Christopher McDougall wasn't even a runner when he came across the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico.
He'd been told he was too big. He'd be better off guarding the President or riding a bike than running.
But what he found not only changed his life, but those of thousands of runners across the globe.
In 2009, Christopher published his now famous book on the Tarahumara, 'Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen'.
Not only did it uncover the secrets of the Tarahumara, who could run incredible distances in super fast times, it opened up his eyes to a whole new way of running.
Christopher has gone on to write two more masterpieces on running, 'Natural Born Heroes' and 'Running With Sherman'.But Running Tales wanted to find out a little bit more about the man behind the books that have inspired so many runners all over the world - and caused headaches among those in the big shoe companies.
We spoke to Christopher about how his father both embarrassed and inspired him by running laps round his school and going on to run three hour 30 marathons while in his 60s, his life as a war correspondent, and what is it like running with donkeys...
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Visit Christopher's website at https://www.chrismcdougall.com/ to find out more about his work and writing.