Reading Response 5

Born to Run

Ann Trason, a thirty-three-year-old community-college science teacher form California. The only people to ever spot her in a race was either her husband or a liar. Ann started her races so fast, it was like watching superman change into his superhero suit. Ann ran track in high school but didn’t like “hamstering” around an artificial oval and gave up track in college to study biochemistry. She ran to get rid or lower her stress levels during and after college. In one Saturday Ann fifty-five miles and she did it for fun! Her friends would tall her that she wasn’t addicted to drugs but to endorphins. Ann’s first road/trail race was the American River 50-Mile Endurance Run, it was a hot, hilly and hazardous course. After forty-seven miles of trail-running, you hit a one-thousand-foot climb for the last three miles. Her first race conditions were not the best, temperatures hitting sauna levers and she didn’t realize that carrying a water bottle with her would’ve a smart idea. After her first race she went on to become the female champion of the Wester States 100 and she did this fourteen times over  a span of three decades. She made “Lance Armstrong look like a flash in the pan.” Ann went crazy for racing, during a period in her career she ran a race every other month for four year and she got faster with each race. By 1994 she knew her time had come to win the Leadville Trial.

Reading Response 6

Born to Run

 In the book, as of right now, a few of the Tarahumara tribes men are running races outside their villages still. John Fisher thought that if he brought Indians from different tribes that they would attack each and you use their anger to beat each other, but what he didn’t realize was that racing other tribes actually brought friendship between the tribes. The tribesmen are running in the Leadville ultra-marathon again; this time though they are racing against Ann Trason, a professional ultra-marathon runner, who’s goals are to win the Leadville this time around and the only people in her way are the Tarahumara. When the Tarahumara show up for the race John Fisher allows no one to talk to or touch the men. He had gotten the men a local shoe sponsor so that they could make a little money. Before the race started the men put their bright yellow trail “boots” on and got lined up for the race, but this time instead of being the back they moved and started I in the front. At 13.5 miles there was an aid station and the Tarahumara veered off into a parking to take off their shoes and put on their sandals to finish the race in. At mile 40 Ann had gotten in front of the Tarahumara and had done so in record pace, she made it to mile 40 in under six hours. Also, at  mile 40 all the runners have to check their pulse and weight because shedding too much weight this early on in the race means a serious case of dehydration. While getting their medical exams Ann looked over to Martimano, one of the tribesmen, and gave him a rude remark. She was the first ever to have bad sportsmanship during the race and it was very appaling.  

                                                      

Inspiration

"With Me"

I don't want this moment to ever end,
Where everything's nothing without you.
I'd wait here forever just to, to see you smile,
'Cause it's true, I am nothing without you.

Through it all, I've made my mistakes.
I stumble and fall, but I mean these words.

I want you to know,
With everything I won't let this go.
These words are my heart and soul.
I'll hold on to this moment, you know,
As I bleed my heart out to show,
And I won't let go.

Thoughts read, unspoken, forever in vow,
And pieces of memories fall to the ground.
I know what I didn't have, so I won't let this go,
'Cause it's true, I am nothing without you.

All the streets, where I walked alone,
With nowhere to go, have come to an end.

I want you to know,
With everything I won't let this go.
These words are my heart and soul.
I'll hold on to this moment, you know,
As I bleed my heart out to show,
And I won't let go.

In front of your eyes, it falls from the skies,
When you don't know what you're looking to find.
In front of your eyes, it falls from the skies,
When you just never know what you will find.

I don't want this moment to ever end,
Where everything's nothing without you.

I want you to know,
With everything I won't let this go.
These words are my heart and soul.
I'll hold on to this moment, you know,
As I bleed my heart out to show,
And I won't let go.

I want you to know,
With everything I won't let this go.
These words are my heart and soul.
I'll hold on to this moment, you know,
As I bleed my heart out to show,
And I won't let go.

