{"author":"Christopher McDougall","author_id":"Christopher+McDougall","total_quotes":38,"quotes":[{"text":"Imagine your kid is running into the street and you have to sprint after her in bare feet,' Eric told me when I picked up my training with him after my time with Ken. 'You'll automatically lock into perfect form--you'll be up on your forefeet, with your back erect, head steady, arms high, elbows driving, and feet touching down quickly on the forefoot and kicking back toward your butt.'You can't run uphill powerfully with poor biomechanics,' Eric explained.","author":"Christopher McDougall","tags":["running"],"id":11902,"author_id":"Christopher+McDougall"},{"text":"If you can run six miles on a summer day then you, my friend, are a lethal weapon in the animal kingdom. We can dump heat on the run, but animals can't pant while they gallop.","author":"Christopher McDougall","tags":["born-to-run","run","running"],"id":13947,"author_id":"Christopher+McDougall"},{"text":"Way before we were scratching pictures on caves or beating rhythms on hollow trees we were perfecting the art of combining our breath and mind and muscles into fluid self-propulsion over wild terrain.","author":"Christopher McDougall","tags":["running"],"id":22338,"author_id":"Christopher+McDougall"},{"text":"Maybe the wild ones weren't hyperactive; maybe they were misplaced heroes. After all, in another era, the same behavior that is now throttled with Ritalin and disciplinary rap sheets would have been the mark of greatness, the early blooming of a true champion. Riordan played with the idea, imagining the what-ifs. What if strong, assertive children were redirected rather than discouraged? What if there were a place for them, an outdoor training camp that felt like a playground, where they could cut loose with all those natural instincts to run, wrestle, climb, swim, and explore?","author":"Christopher McDougall","tags":["heroes","hyperactivity"],"id":24188,"author_id":"Christopher+McDougall"},{"text":"That was the real secret of the Tarahumara: they'd never forgotten what it felt like to love running. They remembered that running was mankind's first fine art, our original act of inspired creation. Way before we were scratching pictures on caves or beating rhythms on hollow trees, we were perfecting the art of combining our breath and mind and muscles into fluid self-propulsion over wild terrain. And when our ancestors finally did make their first cave paintings, what were the first designs? A downward slash, lightning bolts through the bottom and middle--behold, the Running Man.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. And like everyhing else we ove--everything we sentimentally call our 'passions' and 'desires' it's really an encoded ancestral necessity. We were born to run; we were born because we run. We're all Running People, as the Tarahumara have always known.","author":"Christopher McDougall","tags":["instinct","non-fiction","passion","running"],"id":25444,"author_id":"Christopher+McDougall"},{"text":"Perhaps all our troubles - all the violence, obesity, illness, depression, and greed we can't overcome - began when we stopped living as Running People. Deny your nature, and it will erupt in some other, uglier way.","author":"Christopher McDougall","tags":["inspiring"],"id":28282,"author_id":"Christopher+McDougall"},{"text":"Suffering is humbling. It pays to know how to get your butt kicked.","author":"Christopher McDougall","tags":["suffering"],"id":36784,"author_id":"Christopher+McDougall"},{"text":"The words of the social critic Eric Hoffer were ringing true: 'Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and turns into a racket.","author":"Christopher McDougall","tags":["running"],"id":86855,"author_id":"Christopher+McDougall"},{"text":"But there's a problem,' Dr. Bramble said. He tapped his forehad. 'And it's right up here.' Our greatest talent, he explained, also created the monster that could destroy us. '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.' We live or die by our endurance, but remember: endurance is all about conserving energy, and that's the brain's department. 'The reason some people use their genetic gift for running and others don't is because the brain is a bargain shopper.","author":"Christopher McDougall","tags":["irony-of-evolution","running"],"id":93660,"author_id":"Christopher+McDougall"},{"text":"You don't have to be fast. But you'd better be fearless.","author":"Christopher McDougall","tags":["fearless"],"id":108314,"author_id":"Christopher+McDougall"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":38,"pages":4,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}