Saturday, October 1, 2011

Collingswood Book Festival

The Collingswood Book Festival was today, and among the featured authors was Christopher McDougall, author of this book:


While I have yet to read the book, I've read a lot about it, both in official book reviews as well as ordinary running blogs like this one.  I feel like I'll be the last runner on the planet to read it.

I loved his talk because I realized how many opinions we have in common.  He also finds it ridiculous how laden with equipment people let themselves get while running (iPods, cell phones, water bottles, head bands, etc.).  He also finds it ridiculous that people think the only way they can run properly is to buy expensive shoes.  And he also finds it sad how we've let ourselves get away from our roots as human beings in the last century by chaining ourselves to our cars, desks, houses, etc.  At the end of the talk, he said, "when you do what the creature evolved to do, the creature will respond."  I loved that.  You can talk all you want about how you could never do [insert strenuous activity here], but the body is highly adaptable and can respond to incrementally increased training.

Write a best seller, end up on some random guy's running blog.

He was a great public speaker, and if his book is half as entertaining as his talk, I'll be in for some good reading when I finally get a chance to read it.  I'd bought a copy of the book before his talk, and afterwards I introduced myself at his table and had him autograph the book for me.


From the man himself: run wild, friends.

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