Archive for February 2012

Back when I was living in Madrid and before I got my first journalism job, I was lucky to learn one of the best questions you can ever ask someone: “So what got you here?” Defining here is up to them, and that’s what makes the question so great: the first words out of their…

Now that he’s figured out what’s wrong with our feet, mega-mind Dr. Dan Lieberman has moved on to the rest of our bodies. He’s figured out not only why humans evolved to become world champs at packing on fat, but what we can do about it. As usual with Lieberman, it’s an explanation and a…

… it’s hard to get other people, particularly journalists, to understand that the debate about running form is not a debate about bare feet. It’s encouraging that publications like the New York Times and Men’s Fitness have stories about Dr. Lieberman’s groundbreaking research on the relationship between running form and injuries (while running magazines — surprise!…

Patient: “Doc, it hurts whenever I go like this. Doctor: “Don’t go like that.” Over the past few years, Daniel Lieberman’s lab at Harvard University has made a series of groundbreaking discoveries by testing one simple premise: if your leg hurts when you move it one way, try moving it another. And what has he…

I’ve never met Mickey Mahaffey, but Will Harlan vouches for him and that goes a very long way. Mickey and Will just helped coordinate a full-on Tarahumara rarajipari, or flick-ball race, down in the canyon-bottom town of Urique. The result: four tons of food were distributed not as charity, but as prizes for ultrarunning excellence.…

Good thing honest brokers like Caballo and Will Harlan are on the job, because when it comes to emergency drought relief for the Tarahumara, the Mexican government is apparently all talk, no pinole. You have to be impressed by the long-range strategies of Harlan and the Horse. Will’s approach is to not only help out…

Caballo is going to head-butt me for that headline, so please note that i’m risking his wrath to capture your attention. The New York Times looked into famine conditions in the Copper Canyons, and their findings are almost identical to what Caballo told me two weeks ago: the mass suicide tales are bogus, but the…