April 2011

“Love” — seriously? Seriously.

This tattoo turned up in the Boston Globe video of the Naked Run right before the Boston Marathon. Anyone with a calf like that deserves a Naked Tour race tee. Please step up and claim your prize.

****Early this morning, this pops up in my inbox. Theresa, we were so busy chatting about whether your kids’ footprints would wash off your shirt that I never noticed you had The Awesome Calf. And what a smokin’ job you did in Boston — 4:01 over chippy tar. Amazing. Please shoot me an email and I’ll fire you off a Naked Tour tee and a tattoo for the other leg.****

A message from “Barefoot Mama” about the origins of her glorious leg art:

I was on vacation in Fl. with my family and my husband took a picture of me running barefoot on the beach. We got an artist to draw the tattoo from the picture. So the tattoo is a picture of myself. The artist even incorporated my other tattoo into the picture.

Thanks to the make-it-happen folks at Boulder Books, we can now sign & ship personalized copies of Born to Run in time for Mother’s Day. Just make sure to place your order no later than next Saturday, April 30. I’ll be in the store at the crack of dawn on May 1 and I won’t leave until every copy is prettied up and ready to go.

Click here to prove you love your mom, wife, sister, daughter, mother-in-law, or self. Likewise if you could just use a dash of good korima.

MBG: What larger spiritual lessons/lessons about life can we learn from the Tarahumara?
CM: Korima. Odd how much this Tarahumara word sounds its cousin, “karma.” The Tarahumara have no money and very few possessions. Their very existence depend on kindness and shared favors. All material things, they believe, should be like water and flow naturally to where they’re needed. When you try to keep too much water for yourself, it will stagnate and make you sick. Hard to argue with that thinking.

Better yet: Come to Boulder for our wild, outdoor, mountainside Naked Cabaret on May 1 and get your book signed in person.

… is the secret to a happy marathon. Dr. Mark Cucuzella, who just ran a sizzling 2:37 in Boston at age 44, credits the lessons he learned from great female runners.

The best book interviews you’ll find anywhere come from a corner shop in downtown Portland. This is one of my favorite conversations about Born to Run, ranking right up there with the surreal shock of talking bare feet on HBO with a French-cuffed Bernie Goldberg.

What else do you need to see?

I seem to get an energy from the forest when I run there.
—Will Harlan: ultramarathon champ, trail philosopher, and all-around ace human being.

I’m honored and delighted to report that Will Harlan will join Scott Jurek, Eric Orton, and I for the Naked Tour in Asheville, NC.
Will is going to map our route for the Naked Run, then join us onstage to describe his own experience racing with The Running People.
A taste:

…and maybe the fastest barefoot runner since Abebe Bikila. At age 44, Dr. Mark Cucuzzella is a physician, Air Force Lt. Colonel, and a 2:34 (!) marathoner. Years ago, Cucuzzella’s surgeon told him that his feet were so malformed that he’d have to give up running for good. Instead, Cucuzzella trained himself to run naturally, with a gently forefoot landing.
The result:

Versus…

More than 150 runners turned out for each, but maybe that nippy New England wind made us huddle together more in Boston. Or else Barefoot Ken Bob’s crazy Alpine challenge of a route left us more strung out. From Barefoot Burt’s Naked LA run report:

…the tough technical mountain trail in Griffith Park is challenging me. Pat is gone at this point. I don’t know what or where he went but this freakn hill is killing me! We reach the summit and Chris Mcdougall is standing on top and gives me a high five and says everybody remember to give Ken Bob the finger for picking this course!

Next up: Fairhope, Alabama, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and Asheville, NC.