天生就會跑

這是一本關于跑步的武俠小說。受傷的主角，來去如風的高手，隱秘避世的山中部落，眾人皆知但求索無門的“秘籍”，以及，高手云集的驚世之戰……這么些元素合起來，組成了一個字——跑！

作者克里斯托弗·麥克杜格爾（Christopher McDougall，1962-）是跑步愛好者，在腳傷被權威運動醫學專家確診恢復無望后，他偶然得知隱居的奔跑一族，于是穿越峽谷，找尋跑步真諦。書中講述的正是作者的真實經歷。

這不僅僅是一本關于跑步的書，我們還可以從中得到種種關于人生的思考。它字字激昂，告訴我們什么是奔跑，什么是天性。居住在墨西哥銅峽谷窮山惡水中的塔拉烏馬拉人（Tarahumara）是我們最好的榜樣。他們善跑，他們愛跑，奔跑已成為他們的存在方式。他們是奔跑民族，而我們卻忘了自己天生就會跑！曾幾何時，我們開心的時候跑，不開心的時候也跑，跑步是我們發泄情緒最健康有效的方式，它是鐫刻在我們心中的本能。

但我們現在為什么都不跑了呢？或許大家能從文中找到答案。

BoRN To RuN

Specifically： How do you make anyone actually want to do any of this stuff？ How do you flip the internal switch that changes us all back into the Natural Born Runners we once were？ Not just in history， but in our own lifetimes. Remember？ Back when you were a kid and you had to be yelled at to slow down？ Every game you played， you played at top speed， 1）sprinting like crazy as you kicked cans， freed all， and attacked jungle 2）outposts in your neighbors’ backyards. Half the fun of doing anything was doing it at record pace， making it probably the last time in your life you’d ever be 3）hassled for going too fast.

That was the real secret of the Tarahumara： they’d never forgotten what it felt like to love running. They remembered that running was mankind’s first fine art， our original act of inspired creation. Way before we were scratching pictures on caves or beating rhythms on hollow trees， we were perfecting the art of combining our breath and mind and muscles into fluid 4）self-propulsion over wild terrain.

Distance running was 5）revered because it was 6）indispensable； it was the way we survived and thrived and spread across the planet. You ran to eat and to avoid being eaten； you ran to find a mate and impress her， and with her you ran off to start a new life together. You had to love running， or you wouldn’t live to love anything else. And like everything else we love—everything we sentimentally call our “passions” and “desires”—it’s really an 7）encoded ancestral necessity. We were born to run； we were born because we run. We’re all Running People， as the Tarahumara have always known.

But the American approach—ugh. Rotten at its core. It was too artificial and 8）grabby， 9）Vigil believed， too much about getting stuff and getting it now： medals， Nike deals， a cute butt. It wasn’t art； it was business， a 10）hard-nosed 11）quid pro quo. No wonder so many people hated running； if you thought it was only a means to an end—an investment in becoming faster， skinnier， richer—then why stick with it if you weren’t getting enough quo for your quid？

It wasn’t always like that—and when it wasn’t， we were awesome. Back in the ’70s， American marathoners were a lot like the Tarahumara； they were a tribe of isolated 12）outcasts， running for love and relying on raw instinct and crude equipment. The guys in the ’70s didn’t know enough to worry about “13）pronation” and “14）supination；” that 15）fancy running-store 16）jargon hadn’t even been invented yet.

They were so ignorant， they didn’t even realize they were supposed to be burned out， overtrained， and injured. Instead， they were fast； really fast.

So what happened？ How did we go from the leader of the pack to lost and left behind？ It’s hard to determine a single cause for any event in this complex world， of course， but forced to choose， the answer is best summed up as follows：

$ （Money）

This isn’t about why other people got faster； it’s about why we got slower. And the fact is， American distance running went into a death spiral precisely when cash entered the equation. The Olympics were opened to professionals after the 1984 Games， which meant running-shoe companies could bring the distance-running savages out of the wilderness and onto the payroll reservation.

Vigil could smell the 17）apocalypse coming， and he’d tried hard to warn his runners. “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.”Ask nothing from your running， in other words， and you’ll get more than you ever imagined.

具體來說，該怎么讓人真正喜歡上這樣的運動？該怎么撥動人體內的那個隱藏開關，讓人們變回曾經的天生跑者？不僅是我們的祖先，就在我們自己的一生中也有過這樣的時候。還記得嗎？在我們還是小孩的時候，整天都在瘋跑，不被罵上幾聲根本慢不下來。我們那時玩過的所有游戲，像踢罐子游戲，掙脫束縛游戲，在鄰居家后院玩的叢林攻防戰游戲，哪次不是竭盡全力、向前猛沖？做什么事都好，你從中得到的樂趣有一半是源自你做這件事時全力以赴的態度，把它當作好像是你的最后一次機會，可以無所顧忌地向前沖。