
A Tarahumara woman won a Mexican ultramarathon in sandals (2017) - JetSpiegel
https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/05/24/inenglish/1495618559_311854.html
======
dwyerm
I did race operations for the Leadville Trail 100 for a decade, including when
the Tarahumara first raced.

The first year, Rockport was a sponsor and loaded them up with their best
trail running shoes. The Tarahumara didn't perform well, although that could
also be because of other gear issues and that they were not sure that the aid
stations were for them. The second year, they stopped by the local landfill
for old car tires, and made sandals from them. They set records that year. It
was a bit of an embarrassment to the title sponsor...

~~~
themodelplumber
I saw something similar in the NHK video documentary about Japan's Ultra Trail
Mount Fuji race (100 mi.). At just after 3:00 in the video[0] you can see two
Mexican entrants of the Rarámuri people. However, one of them is wearing Nike
shoes and another wears the traditional sandals. The results I thought were a
bit embarrassing for Nike, no matter the exact cause (22 minutes; 29 minutes
for the sandals result).

I was however really intrigued by the maize-based powder supplement drink they
seem to enjoy. (Pinore, 15:00 in the video)

0\.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PsKvPTM8po](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PsKvPTM8po)

~~~
xtracto
I think it is Pinole (
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinole](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinole)
). It is a very tasty powder we have here in Mexico that we use to do some
type of milkshakes. I loved it as a kid.

~~~
starpilot
Interesting. Do you think this [https://www.ranchogordo.com/products/pinole-
azul-heirloom-bl...](https://www.ranchogordo.com/products/pinole-azul-
heirloom-blue-corn-pinole) is similar to what the Tarahumara drink?

~~~
xtracto
Sounds like it. The only difference I see is in the Corn variety, which in
this case is the Blue Corn.

------
DenisM
A few words in opposition to barefoot running:

My podiatrist told me that aspiring barefoot runners make up a large part of
his clientele, and in his professional opinion this is a dangerous errand.
People who were running barefoot since early childhood (including various
native peoples of the world) maybe fine because they spent formative decades
of their lives acclimating to the style and growing stronger
muscles/ligaments/joints/bones/skin, but everyone else is running a high risk
of sustaining an injury (and enriching my doctor in the process).

Vibran Five Finger was targeted by a class-action lawsuit stemming form lack
of scientific proof of their barefoot claims, and they settled. Vibram stood
to gain a lot from showing the proof, and the fact that they didn't have
anything convincing on hand is quite damning.

High risk is obviously not certainty, and people who did derive benefit from
the method are likely to speak up, while those who failed are likely to have
moved on and say nothing. Survivor bias alert.

Barefoot running has a strong "appeal to nature fallacy" factor. Doesn't make
it wrong, but this sort of bias should be noted when calibrating the level of
excitement for a particular subject
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_nature](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_nature)

If you're gong to do it anyway at least consult a podiatrist about early sign
of trouble so you know when you're going down the wrong path. This would be
way more useful than acquiring your advice from various internet forums.

My doc refused to answer the question about safe running techniques and told
me to get a bike instead. Which I did.

~~~
superpermutat0r
Similar to how Masai eat meat blood and milk their whole lives, develop severe
atherosclerosis but their blood vessels adapt through childhood so the
stiffness is countered with better blood vessels. A 40 year old westerner
embarking on a carnivore diet might be missing the necessary adaptations to
survive.

~~~
DenisM
>Masai eat meat blood and milk their whole lives, develop severe
atherosclerosis

Do they really?

[https://www.atherosclerosis-
journal.com/article/S0368-1319(6...](https://www.atherosclerosis-
journal.com/article/S0368-1319\(64\)80041-7/abstract)

