By Anupum Pant
The marathon is one of the most popular long-distance running events and is followed by people from around the world. An athlete, to even finish the ~42 km race, has to go through a training that lasts several months (or years).The training is designed to develop the slow twitch muscle fibers which enables athletes to run for a long distances without getting tired. But, lacking access to all the hi-tech training equipment, there are people who can run fifteen times that in one session.
Tarahumara people or ‘Running people’ are a group of Native American people living in the north-western Mexico who can run 400+ miles in around 50 hours! Sounds impossible, but it is true. Astonishingly, the entire tribe consisting of men, women, old and young, every one of them is capable of running at least 250+ miles in a single run, without shoes. Such extreme feat of endurance has never been seen among humans anywhere else in the world.
They are the kind of people who run to live. They have running events lasting more than 200 miles regularly. They run to send messages and they run for food; Like Michael Stevens from Vsauce says, as hunters humans who can run persistently, can outrun even horses.
In fact, I thought about writing this after I watched a very interesting video on Vsauce and was feeling uneasy that Michael had missed the Tarahumara people. – [Video]
Where do they get the energy? – Unlike athletes who last on energy gained from Gatorade (or other drinks), these people run on copious amounts of a beverage made from corn, to keep up with the amount of calories they burn in a single event – around 43,000 calories. A great workout indeed!
One thing that has confused me: If they can run 400 miles with ease, why don’t they take part in the marathon events? I’m guessing that they run for long but don’t run as fast as a marathon runner. If you know why, tell me in the comments section below.
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They are not competitive. It’s a cultural thing where they just run for the joy of it in groups.
Anybody knows what Tarahumara people eat, what kind of diet they have?
Associated fact (to be confirmed here on this website) -women can outrun men over longer distances -time-wise.
Never once demonstrated
I seen it. The race started i. A Wednesday at 6 pm. It ended Sunday…
They asked the winner why did you stop?
Nobody wanted to pass me anymore he said.
So they are competitive.
I’m not sure about that.
Story says that a USA marathon was being held and someone involved in the race or city where the race was, asked if the Tarahumara people could send a few to race.
There were a few women sent (not sure the exact amount). The USA person involved with the race thanked the Tarahumara Indian Head but asked why he only sent women
Do you know what he said (or so I’ve been told)
Something like:
“A marathon is not long enough to send our men to race in. I’m just a warm-up for them”
I doubt the women can outrage the men.
I am half Tarahumara. The secret is not just the corn beer, but running barefooted from birth. There is a water fall in northern Chihuahua called Basaseachic. This is one of the ultimate running grounds for the tribe.
Wow! It’s an honour to have you here. Thanks 🙂
Wow! It’s an honour to have you here. Thanks 🙂
Awesome,
Barefoot, check out earthing/grounding, increases oxygen uptake a GREAT deal, which in turn allows one to go up to 16 times further on one glucose molecule.
Shoes and bad breathing along with to fast a pace for ones fitness level,,results in complete glycogen depletion after 42-84 km, but
Going barefoot, on earth surface, not tar roads, along with some Wim Hoff, style breathing, and easy or correct pace, results in glycogen depletion only after about 16x42km =672km
That being said, all the right earthing barefoot running at the right pace and breathing correctly, won’t mean anything the moment you insist on eating or consuming calories while running…aid stations are for people who want to stop, hahaha
Hello Ignacio. I also have Tarahumara in me. When I was young and would run it was a feeling of lightness, almost floating. Not to outrun anyone, just a soothing, euphoric feeling.
I loved staring at the ground in front of me …..
Seriously? Clearly they can easily outrun marathoners. Even just doing the math based purely on the information you gave gives you an average speed of 8mph for a distance of 400 miles.
Why Mexico won’t send them in Olympic marathon?
They try but since they have use “proper gear” meaning running shoes they quit for the discomfort of the shoes. They dont see the point of using shoes and dont like shoes. Olimpic committies dont let them
run barefoot.
400 miles in 50 hours? They should be in olympics
They are a people that hunt by running animals to death. They can run very fast with little to no shoes. But are also being pushed into a corner of mexico that very little lives in so that the mexican people can use the other land for logging. I am pretty sure, however, that they have run in multiple different events, not in the olympics as far as I know, but in just marathons of the southwest.
why would you think they would possibly want to participate in our marathons? To feel a sense of achievement? to raise awareness for breast cancer?
The tarahumara people were written about in Christopher McDougals ‘Born to Run’ . A lot is explained in his book.
There was an article in Men’s Health titled, The Men Who Live Forever. It was done in 2010. Long article, very informative. I now run this way and use a very lightweight flexible shoe. No longer any pain.
My father was full blooded Tarahumara or Raramuri as they call themselves, although we, my sisters and I did not know this until about the 1980’s when we asked why Dad knew some old Raramuri songs that he sang. I then realized why I was always good at long distance running. Even at 235 to 245 pounds when I was a lineman in High School and in College I could still out run the rest of the team in the 12 minute run, and in the Marines at 200 pounds I could consistently run the 3 miles in less than 3 minutes. And my fellow Raramuri’s are correct it is a feeling of freedom rather euphoric and satisfying. Once I learned of my heritage I kind of understood and embraced the culture of running.
Anybody knows what Tarahumara people eat, what kind of diet they have?