The character arc of Christopher McDougall

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born in 1962. Between then and now sit the Kent School and Harvard, a career as an Associated Press reporter, features for Esquire, Outside and The New York Times Magazine, Girl Trouble in 2004, Born to Run in 2009, Natural Born Heroes in 2015 and Running with Sherman in 2019. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Christopher McDougall?

One question about a foot became a whole book.

He went to the Kent School and to Harvard, and became a reporter for the Associated Press, including foreign assignments. He then wrote features for Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Outside, Men's Journal, New York and Men's Health, which is a good list and a normal career for a working magazine writer.

His first book, Girl Trouble, came in 2004 and was about the Mexican singer Gloria Trevi. The one that changed things started from a smaller question. He kept getting injured running, and every specialist told him the same thing, that his body was simply not built for it. He did not accept the answer and went looking for people for whom it was plainly untrue.

That search took him to the Copper Canyons of Mexico and the Tarahumara, who run enormous distances into old age without the injuries that stop everybody else. Born to Run, published in 2009, is the account of it. It changed how a generation of people run, sold in enormous numbers, and started a genuine argument in sports medicine that is still going. Natural Born Heroes followed in 2015, about the Cretan resistance in the Second World War and what natural fitness actually is, and Running with Sherman in 2019, about training a rescue donkey for a race. He lives in Pennsylvania.

The moments

Christopher McDougall's timeline.

The 1990s

~1990

The Associated Press

Milestone, and it changed his direction. Wire reporting, which teaches you to write fast and check everything.

~1999

The magazine years

Milestone, and it changed his direction. A good list of magazines, and a normal working writer's life.

The 2000s

Apr 2004

Girl Trouble

Milestone, and it changed his direction. A first book, about somebody else entirely.

~2006

Told to stop running

Setback, and it changed everything. Every specialist said his body was not built for it. He declined the answer.

1 Jun 2006

Accept the diagnosis, or go looking

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: go and find out, taken, or take the advice. Born to Run came out of the first path, and changed how a great many people run.

Jun 2007

He went to the canyons

Milestone, and it changed everything. Into the Copper Canyons, to find the people the answer did not fit.

5 May 2009

Born to Run

Milestone, and it changed everything. It changed how a generation runs, and started an argument in sports medicine that is still going.

The 2010s

14 Apr 2015

Natural Born Heroes

Milestone, and it changed his direction. The Cretan resistance, and a different question about what fitness is for.

15 Oct 2019

Running with Sherman

Milestone, and it changed his direction. A rescue donkey, trained for a race. It is a funnier book and the same argument.

The 2020s

~2021

Peach Bottom

Milestone. A farm in Pennsylvania, which is where the donkey came in.

The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is a habit worth borrowing: when everybody gives you the same answer and it does not fit, go and find the people for whom it is obviously untrue.

What he wrote

Books by Christopher McDougall

2004
Girl Trouble
His first book, on the Mexican singer Gloria Trevi.
2009
Born to Run
A hidden tribe, superathletes, and the greatest race the world has never seen. It changed how a generation runs.
2015
Natural Born Heroes
The Cretan resistance of the Second World War, and a different account of what fitness is for.
2019
Running with Sherman
Training a rescue donkey for a race. A funnier book, making the same argument.

Your turn

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His started with one stubborn question that every expert had already answered. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.

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Christopher McDougall: frequently asked questions

What people ask about his line.

What is Christopher McDougall's character arc?

A wire reporter and magazine writer who kept getting injured running, refused to accept that his body simply was not built for it, went to a remote Mexican canyon to find people for whom that was untrue, and wrote the book about it.

What is Born to Run by Christopher McDougall?

His book of 2009, about the Tarahumara people of Mexico and distance running. It changed how a generation of people run and started an argument in sports medicine about footwear and form that has not finished.

Was Christopher McDougall a journalist?

Yes. He reported for the Associated Press, including foreign assignments, and has written features for Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Outside, Men's Journal, New York and Men's Health. The books came out of that magazine work rather than instead of it.

What is Natural Born Heroes by Christopher McDougall?

His book of 2015, which takes the Cretan resistance of the Second World War as its subject and asks what natural fitness actually consists of. It follows Born to Run by six years.

What is Running with Sherman by Christopher McDougall?

His book of 2019 about training a rescue donkey named Sherman for a race. It is a funnier book than the others and makes very much the same argument about what bodies are built to do.

Where did Christopher McDougall study?

He was educated at the Kent School and at Harvard University. The training that shows most in his books is the wire reporting that came afterwards, which teaches a writer to check everything and waste no words.

Where does Christopher McDougall live?

In Peach Bottom, Pennsylvania, which is the farm that the donkey in his 2019 book arrived at. He was born in 1962, and the public record does not give a finer date than the year.

Where does this timeline of Christopher McDougall's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Christopher McDougall isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to him.

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Sources

Christopher McDougall, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
Publisher records for Girl Trouble, Born to Run, Natural Born Heroes and Running with Sherman.