The Perfect Runner (Nature of Things Episode)

[PaleSnail]

http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episod ... unner.html

Thursday, March 15, 2012 8:00 PM on CBC-TV

How did our ancestors survive the shift from trees to land? How did Homo sapiens evolve to dominate the planet? How did our ancestors hunt before they developed weapons?

The answer, you’ll be amazed to learn, is that humans became 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 animals around them, allowing them to endure and ultimately thrive.

[PaleSnail]

Bump.

Coming up on Thursday.

[NewFinnLoper]

Bump.

Coming up on Thursday.

Thanks...I am going to try to remember to PVR it.

[Avis]

Bump.

Coming up on Thursday.

Thanks...I am going to try to remember to PVR it.

Yep, I'm going to record it since It airs during choir practice. (Does anyone know it there will be a rebroadcast and/or can we watch an episode on-line?)

[La]

I'm watching it right now.

[La]

[sigh] More barefoot running propaganda.

[Jwolf]

Not 8:00 here- no spoilers!
Jk- I'm going out later and won't get to see it on air anyway- will try to catch it later.

I hope it's not just barefoot propaganda.

[Kelodie]

[sigh] More barefoot running propaganda.

Yeah, I rolled my eyes at that too.

[trixiee]

I loved it! I didn't see it as propaganda.

[scrumhalfgirl]

I loved it! I didn't see it as propaganda.

I agree - I don't know if you can really call academics presenting their research which happens to support a certain point of view as "propaganda". one-sided, maybe.

[NeilR]

I loved it! I didn't see it as propaganda.

I agree - I don't know if you can really call academics presenting their research which happens to support a certain point of view as "propaganda". one-sided, maybe.

Well said.

[Marg]

Ugh I totally forgot to tape it.

[MINITEE]

I loved it! I didn't see it as propaganda.

I agree - I don't know if you can really call academics presenting their research which happens to support a certain point of view as "propaganda". one-sided, maybe.

Well said.

My thoughts as well... No propaganda, just presenting their findings. And they were valid (IMO) findings.

[Kelodie]

I loved it! I didn't see it as propaganda.

I agree - I don't know if you can really call academics presenting their research which happens to support a certain point of view as "propaganda". one-sided, maybe.

True. I guess I'm resisting the idea of barefoot running and I have my defenses up when someone says I should do it.

Well, it made me think I would try to run barefoot on the TM sometime just to see how it feels. Is it a good idea?

[La]

I loved it! I didn't see it as propaganda.

I agree - I don't know if you can really call academics presenting their research which happens to support a certain point of view as "propaganda". one-sided, maybe.

Well said.

My thoughts as well... No propaganda, just presenting their findings. And they were valid (IMO) findings.

Fine. One-sided.

Valid findings, perhaps, but it made it sound like everyone should throw out their shoes and run barefoot.

[marymac442]

I loved it! I didn't see it as propaganda.

I agree - I don't know if you can really call academics presenting their research which happens to support a certain point of view as "propaganda". one-sided, maybe.

Well said.

My thoughts as well... No propaganda, just presenting their findings. And they were valid (IMO) findings.

Fine. One-sided.

Valid findings, perhaps, but it made it sound like everyone should throw out their shoes and run barefoot.

Only after spending your childhood as a starving farmer in the African veldt, carrying a cow 10 miles to school, everyday, barefoot .... or something like that

[fingerboy]

I just want to know why the other billion+ people who spend their lives barefoot (B2R, as these people have no foot injuries ever and rock!), have NOT produced winners?

Hmm. Billions of people, large sample size, no other winners...Hmm.

Sure it might lead to better run mechanics but how your foot gets used to the grass/vedlt/spiky grass /rocks is different than running on concrete. But again... winners... were are they?

[Mark.AU]

I just want to know why the other billion+ people who spend their lives barefoot (B2R, as these people have no foot injuries ever and rock!), have NOT produced winners?

Hmm. Billions of people, large sample size, no other winners...Hmm.

Sure it might lead to better run mechanics but how your foot gets used to the grass/vedlt/spiky grass /rocks is different than running on concrete. But again... winners... were are they?

You might consider that the overwhelming majority of people who spend their lives barefoot don't have time for anything as frivolous as running for fun. They're more concerned with, you know, finding clean water, putting food on their tables, a roof over their head, educating their children, that sort of thing.

We're talking about a first world problem here; 99% of the [barefoot] third world doesn't care.

[Weak Willed]

Wow!

I thought it was a fantastic show.

As a (relatively speaking) sedentary example of the Human Species I found this ennobling.

Clearly I am capable of more.

[fingerboy]

Mark, you might think the poor African farmers would have those concerns too...

But clearly many will abandon that in the hope to earn a cool million.

[DonnaRigs]

I loved it! I didn't see it as propaganda.

I agree - I don't know if you can really call academics presenting their research which happens to support a certain point of view as "propaganda". one-sided, maybe.

True. I guess I'm resisting the idea of barefoot running and I have my defenses up when someone says I should do it.

Well, it made me think I would try to run barefoot on the TM sometime just to see how it feels. Is it a good idea?

NO! I did that. The belts get a little hot and rubby - I got blisters.

[La]

I just want to know why the other billion+ people who spend their lives barefoot (B2R, as these people have no foot injuries ever and rock!), have NOT produced winners?

Hmm. Billions of people, large sample size, no other winners...Hmm.

Sure it might lead to better run mechanics but how your foot gets used to the grass/vedlt/spiky grass /rocks is different than running on concrete. But again... winners... were are they?

You might consider that the overwhelming majority of people who spend their lives barefoot don't have time for anything as frivolous as running for fun. They're more concerned with, you know, finding clean water, putting food on their tables, a roof over their head, educating their children, that sort of thing.

We're talking about a first world problem here; 99% of the [barefoot] third world doesn't care.

Mark, you might think the poor African farmers would have those concerns too...

But clearly many will abandon that in the hope to earn a cool million.

I think there's a lot more to it than that. In places like Ethiopia and Kenya they know that being good at running is a way for them to rise out of the poverty they are living in, and there is a system there to support that.

It's not unlike how kids in North America aspire to the NBA, NFL, MLB or NHL as their "ticket" out of a disadvantaged life.

[JoaniB]

I am hoping this is the same thing, as I didn't catch this in time to see it :/

The Huffington Post has a story on it.

[dgrant]

A couple things that I couldn't get past with Niobe's film:

1. In the first couple minutes he sets up the big question: How did slow, dumb homo sapiens avoid being lunch on open ground, with so many great sprinting predators around? But then he only talks about man's running advantages in terms of hunting, not being hunted. It's one thing to have a natural advantage in chasing down a wildebeest over the course of an hour, but that's not an answer to how you avoid being killed by a lion or leopard that can easily catch you in 5 or 6 seconds.

2. The whole ultrarunning thing is said to prove that humans haven't lost that natural running advantage, but nothing about ultrarunning bears any resemblance to that prehistoric running. Too much walking (which as discussed earlier in the film is not a human advantage), water/electrolytes/glucose being carried every step of the way, (in the film) nordic poles which create a whole different biomechanic setup...

[PaleSnail]

The full episode is available at the link in the original post.

I thought it was pretty good overall. A little oversimplified explanation of some of the theories, and not quite at the level I would expect of a David Suzuki endorsed product. Maybe it would have been better as a series, so they could go into more detail. I could have watched a full hour of the persistance hunting, an hour of Ethiopians (with more details on their evolutionary traits), and an hour with the researchers in the lab.