"How come my foot hurts?" is the question that launched journalist Christopher McDougall on a journey into the ancient Tarahumara tribe, a people who navigate the rugged and treacherous Copper Canyons of Mexico on nothing but their bare feet.
As a 6-ft.,4-in., 230-pound man, McDougall had been told by experts that his body was just not made to run. After stumbling on a picture of a Tarahumara man (they are all runners), McDougall went on assignment for Men's Health to discover why the Tarahumara were not crippled. The full story turned into his book Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. He found that the Tarahumara could literally run for days, after partying like sailors.
Now, two years after publication, with more than half a million Knopf hardcovers sold and having been on the New York Times bestseller list for 89 weeks, the book has just been released in paper by Vintage, which is using BEA as a chance to send out a great big thank-you to the booksellers the publisher credits with making it a huge success.
Of course, what better way to do that than a run in Central Park with the author? On Wednesday, Vintage is hosting the Bookseller Run. Buses take off from the Holiday Inn (hotel ABA) at 7 a.m. and return at 8 a.m. Since Born to Run highlighted the Tarahumara's barefoot running expertise, such running has spurred a movement among runners outside the tribe, and now footwear manufacturers have come out with "barefoot" sneakers.
McDougall says it is ironic that the barefoot running movement has largely sprung out of the book since only one chapter is about footwear, but he likes that booksellers across the nation have held "cabaret" events for attendees to learn about barefoot running, take to the trails, and then convene for Born to Run author signings in their stores.
"Born to Run would have vanished if booksellers like Karen West at Book Passage and Alsace Young-Walenstine at Malaprop's and Karin Wilson at Page & Palette hadn't read it, liked it, and made it their personal mission to share their enthusiasm with their customers," says McDougall. "That's why ‘booksellers' is really the wrong phrase—they're book enthusiasts."
One such book enthusiast is Michael Barnard, owner of Rakestraw Books in Danville, Calif., also president of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association. Barnard happens to be an avid runner and part of the Wednesday night run in his community, which attracts 150–200 runners a week. Rakestraw invited McDougall for a Wednesday run at the beginning of his tour for the hardcover. "It's an event format that works," Barnard explains, "because it draws a qualified, if sweaty, audience who are generally interested in the topic."
McDougall's BEA run is a pit stop on his continuing Naked Tour, named for barefoot running.
While the BEA run is designed as a thank-you for booksellers, other publishing types are welcome to join and hear more about the barefoot running phenomenon and meet McDougall. Barnard, who says he prefers "barefooting" in trail running more than urban settings, affirms that Born to Run is not just for runners, because it is also a fascinating anthropological story.