>A field survey of 400 Masai men and additional women and children in
Tanganyika indicates little or no clinical or chemical evidence for
atherosclerosis.

~~~
superpermutat0r
Yeah, young people rarely show signs of atherosclerosis because it's a disease
that takes a while to accumulate.

[https://academic.oup.com/aje/article-
abstract/95/1/26/167903](https://academic.oup.com/aje/article-
abstract/95/1/26/167903)

> The coronary arteries showed intimal thickening by atherosclerosis which
> equaled that of old U.S. men.

This one was brilliant. If you read the whole study, even the 18 year olds are
affected. One 25 year old died of congestive failure.

> The hearts and aortae of 50 Masai men were collected at autopsy. These
> pastoral people are exceptionally active and fit and they consume diets of
> milk and meat. The intake of animal fat exceeds that of American men.
> Measurements of the aorta showed extensive atherosclerosis with lipid
> infiltration and fibrous changes but very few complicated lesions. The
> coronary arteries showed intimal thickening by atherosclerosis which equaled
> that of old U.S. men. The Masai vessels enlarge with age to more than
> compensate for this disease. It is speculated that the Masai are protected
> from their atherosclerosis by physical fitness which causes their coronary
> vessels to be capacious.

------
amsully
I see many recommendations for 'Born To Run'. I want to warn that the
Tarahumara rarely (if ever) run on pavement. If you switch to a minimal shoe
(or want to reduce injury risk) you should be primarily running on dirt or
grass.

Interesting to see this on Hacker News.

~~~
Ma8ee
Nah, I've been running in Five-fingers for years on pavement. As long as you
take your time to ease into it so your body has time to adapt, you'll be fine.

~~~
christoph
Seconded. I've covered nearly 4,000 miles largely on tarmac/pavements in the
last 2 years in Vibrams alone. I suffered with numerous running injuries in
trainers before I switched. I've not had any running type injuries since I
made the switch. They may not be for everyone, but they've certainly worked
for me. Additionally I'm only on my 2nd pair in that time, although they are
now slightly overdue for replacement.

------
scoot
Reminds me of the story of a 61 year winning the inaugural Sydney to Melbourne
ultra marathon in his farming boots:

Short version: [https://elitefeet.com/the-legend-of-cliff-
young](https://elitefeet.com/the-legend-of-cliff-young)

Long-form: [https://www.smh.com.au/national/when-age-and-modesty-won-
the...](https://www.smh.com.au/national/when-age-and-modesty-won-the-
race-20031114-gdhs36.html)

~~~
MS90
Wow, I've never heard of that dude before. What a legend!

Didn't sleep. Didn't even know there was a prize!

------
jurasource
I've been running ultras for a number of years now, and have suffered from
many injuries, the worst being a stress fracture in my hip.

The last time I saw a sports doctor, he gave me the best advice to date:

"Run, but not every day, on grass if you can"

That was over two years ago, and I've been racing and running happily injury
free since.

~~~
tootie
Ultras just seem like the ultimate in self-torture to me. Then again, I have
very flat feet and am extremely prone to shin splints so all running is self-
torture to me.

------
dgaaaaaaaaaa
I just finished reading 'Born to Run' that talks about Tarahumara and
ultrarunning. I would recommend it for anyone looking for more info on this.

~~~
juskrey
I just finished healing all of my chronic injuries after years of long
distance running. I would recommend anyone to do sprints and weightlifting
instead.

~~~
hsitz
I'm 56 years old, run 2500-3000 miles per year, and have many friends who do
the same. I don't know of anyone with a "chronic" injury from running, and to
be honest I don't even know what that might be.

"Overuse" injuries are quite common, though. They're injuries that you get
from doing more than your body is capable of at the time (often just trying to
do "too much too soon"). These injuries go away when you reduce the stress on
your body. They can last a long time if you continue to overstress your body
by running too much (or failing to fix problems in your running form, which is
a form of that), but they are not what most people would think of as "chronic"
injuries (that stick with you indefinitely). You have ongoing overuse injuries
only if you continually run more than your body can handle.

I would also add that just because you get an overuse injury at, say, 40
miles/week of training doesn't mean you can never run more than that injury
free. You need to reduce stress, run less, let your body strengthen (or fix
running form problems) and then slowly increase training again. Years ago I
had issues when building average miles up over around 30 miles/week. They took
some time to work through. Now I run average 50+ mile weeks for most of the
year and I'm perfectly fine (actually feel much stronger and in better health
than before). I need to be careful during periods when I'm ramping up to 80+
miles/week for an upcoming race, increasing stress on my body. Running injury
free can require a lot of problem solving.

As an aside, I did run down at the Caballo Blanco race with the Tarahumara
down in the Copper Canyons last March. They changed the course this year and
made it a lot more "technical" (more trail running with lots of rocks). The
winner of the race, Miguel Lara, wore running shoes, not huarache sandals. He
has won many times before wearing huaraches, but chose to switch to shoes this
year because of the increased technicality (primarily rocks) of the course.

