5.15 miles (total: 1455.98 miles)
I am reading Christopher McDougall's "Running with Sherman". This guy gets into the most peculiar situations and then writes about them. Sherman is a donkey and McDougall has found a footrace that involves human and donkey…apparently there is such a thing in running - called a burro racing. The word burro comes from the Spanish word meaning donkey. A donkey is defined as being an ass. You basically run a race with a donkey. You cannot ride a donkey, but you can "carry" a donkey (if you can), however a donkey cannot carry you.
Legend has it that two miners in CO found gold in the same location and raced each other back to town to be the first to stake a claim to the find. Neither could ride their animal because of its load, so one of the basic rules of burro racing was established. Another legend is that burro racing began as drunken miners in a bar in Leadville, CO sought a way to make some money in a less back-breaking manner than with pick and shovel.
Burro racing popularity continues to grow! In 2012, the Colorado legislature approved that pack burro racing as a “Summer Heritage Sport in Colorado.” That’s right, pack burro racing is a Colorado State Sport! :)
The book is ok, a little bit too slow for me, but he goes into great detail about this poor donkey who was abused by way of neglect with an owner who very clearly was not mentally stable and how he transforms by virtue of training for the burro race. Movement has become the big medicine for the poor animal.
And it led me to look up the burro racing and its origins in Colorado. Fascinating! If running solo ever becomes dull, maybe I will get a donkey and sign up for a burro race :)
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