You could chalk up their success to a lack of junk food, stress and the evils of 21st century society - or perhaps they have been somehow genetically endowed with endurance abilities that the rest of us lost at the beginning of the Industrial Age. It appears that the Tarahumara are the last members of the human race to live up to our true evolutionary potential.

If this is true, why have so many of us lost this ability? Why do we often get tired and injured? Why are we buying cushier sneakers, high-tech treadmills and PowerBars, all in a somewhat futile attempt to make running easier and more comfortable? Why does something that is supposed to be so natural feel so hard?Ī lot has been written about the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico and their almost superhuman ability to run hundreds of miles over rugged terrain while suffering little in the way of fatigue or injury. Still, our physical proportions - foot design, leg length, hip structure - apparently have evolved over the many millennia to allow us to travel long distances at a steady and relatively effortless pace. This might be hard to believe considering the multitude of shapes and sizes that people come in. Knopf 287 pages $24.95)Ī recent scientific study showed that the human body is designed for distance running. A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen Christopher McDougall ( Alfred A.

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