Episode 17: Christopher McDougall—Running with Joy, Cold Plunges & Burro Racing

Christopher McDougall became one of my favorite authors immediately after I finished, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. Not only was it an incredibly entertaining story, but the way he weaves research, science and side stories alongside the main narrative is just as educational as it is exciting. Since then I’ve read Natural Born Heroes: Mastering the Lost Secrets of Strength and Endurance and his most recent book, Running with Sherman: The Donkey with the Heart of a Hero. His books cover epic adventures however I met Chris outside of my apartment one day randomly as I spotted him finishing up a barefoot run in Silver Lake while I happened to be walking home. I’m glad I stopped him because this conversation wouldn’t have happened otherwise. On this episode we speak about running with joy vs. running for 1st place, cold plunges, mental health and how the craft of writing and running share a similar cadence.

Sherman and Chris

“You don’t stop running because you get old, you get old because you stop running.”

— Christopher McDougall

SHOW NOTES

• 5:00 How Chris learned from judging Barefoot Ted

• 8:20 The beginnings of Born to Run and the characters

• 13:50 Learning a new approach to writing, research and self-education

• 17:00 How my own movement practices have been informed by Chris’ books

• 21:00 How do you learn to love running?

• 24:00 3100: Run and Become - what’s really going on there?

• 26:00 Diving into mental health in Running with Sherman

• 29:05 What animals and donkeys can teach us about running stressful

• 29:10 Learning to love ourselves, Mark’s steps to heal ourselves 

• 31:00 Max King and Ryan Sandes trying Burro racing in Colorado

• 34:30 Learning patience and developing a new perspective on ‘doing’

• 38:35 Chris’ first experience doing the audiobook reading for Running with Sherman

• 44:15 Percy Cerutty and a new way of writing about running

• 49:40 Timing out at the Leadville 100

• 54:05 Barefoot Ted, “I’m not testing the limits of what’s possible, I’m testing the limits of what’s pleasurable”

• 56:30 Growing community through book-adventures, especially Born to Run

• 62:30 How running can help with writing

• 67:05 Cold plunges, Wim Hof and the spiritual benefits

• 72:15 The process of bringing Chris’ books to the big screen

• 75:40 Chris’ new book idea, King of the Weekend Warriors

---