Born To Walk: The Broken Promises of the Running Boom, and How to Slow Down and Get Healthy-One Step at a Time

The romanticized notion that humans are “born to run” has buoyed the so-called running boom of the past 50 years: well-intentioned fitness enthusiasts lacing up their cushioned shoes and plodding down roads and trails in pursuit of the runner’s high, a trim physique, and the fountain of youth. Unfortunately, born to run is a big, fat ruse—a marketing gimmick and a gross misappropriation of evolutionary biology insights about our Homo sapiens genetic attributes for endurance. While any move...