“Their phrase they have at the Bird-In-Hand Half Marathon is, ‘The joy of running in community,’ and it’s on all their t-shirts, it's on all their signs: the joy of running in community. And that’s why I struggle with this idea of competition because these guys are very hardcore runners: they’re fast, they’re strong, they do Ragnars, they do sub-3 hour marathons, but always as a gang, as a team, like a cross-country team. So those things began to sort of connect for me: I’m running with these Amish dudes, they all run together. I’m running with these donkeys, they’re all having fun. I would finish runs with the donkeys and my wife and my friend Zeke feeling way better than other runs because we were going slower, we were communicating, your consciousness is off yourself, it’s on somebody else, so for me, I just started to feel and see the effects of running as a group.” Great episode of the podcast for you this week: I had the chance to sit down with New York Times best-selling author Christopher McDougall while he was on tour for his new book, Running with Sherman, which is a heartwarming story about training a rescue donkey to run one of the most challenging races in America.McDougall also wrote the wildly popular Born To Run, and in this conversation we talked about both of those books, as well as running, writing, storytelling, community, competition, and a lot more.This episode is brought to you by the 37th annual Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon, 10K & 5K. Run through San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, and along the Pacific Ocean on these fast and scenic courses. This event is presented by Pamakid Runners and supports local San Francisco Bay Area community organizations and nonprofits with donations of more than $75,000 per year. Mark your calendars—race day is February 2, 2020. Register today at getfitkpsf.com, and use code SHAKEOUT5 to save $5 on registration if you register before November 30, 2019.Complete show notes: https://themorningshakeout.com/podcast-episode-83-with-christopher-mcdougall/Sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday morning: www.themorningshakeout.com/subscribe/Support the morning shakeout on Patreon: www.patreon.com/themorningshakeout

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