The Perfect Runner celebrates the modern love of long-distance running by exploring our evolutionary past as a species defined by its ability to run. In the film we learn how humans are nature’s perfect endurance runners. With a skill that evolved far earlier than the development of our powerful brains, our African ancestors had the ability to outrun all the animals around them, allowing them to endure and ultimately thrive.
From Africa’s Great Rift Valley to the highlands of Ethiopia, from the most remote place in Arctic Siberia to one of the world’s toughest ultra-marathons in the Canadian Rockies, Gemini-winning anthropologist and host Niobe Thompson takes us on a journey that connects science with adventure, and asks what today’s runners can learn from our evolutionary past.
In my interview with Thompson, he made the point that “the more money we spend on running shoes, the more injuries we seem get.” So what exactly is happening? Daniel Lieberman‘s research is helping us understand what may be behind these injuries. In the film, we meet Dr. Lieberman who is known as the father of the barefoot running movement. In a recent study of running biomechanics, Lieberman has shown how modern running shoes encourage a running style humans were never evolved to withstand, and which likely underpins the epidemic in running injuries we see today. With running shoes, we are landing on our heels; thus, accumulating stress over time that can lead to injuries. If we land on our forefoot, we would push back up especially if the foot is strong. This was the case thousand of years ago, our feet were much stronger since we had no specialized shoes and in turn, we would land on our forefoot when naturally running. Due to Liebeman and his colleagues’ research, the running shoe industry is undergoing a big change.
In Ethiopia, we see that children grow up running in bare feet. This is due to the level of poverty in the country and the nature of life there. Yet they grow up “to build a runner’s body; a complete body.” Running has now become a way of out poverty. When we see young runners at the National Championship, they are wearing running shoes but their feet are shaped differently. Their feet are more supple; they land on their forefoot. Theybenefit of that spring and get that energy back.
In Chukotka (Arctic Siberia), Thompson visits a group of herders. In Chukotka, where natural selection has been very strong. They have to run next to thee large animals and the tundra is never flat; your ankles are often being abused puts it in perspective. Running is part of their everyday life. This helps is yet more evidence that humans can in fact be effective runners.
In Canada, Dr. Larry Bell is training Olympic hopefuls by drawing from the “natural running” lessons he learned in Africa.
The Perfect Runner, behind the scenes in Extreme Slow Motion from Niobe Thompson on Vimeo.
As seeing from the clip here, there are athletes who are indeed perfect runners. When I asked Thompson, (who’s an avid runner) if his technique has changed over time, the explained that before starting the film, he’d experienced all kinds of injuries from running. He thought he was done with running. The film helped get him back to running. He was always a heel striker; he has now shifted to landing on the forefront.
We also talked about how this film can be used as an educational tool. It is interesting to learn that human beings are nature’s fastest endurance runners. It’s fascinating to look at how the body has features that were designed for running and nothing else. In Thompson’s words, “science can be an adventure and this is what we try to do with our documentaries. This is an important role that television and the media can take a part in. It’s really important for kids to see that science is fascinating. We have to find interesting ways to ask questions to inspire future generations of scientists”.
What Thompson is trying to do with this film is to flip our perception of extreme behaviour. We often think of extreme sports as things that athletes do. “Considering our evolutionary history and the body we were given by evolution, the extreme activity is sitting in front of the computer, is driving the car all day, is not being active, is lying on the couch every night…it’s not being active. And that is going to lead into problems… what is ‘normal’ is walking, running, being active.” Taking part in more sports can help people become fitter and lead a healthier lifestyle, sites such as Flyerdiaries can give people tips and reviews of equipment that could come in useful to them.
The Perfect Runner airs Thursday on CBC’s The Nature of Things (check local listings). After seeing the film, you can also partake in the Journey by visiting the film’s website.
