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I had the fortunate opportunity to share a few e-mails with the
UltraRunningGuy.com Home PageI had the fortunate opportunity to share a few e-mails with the
infamous Micah True or "Caballo Blanco" as he is referred to
throughout Chris McDougall's book "Born to Run".
What did you think of the way you were portrayed in Chris' book?
"I had mixed feelings...
realizing that his first impressions of me were heresay,
and not how I nor my friends see me.....some exaggeration....
The overall message was/is very good and positive."
Yes, I suppose I knew that you would turn out to be
a "normal" guy however it was fun following Chris on his search
for the mysterious "Caballo Blanco".
"never said I was normal--:]"
No not "normal" just not "crazy"? Perhaps a mixture of
the 3 characters in the attached comic. I hope my little comic
doesn't offended you as much as calling you normal did? :)
"No offence taken by anything-:} Those who run with el Caballo in the canyons become Mas Loco, and that is a good thing-;}"
I have been reading your stories and am more moved with each one...
Mas Korma (http://caballoblanco.com/maskorima.html )
and Los Alisos (http://caballoblanco.com/thousandwords.html )...
"Thank you..."
Micah's website and home to
The Copper Canyon Run and Ultra Marathon http://caballoblanco.com/
5 comments:
Very interesting that you had a chance to email with Micah True. He was definitely my favourite character in the book due to his passion for running...for all the right reasons.
Derrick,
I agree that Micah's "character" stands atop the moral high-ground of a book full of unsavoury characters. Of course anytime someone tries to make a buck off of something their intentions suddenly become questionable, but then isn't that the American way? Making a buck does not make someone a villain, however making a buck at the expense of other people makes someone a villain. So who is your vote for the biggest villain in "Born to Run" based on the way the characters are portrayed by Cris(which may or may not be entirely accurate)?
Hmmmm, tough to say who the biggest villain is. I don't have the book in front of me, so have a hard time remembering all of the details. The promoter who was trying to take advantage of the Tarahumara certainly comes to mind.
And, I don't want this to come off the wrong way, but an arguement could be made for Chris McDougall himself. I still question the extent of how much was true in the book and how much was a bit of a stretch of the truth.
It was a fantastic book to read and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but there were some factual errors. I also didn't like the way he may have shown some disrespect for certain people. Maybe some of it was true about these people, but I found myself questioning a lot of it and wondered what they thought of the picture that was painted of them (Shelton and Billy come to mind). I just can't help but think that certain things were sensationalized a little to make it a little more of a tall tale and a more entertaining read to sell more books. Maybe it's just the way it was written an the format with a lot of humorous comparisons along the way that has me thinking this way.
Still, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and learned a great deal while reading it. And, as a side note, if it encourages people to also question the traditional running shoe industry and the way that it currently is and what it believes, I think that's a very good thing.
Yes, Rick Fisher sure turned out to be a bad guy along with Nike founder Bill Bowerman and how about the entire medical community from podiatrists to cortisone injecting MD's. Chris will have to own his portrayal of all these characters and I wonder if he has any regrets?
Bowerman...dunno. He was just a running coach who had an idea... and waffle iron. Seems like Nike Kingpin Phil Knight may be more of the sleazeball.
Ah, yes, the whole healthcare business, err, I mean industry/profession. Very true.
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