~~~
ordinaryperson
I run roughly the same amount injury-free in regular old Nike sneakers. As you
say, the key is slow build up.

Virtually every non-runner I know, whenever I mention something about running
or racing, tells me they "can't/don't want to run" because it will "destroy
their knees" when in fact runners have stronger knees than non-runners [1].

It'd be if you were a weakling and said, "I don't want to lift weights because
that will destroy my joints." If you lifted weights too heavy too soon, yes,
but the way to getting stronger is through slow progression. Which people
don't want to do.

It's just a matter of consistency and steady effort. Beginnners always rave to
me about their 17-20 mile long runs when my question is "How many miles per
week have you run? And for how many weeks in a row?"

The Five Fingers stuff, glad that works for a small segment of people (I even
own a pair) but for most it's just going to end in stress fractures.

[1] [https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a20804690/runners-have-
muc...](https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a20804690/runners-have-much-
healthier-knees-than-scientists-thought/)

------
snissn
Big ups to all athletes that were involved with this, but a 50k is only about
10% longer than a regular marathon and feels awkward to get "ultramarathon"
status. Great athleticism regardless, I just intuitively thought ultra means
double marathon or above

~~~
Pfhreak
Isn't ultramarathon just the category for anything longer than a marathon?

~~~
yarone
Yes

------
flyGuyOnTheSly
I love the concept behind this.

I have thought for a while now that we are not necessarily guaranteed to see
the best basketball players in the world perform in the NBA, nor are we
guaranteed to see the fastest runners in the world win the 100 meter dash in
the Summer Olympics.

We can only be sure that we are witnessing the best basketball players in the
world who are motivated by money, and the fastest runners who are motivated by
fame.

~~~
moufestaphio
>We can only be sure that we are witnessing the best basketball players in the
world who are motivated by money, and the fastest runners who are motivated by
fame.

I think that's a pretty big stretch.

First of all, not all basketball players/runners are motivated by money/fame.
If you are really good at something competitive you want to do it against
other people who are also good. So it's highly likely that the best people
want to compete against others who are at there level.

Also with all the modern training, dieting and everything modern athletes do,
I think it's pretty laughable to think someone can just 'walk up' and be
better than them.

~~~
faceplanted
You have a good point, distance running is the exception as far as I can tell,
in that this has actually happened more than once now, I can't remember his
name but the Australian ultra marathon runner who came out of nowhere from
being a shepherd or something and more recently this article, people showing
up with a new technique doesn't really happen in other sports like this, let
me know if I'm missing some examples though, other sports tend to have far
less variables I think, ultra marathon runners make a lot of decisions that
sprinters and velodrome cyclists don't have to or at least they don't have as
much of a cumulative effect.

But then i do also think the guy above you has a point in that we can be
pretty much certain based on the biases we know about that we're probably
overlooking some excellent people in big sports just based on failures in our
selection methods. There's no reason that children born in September should be
better at sports and get better degrees, but they are over represented because
of the way we select kids for sports based on school year, if you're older in
the year at school, the benefits carry for a long time, and we've probably
missed some potentially incredible athletes because of minor circumstances
like that which caused them either to not get into it or not get the training
they need. But that's not quite the same as them _currently_ being better
outside of the competitions. Still bothers me though.

------
DoreenMichele
Because of my medical condition, I live in sandals and have for years. If I
wear closed shoes, my feet soon smell and itch.

When I first went homeless, I thought I would have to get "real shoes" at some
point or I would lose toes to frost bite. We crossed the country on foot and
catching tides and we were above 7000 feet above sea level three times. Even
with snow on the ground and freezing temps, I never did get "real shoes"
though I ended up with some temporary skin damage and wore socks for a few
weeks to protect me feet and let them heal.

I don't expect to, say, live in Alaska ever. But it's been quite surprising
how well sandals and similar slip on type shoes work in winter if the local
climate isn't too severely cold.

