Are Humans Born to Run?

I was young man in my late twenties living at home. I was very unsure of my life’s direction, and it weighed heavily on me.  On summer evenings I would put a leash on our dog Boo and walk down the end of the street to a local golf course. There was a path at the end of the street that led to the course. I would walk along the edge of the golf course to another path that led to a trail in the forest. We would walk a short distance to another trail to a berm that bordered a swamp. The area was generally wet, but the berm was nice and dry.

I would let Boo off her leash, and she would take off along the trail. I would run alongside her for a short time but could not match her speed. She would stop and look at me after a while. I would take off running full speed away from her. It was her cue to chase me, which she did with great fervor. She would pass me like I was running in slow motion. As we ran back and forth we both had great joy. We would do this repeatedly until she was tired. Then I would put her leash back on and we would walk back to the house. Back to our regular lives.

I thought of that moment in my life when I read an article by Tjeerd Zwinkels.  He is one of those writers (he is also a runner) who believes our caveman ancestors were natural-born runners. The ability to run long distances helped us to become dominant over other species. Christopher McDougall in his book Born to Run made that hypothesis popular. This is a great book whether or not you believe the hypothesis or even run.

Basically, the hypothesis is this: How did the human race survive in the African plains with animals that are much stronger and faster? Animals that had claws and fangs that could crush our bones and were so prevalent that even being a scavenger was not easy. Yet it seems that even without having developed weapons yet, we still ate meat. How could that be?

Humans are one of the only animals that sweat to cool down.  All other animals pant. So, the logic holds that packs of humans would run down a deer-like animal into exhaustion. Because panting is not as effective as sweating. Furthermore, everyone in the unit would also need to run because the kill may be miles away from the start. There is no evidence that our ancestors suffered from pulled muscles or hamstrings. They just prevailed.

Now this is an interesting theory and quite hard to believe if you look at the human race now. Most people can’t even run down a Whopper at Burger King, or a Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks. They use the drive-in. Yes, I run but the majority of people I know do not run and have no intention of doing so. The remarks I get most often when I tell people that I run ultra-marathons is “You go that far on purpose?”, “I get tired driving that far.” or “The only time you will see me running is if something is chasing me!”

Yet despite our more sedentary lifestyle now, I believe that there is something to this theory.  Even if we are not all natural born long-distance runners, we are designed to be physically active. After all it is only very recently in our existence that power tools were invented, and technology advanced to make our lives physically easier.

When I had to go to physical therapy for a knee injury, I remember the physical therapist saying “Remember the body was designed to move.” Evolution had designed the body to walk, run, and lift as well as other physical activities. Running was definitely one of those activities the body was designed for. Just look at toddlers in play, they are always on the move.

If you look at our first form of entertainment, which was sports, there are activities with ancient roots like track and field, lacrosse and soccer. They almost all demand running.

Yet if you look at our society today you can see that evolution will see no need for us to be physically active, especially running. After all, it does not take much physical dexterity to ask Siri to turn on the lights. We give our kids screens to look at so they settle down.

While we may be hurtling towards an evolutionary transformation into a human slug, we are not there yet. There are moments in our current lives when even the most sedate among us get that urge to move and be physically active. It could be dancing at a wedding or walking the streets of a historic city on vacation.

During a very sedate time in my life when I seem to spend all my time working and watching TV, those ancient urges to move still came over me. My dog Boo joined me running and we were both joyful. At our wedding reception, when my wife and I were introduced, we did not walk out to the dance floor—we  ran. Actually, I ran dragging my wife behind. I did not even realize I had run onto the dance floor until I saw the video. It was just a natural instinctive action.

I go back and forth on whether humans were “born to run”. When I am at a race with other runners it is an obvious yes. When I am in the supermarket watching everyone stock their carts with high-calorie foods it’s a no.

But there is one thing that I am sure of. Some people are in touch with their ancestral roots and are definitely born to run. I am one of them.