Collin Rodgers TED Talk... Christopher McDougall: Are We Born to Run?

Christopher begins this discussion by providing a heartwarming story of the New York City Marathon, in which an Ethiopian woman leads the race but falls back to aid an injured runner on two separate occasions throughout the race. Even after providing a helping hand two different times, the woman still manages to win the race. After this, Christopher goes on to describe an Indian tribe located in the Copper Canyons of Mexico. This tribe has lived unchanged lives for over 400 years in the canyons, living extremely healthy lifestyles consisting of 70-80 year old individuals running insane distances without injuries or disease. He provides statistics that shows our athletic peak is reached at about 27 years of age, and slowly begins to decline over the next 45 years. He then poses 3 questions. How did humans kill animals for food before they had weapons? Why is it women who run get stronger as distances get longer? Why is it that 60-70 year olds run at the same efficiency as when they were 19? He proposes the solution that humans have possibly evolved from hunting pack animals. Older individuals are needed for their expertise, while the ones in their 20's are used for power and killing the animal, while the teenagers are there to learn the ropes. He proposes the idea of running for joy and pleasure in order to get away from modern injuries and become more like the healthy Indian tribe he described.

-Collin Rodgers