This song inspires me to always enjoy and make the best out of the moments I have with your loved ones. It reminds me that nothing ever lasts forever so I always have to make the best out of things. It shows you in a way that your loved ones are the people who are going to make you happy and get you through life. It also helps you realize that you shouldn't forget your loved ones because they'll always be in you heart and mind.
http://www.cleanvideosearch.com/media/action/yt/watch?videoId=g8z-qP34-1Y&name=Sum+41+-+With+Me&uploadUsername=sum41vevo&hitCount=18840968

Reading Response 4: Born to Run

                The Christopher McDougall mentions the Leadville Ultra- Marathon. This ultra-marathon is one of the toughest races in the entire world! Only the baddest of the baddest runners come and compete in the race. Sometimes not even half of the runners will complete the race due to altitude sickness, dehydration, falling off the side of mountains, or complete exhaustion.  The Leadville Trail 100 was created by Ken Chlouber in 1987. Ken was an out-of-work, bronco-busting, Harley-riding, hard-rock miner when he created this magnificent masterpeice. When Rick Fisher, a reporter/journalist, found out about this race and when found the Tarahumara, he put two and two together and had one of his greatest ideas ever. He wanted to put the Tarahumara in the Leadville Trail 100, and have them win it. So he got a couple of sponsors and picked out a team of young Tarahumaras and took them to race. The Tarahumara started off in the back of the race and never left that position. They came in dead last. Rick Fisher didn’t know what he had done wrong. Then he had another great idea, he needed some experienced runners. So he got retreived some older Tarahumara and couple young ones. He took them to the same race. Before the race began they ran off into a junkyard and started ripping up some old tire to make sandals. The Tarahumara started in the same place, in the back of the pack. They were there through the first part of the race. Then at about mile 40 the indians were nonchalantly passing runners left and right. At mile 60 they were flying! The Tarahumara were going so fast that the aid stations werent even able to help the runners with fluids and food. The Tarahumara made some records at the race. The had the oldest and youngest runners in the history of ultra-marathons and the squad was the first ever to grab 3 out of the top 5 spots, also they had top 2 finishers in the entire race.

Born to Run: Reading Response 3

         

In my reading lately, which has been pretty slow, I have learned that the Tarahumara Indians culture is slowly slipping away due the Mexican Government pushing to put roads in the canyon where they live. The Mexican Government is trying to make as much money as they can by transforming the native people into regular people that have to work for everything. That’s definitely not what the Tarahumara are about! They are all natural people, who live off the land. They don’t each processed starches or drink soda, they’ve never been introduced to these things; this is good because they’re lifestyle is what makes them the amazing runners they are. They basically live off of pinole and corn beer. They make other foods like hand patted tortillas and eat fruits, but they’ve never consumed processed food. This people are all natural people. The way they run surely shows it too, their form is flawless. They have a game called rarajipari, the objective of the game is to kick a ball along a certain route which is about 6 or more miles long. The game can last for days with two villages playing against each other and neither one gloats or brags about winning, it’s all about being able to play the game.

Reading Response 2: Born to Run

I started another book this week. I started reading probably one of the best books ever written, it's most definitely the best running book ever written. This book has inspired millions of runners and people. This book is about a group of superhuman athletes called the Tarhumara Indians. These people can run hundreds of miles a day, yes I did say in one day, without a single hint of an injury. I've learned that every year during their harvest they have a giant party where they consume large amounts of their home brewed corn beer and they do this all night. Then, the next day they all line up and run for 2 days straight, I couldn't run for more than 3 hours straight. The most any of the Tarhumara have ran during the 2 days was 435 miles, that's equivalent to running from New York to Detroit. This Indians live off the bare minimum, they wear homemade skirts, togas and sandals. They live invisible, you could pass and entire village without even noticing a hint of human life around. This is how they like to keep things, they only show themseslves when they want to. They have been through so much in last 400 years, from explorers enslavinng them to men killing them for the scalps just to make money. These reason are why they live so far in the Barracas del Cobre or Copper Canyon. This book is written by a reporter who is a doing a story or more of an investigation on why he has problems running and how he can fix them. His name is Christopher McDougall, he's an award winning journalist and often injured runner.

Reading Response 1: "Running with the Buffaloes"

Lately I have been reading a couple books but the one I have enjoyed most is the book "Running with the Buffaloes" by Chris Lear. It is about the 1998 Colorado University Cross Country team and their journey the NCAA Cross Country Championship race. So far I have met the the entire team from the people who are the top runners all the way to the newcomers, they all have very strong abilities to their different styles of running. The top runner Goucher exceeds all expectations and demands with his training. His Coach Mark Wetmore is a very strategic man, focuses on the longer runs more than the speed and repittion runs. He looks at everyone as a key component to the team either as a top seven runner, alternate runner, or a wild card (a runner that puts in a lot of work but you never know what will happen during a race). So far they have just started their season are in Phase C of Wetmore's training program which is longer anerobic workouts with shorter rest periods. The team is training a lot harder this year for the NCAAs because this is the senior's last year to win the NCAAs as a team rather than as individuals, they want to do this because it has never been done at Colorado University. That is all I have for now, so I will inform you on more when I post next time.