Born to Run: The hidden tribe, the ultra-runners, and the greatest race the world has never seen

by Christopher McDougall

The toughest guys

were the gentlest; battered legs were the bounciest; the healthiest people had the crappiest diet; the illiterate race was the wisest; the guys working the hardest were having the most fun. …

sprawled in whatever shade we could find and began peeling

peyote-hungry

Into Thin Air,

you’re tougher than you think you are, and you can do more than you think you can.

You don’t have to be fast. But you’d better be fearless.

“There are two goddesses in your heart,” he told them. “The Goddess of Wisdom and the Goddess of Wealth. Everyone thinks they need to get wealth first, and wisdom will come. So they concern themselves with chasing money. But they have it backwards. You have to give your heart to the Goddess of Wisdom, give her all your love and attention, and the Goddess of Wealth will become jealous, and follow you.”

“Lesson two,” Caballo called. “Think Easy, Light, Smooth, and Fast. You start with easy, because if that’s all you get, that’s not so bad. Then work on light. Make it effortless, like you don’t give a shit how high the hill is or how far you’ve got to go. When you’ve practiced that so long that you forget you’re practicing, you work on making it smooooooth. You won’t have to worry about the last one—you get those three, and you’ll be fast.”

‘When you run on the earth and run with the earth, you can run forever.’ ”

sinuous,

My notes