Over the long, graded hills of Chihuahua,
Mexico, tucked deep within the Sierra
Madre Occidental, live people shrouded in
mystery -- and I went to find them. So I
drove five and a half hours from
Chihuahua to Guachochi to find out
why this elusive and indigenous
community are some of the best
long-distance runners in the world.
Their name, Raramuri, means "those who run fast,"
and some historians say they've been
running deeper into these canyons for
centuries. When Cortes and his
conquistadors invaded and conquered the
Aztec, they found refuge in this harsh
landscape. And today, they're the last
Native Americans in North America to
live the same lifestyle they did
centuries ago. So yeah, being an outsider,
how did I expect to meet them?
Well, there's a 100K ultra-marathon
in their hometown, and last year, a 22-year-old Raramuri named Lorena
Ramirez won the 50k in just a skirt and
plastic sandals, and she became an overnight sensation.
And she started doing some press, which gave me
an opportunity to meet these fascinating people.
I met Lorena at her cabin to see how she
prepared. She didn't eat anything except
a banana and a bite of croissant.
She sipped on something called pinole, which
is milled corn, a few herbs, water, and
sometimes brown sugar.
She didn't stretch, she didn't run up and
down the stairs or run up and down the
hall, but she was focused. When I asked
her why she ran, she said, "Because I'm
good at it."
To get a better understanding of how
they're different,
I talked to Dr. Andres De Leon, who
conducted a study in collaboration with Copenhagen University.
And their heart rate is slower, which is
common in other athletes
After running hundreds of miles in hard sandals in
this terrain, their feet become wider,
with thicker calluses, making them less
prone to injuries. She's in like 46-something
kilometers, and she's sprinting
up these f... these hills.
Lorena's father, Santiago, was a part of these studies in 2012.
When living their traditional lifestyle,
they're less prone to cancers, obesity,
and other common diseases found in
Western society. But when cities and the
associated lifestyles are introduced,
they begin to develop the same diseases.
So for Lorena and her family, it's important to keep it simple.
When I caught up with Lorena, around the
63K mark, she was 30 minutes in the lead.
But then the temperature dropped and the sky opened.
And somewhere in the pouring rain and hail, Lorena was passed by
Carmela Martinez of Mexico City, and
finished a minute behind to place second
in their division. Overall, the Raramuri
swept the race. Of the 100K
men's division, the top nine were all
Raramuri. The day after the race,
before going back into the mountains,
where they would continue to run and I
left for the city, Lorena and her family
relaxed. Hey, thanks for watching! And if
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