In the first chapter of your book, you say that you went to visit the Native American tribe,

and I'm going to try and pronounce this, the Tarahumah.

Tarahumara.

And they're famous for their long running.

Yes.

What did you learn about running from them?

Well, they have been famous for well over 100 years.

I mean, many people have gone to study the Taramara and have commented on their

amazing ability to run. But what I really learned from them is that for them, physical activity

is spiritual. You know, there's this book Born to Run that describes their running and

calls them a hidden tribe of super athletes.

They're not hidden and they're not super athletes.

And the one thing that the book missed was that the main impetus for the running,

they do these famous long distance races, is that it's a form of prayer.

It's really very beautiful. And it's a metaphor for life.

And it's also an opportunity to bet in sports and all that. It's all wrapped into one.

And what I've learned was that this actually used to be almost universal among Native American populations, right?

Native American tribes. Everybody had long-distance races and ballgames, and they all had a spiritual

element. It's just that they've retained their traditions because they're in a very remote

part of Mexico that's essentially inaccessible.

We all used to do this.

All humans used to do this.

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