------
pacaro
There's an REI blog article about her

[https://www.rei.com/blog/run/runner-lorena-ramirez-is-
going-...](https://www.rei.com/blog/run/runner-lorena-ramirez-is-going-the-
distance)

------
starpilot
> She doesn't have energy sweets or gel or the expensive shoes so many use for
> running in the mountains.

I've really been wondering if gels actually help. Could honey work just as
well? It's cheaper and tastes much better.

~~~
hangonhn
A lot of it is mental. There's been studies that shown that if you simply
giving someone under exertion something sweet tasting (but with no calories),
it will still boost their performance. That study was done on pro level
cyclists.

I think you do have to replenish eventually. Around mile 20 for me but I think
it depends a lot on your pace, how you've trained, and overall distance.

Gels and chews are very compact so it's easy to carry on long runs.

------
tedmcory77
It’s a 50k; Ive raced with them in 100’s and theres a reason they frequently
have cloth between the sandals and their feet.

My personal experience if moving to zero drop shoes was positive but took
about a year before my ankles felt OK.

------
dev_dull
> _“They are naturally the best runners in Mexico,” says Jiménez. In fact, the
> clue is in their name, Rarámuri. Rara means feet and muri means to run. The
> Rarámuri are a people of “light feet” or “running feet”_

I can’t help but feel that in running, our biology starts to bleed through in
the nature versus nurture debates. Clearly some people and groups of people
have both the exceptional nature and nurture to do things that might otherwise
seem impossible.

------
rurban
They have been known for this since at least 1867 for their first organized
ultramarathon, and then finally attracted the world public in the 20s.

[http://ultrarunninghistory.com/tarahumara/](http://ultrarunninghistory.com/tarahumara/)

------
mikecarlton
I’ll second the recommendation for “Born to Run” (mentioned in the article).
Amazing story and inspiring to see what human beings are capable of.

------
dixego
The Tarahumara are also known for being able to hunt deer and turkeys by
running after them until the animal collapses due to exhaustion!

~~~
davidcollantes
Do you have a source for that? I would be interested to read more about it.

~~~
ceejayoz
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting)

------
edgarvaldes
Reminds me of the basketball team of kids from the Triqui tribe[0]

[0][https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19655364/barefoot-how-
ba...](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19655364/barefoot-how-basketball-
opening-doors-kids-mexico-indigenous-triqui-tribe)

------
alienshore
Maybe it's their natural shyness but I always wonder why some of the older
tarahumara runners or someone close don't organize them like the kenians do
for road running, but in trail runs across USA and Mexico. They can easily
score some victories/podiums and share the won money/goods for their benefit.

------
kumarm
Recently there was news about untrained 19 year old from India running 100
meters in 11 seconds barefoot.

[https://twitter.com/ChouhanShivraj/status/116241639886742323...](https://twitter.com/ChouhanShivraj/status/1162416398867423232)

------
secabeen
The body language of the last picture in that article is terrible. He's
grabbing her on both arms, firmly, and her expression is totally neutral.
She's stronger and faster than you, dude, back off.

~~~
_underfl0w_
I'm glad I'm not the only one that noticed that, but also that seems to be her
"default face". Looks at the other photo of her being victorious. Stoic,
almost.

~~~
secabeen
Yeah, hopefully that's not because she's just commonly surrounded by men like
that.

------
snambi
This is a blow for shoe companies. They create an impression that Shoes are
mandatory for running. Simply not true. In fact I found shoes to be very
inconvenient, except in bad weather such as snow or cold.

------
dang
Related from yesterday:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20745301](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20745301)

------
noisy_boy
> To keep hydrated, the Tarahumara runners eat pinole, a corn paste, which is
> also part of their daily diet.

Expect ethically sourced organic pinole products to hit the shelves anytime
now.

------
pcunite
I have a plan to keep running into my 80's. But of that is foot, knee, and hip
mechanics. To that end, I use Altra branded running shoes.

------
yubiox
7 hours to run 31 miles? Is that right?

~~~
jmull
It's useless to try to judge that pace. It depends on the terrain, which is
hard to get a feel for from afar. We can assume there's elevation and uneven
terrain, but to what extent?

But first out of 500 ultra-marathoners from 12 countries means it's probably a
very good pace.

------
momentmaker
I love my Earthrunners! I almost wear these everyday except if it's raining or
too cold outside.

