is a combination of a historical treatise on the history of endurance (especially ultra-endurance) running and the Tarahumara Indians, barefoot running overview, and personal experience with running.

As with most books on exercise, the science bits of this book left me very unconvinced. These scientists say that humans gained bigger brains because we ran. But wait, they said we gained bigger brains because we ate more meat. But wait, they said we should eat vegetarian diets if we’re going to be long-distance athletes…

Let’s skip the “science.”

The best part of the book is the narrative McDougall weaves, and the lessons he interjects, seemingly casually, throughout that narrative.

His accounts of the Tarahumara Indians, and other great runners, not only smiling, but laughing, as they ran 100 miles, really resonated with me. Also, the stories of the great distance runners who were great because of the extreme joy they found in running – not because of macronutrient balance, heart rate workouts, or anything else.

It’s a joyful book, and a testament to finding joy in what you do, and looking for things that bring you joy. I highly recommend this book to anyone out there who wants to be happier!