Early humans invented running and practiced persistence hunting for about three million years. They enjoyed a healthy lifestyle and left us therefore an inhabitable planet. But what kind of planet are we leaving for future generations?
The Running Pioneers and the Cheaters
By Dr. Barefoot Sidy Diallo
The Marathon Is an Instinctive Repackaging of Persistence Hunting
Early humans invented running and practiced persistence hunting for the survival of human species until they managed to invent farming—the domestication of some plants and animals—in the prehistoric Middle East. They smartly lived in harmony with nature for millions of years and enjoyed a healthy lifestyle and body mass index (BMI). They left us therefore a very inhabitable planet, which begs many vital questions:
Are current humans performing well regarding their life expectancy in good health and the management of natural resources?
Will there still be humans by the year 3,000,000?
If, in the meantime, there are future generations, what kind of planet are we leaving for them?, etc.?
The marathon is an instinctive repackaging of persistence hunting by white males who in 1896 pretended to reinvent the wheel, and banned everyone else from competing with them.
The marathon is indeed unconscious persistence hunting, which explains for instance why marathon finishers instinctively exhibit their medals as hunting trophies and some even can’t resist biting the metallic awards—as if they were truly animals—and so proudly take selfies.
The Humble Running Pioneers
The running pioneers are those individuals of early human species that around three million years ago went from zero to developing the abilities for long-distance running, i.e. persistence hunting, which is the most extraordinary human achievement and the mother of all human achievements. They not only developed the abilities and the best technique for fair hunting—no cheating with weapons—but also regularly chased the animals for food to ensure the survival of human species.
We should therefore be respectful to the truly running pioneers and express our gratitude and admiration for their achievements and for leaving us an inhabitable planet and exceptional abilities to run “marathons.”
In other words, running a marathon should never be about bragging rights or social recognition, but humbly about enjoying our hunter-gatherer moment while building fitness and preventing obesity, type 2 diabetes, dementia, depression, stress and other chronic diseases, instead of seeking happiness or the meaning of life in addictions to food, legal or illegal psychotropic drugs, etc.
This means that there’s no fundamental difference between Boston Marathon runners and persistence hunters in the Kalahari Desert, except for the humility and the relatively lower average body mass index (BMI) of the Africans.
Cheating Is the Original Sin of the Marathon
Exploiting a powerful position to rig despicably the rules of a competition is shameful cheating. The white males did just that in 1896 when they pretended to reinvent the wheel and banned everyone else—including their mothers, sisters and daughters—from competing with them. They also stupidly claimed that “women are not capable of running a marathon,” and later came up with the bird-brained racist theory of “speed genes.”
The cheaters who abusively excluded the women, the victims of racial segregation, the colonized and the oppressed from running marathons, and also wrongly claimed that they were the running pioneers and exceptional athletes, suffered unprecedented humiliation when they were forced to face competition with not only white female runners, but also runners from the new independent countries.
Never mind, the end of cheating through the exclusion of competitors prompted the cheaters to find creative methods to claim shamefully undeserved achievements, records, rankings, etc., or to beat a time limit: once a cheater, forever a cheater.
Abebe Bikila and the Cheaters at the 1960 Olympic Marathon
The possibility of a black, barefoot African athlete beating the white males—who had been claiming white male superiority for over 60 years—was both terrifying and humiliating. So they did what they could to prevent that from happening, to no avail.
As I explain in my book Running Barefoot for Human Survival, Ethiopian Abebe Bikila wearing the bib number 11 and his Moroccan contender ran together until the last 500 m. Nearing the Obelisk of Axum—a reminder of the Italian invasion and occupation of his country—Abebe mustered the strength and courage to sprint and win the race in a symbolic act of revenge.
Abebe Bikila’s coach told him that the runner with the bib number 26 was the favorite of the race, and therefore the one he had to beat. But Moroccan Ben Abdesselam ended up wearing the bib number 185 of the 10,000-meter event, without being disqualified for this violation of the rules and the fairness of the competition. More despicably, everybody, thus including the International Olympic Committee, condoned those flagrant infringements and just looked the other way.
The legitimate race numbers for the marathon, as we can see on the black and white photos of the event, consisted of two white digits on a black background, while the Moroccan was wearing a number consisting of three black digits on a white background. But nobody wanted to see the digit difference or the color contrast.
The following photo shows a cool Abebe Bikila “stalking” five desperate competitors—see their face—at the 1960 Olympic Marathon.
