Christopher McDougall

“The reason some people use their genetic gift for running and others don't is because the brain is a bargain shopper.”

— Christopher McDougall

“You’ve got this fancy machine, and it’s controlled by a pilot who’s thinking, ‘Okay, how can I run this baby without using…

— Christopher McDougall

“Unlike any other organism in history, humans have a mind-body conflict: we have a body built for performance, but a brain that's…

— Christopher McDougall

it’s easy to get outside yourself when you’re thinking about someone else.

— Christopher McDougall

“If you can run six miles on a summer day then you, my friend, are a lethal weapon in the animal kingdom.…

— Christopher McDougall

“crap out of him,” said Dusty Olson, Proctor’s star jock when he and Scott were teenagers. During cross-country runs, Dusty and his…

— Christopher McDougall

“Everyone knew that at some point in history, early humans got access to a big supply of protein, which allowed their brains…

— Christopher McDougall

“to the tarahumara, asking direct questions is a show of force, a demand for a possession inside their head.”

— Christopher McDougall

I have the idea that running shoes are based on a kind of cult idea - that our feet are flawed and…

— Christopher McDougall

“Korima sounds like karma and functions the same way, except in the here and now. It’s your obligation to share whatever you…

— Christopher McDougall

“Suffering is humbling. It pays to know how to get your butt kicked.”

— Christopher McDougall

“that’s okay; humans are terrific”

— Christopher McDougall

“There was something terribly sad, yet terribly uplifting, about watching this prophet of the ancient art of distance running turning his back…

— Christopher McDougall

“He’d figured out the body, so now it was on to the brain. Specifically: How do you make anyone actually want to…

— Christopher McDougall

“Ask nothing from running and you'll get more than you ever imagined”

— Christopher McDougall

He was onto something. Something huge. It wasn't just how to run; it was how to live, the essence of who we…

— Christopher McDougall

“error. It was Saturday evening, February 25, 2006, and I had twenty-four hours”

— Christopher McDougall

“Strictly by accident, Scott stumbled upon the most advanced weapon in the ultrarunner's arsenal: instead of cringing from fatigue, you embrace it.…

— Christopher McDougall

“Know why people run marathons? Because running is rooted in our collective imagination, and our imagination is rooted in running. Language, art,…

— Christopher McDougall

In 'Tarahumara' land, there was no crime, war or theft. There was no corruption, obesity, drug addiction, greed, wife-beating, child abuse, heart…

— Christopher McDougall

I received the best advice for running I ever heard: 'You're not going to win, so just relax. If it feels like…

— Christopher McDougall

“Heroism isn’t some mysterious inner virtue, the Greeks believed; it’s a collection of skills that every man and woman can master so…

— Christopher McDougall

“That was the real secret of the Tarahumara: they'd never forgotten what it felt like to love running. They remembered that running…

— Christopher McDougall

“If it feels like work, you're working too hard.”

— Christopher McDougall

“Because if you don’t think you were born to run, you’re not only denying history. You’re denying who you are.”

— Christopher McDougall