The Marathon Is an Instinctive Repackaging of Persistence Hunting
Early humans invented running and practiced persistence hunting for the survival of human species until they managed to invent farming—the domestication of some plants and animals—in the prehistoric Middle East. They smartly lived in harmony with nature for millions of years and enjoyed a healthy lifestyle and body mass index (BMI). They left us therefore a very inhabitable planet, which begs many vital questions:
Are current humans performing well regarding their life expectancy in good health and the management of natural resources?
Will there still be humans by the year 3,000,000?
If, in the meantime, there are future generations, what kind of planet are we leaving for them?, etc.?
The marathon is an instinctive repackaging of persistence hunting by white males who in 1896 pretended to reinvent the wheel, and banned everyone else from competing with them.
The marathon is indeed unconscious persistence hunting, which explains for instance why marathon finishers instinctively exhibit their medals as hunting trophies and some even can’t resist biting the metallic awards—as if they were truly animals—and so proudly take selfies.
The Humble Running Pioneers
The running pioneers are those individuals of early human species that around three million years ago went from zero to developing the abilities for long-distance running, i.e. persistence hunting, which is the most extraordinary human achievement and the mother of all human achievements. They not only developed the abilities and the best technique for fair hunting—no cheating with weapons—but also regularly chased the animals for food to ensure the survival of human species.
We should therefore be respectful to the truly running pioneers and express our gratitude and admiration for their achievements and for leaving us an inhabitable planet and exceptional abilities to run “marathons.”
In other words, running a marathon should never be about bragging rights or social recognition, but humbly about enjoying our hunter-gatherer moment while building fitness and preventing obesity, type 2 diabetes, dementia, depression, stress and other chronic diseases, instead of seeking happiness or the meaning of life in addictions to food, legal or illegal psychotropic drugs, etc.
This means that there’s no fundamental difference between Boston Marathon runners and persistence hunters in the Kalahari Desert, except for the humility and the relatively lower average body mass index (BMI) of the Africans.
Cheating Is the Original Sin of the Marathon
Exploiting a powerful position to rig despicably the rules of a competition is shameful cheating. The white males did just that in 1896 when they pretended to reinvent the wheel and banned everyone else—including their mothers, sisters and daughters—from competing with them. They also stupidly claimed that “women are not capable of running a marathon,” and later came up with the bird-brained racist theory of “speed genes.”
The cheaters who abusively excluded the women, the victims of racial segregation, the colonized and the oppressed from running marathons, and also wrongly claimed that they were the running pioneers and exceptional athletes, suffered unprecedented humiliation when they were forced to face competition with not only white female runners, but also runners from the new independent countries.
Never mind, the end of cheating through the exclusion of competitors prompted the cheaters to find creative methods to claim shamefully undeserved achievements, records, rankings, etc., or to beat a time limit: once a cheater, forever a cheater.
Abebe Bikila and the Cheaters at the 1960 Olympic Marathon
The possibility of a black, barefoot African athlete beating the white males—who had been claiming white male superiority for over 60 years—was both terrifying and humiliating. So they did what they could to prevent that from happening, to no avail.
As I explain in my book Running Barefoot for Human Survival, Ethiopian Abebe Bikila wearing the bib number 11 and his Moroccan contender ran together until the last 500 m. Nearing the Obelisk of Axum—a reminder of the Italian invasion and occupation of his country—Abebe mustered the strength and courage to sprint and win the race in a symbolic act of revenge.
Abebe Bikila’s coach told him that the runner with the bib number 26 was the favorite of the race, and therefore the one he had to beat. But Moroccan Ben Abdesselam ended up wearing the bib number 185 of the 10,000-meter event, without being disqualified for this violation of the rules and the fairness of the competition. More despicably, everybody, thus including the International Olympic Committee, condoned those flagrant infringements and just looked the other way.
The legitimate race numbers for the marathon, as we can see on the black and white photos of the event, consisted of two white digits on a black background, while the Moroccan was wearing a number consisting of three black digits on a white background. But nobody wanted to see the digit difference or the color contrast.
The following photo shows a cool Abebe Bikila “stalking” five desperate competitors—see their face—at the 1960 Olympic Marathon.
Abebe Bikila “stalking” five desperate competitors—see their face—at the 1960 Olympic Marathon.
The Rational Indicators of Runners’ Achievements
Persistence hunting was an inclusive, collective and non-competitive human activity for survival. Catching and sharing the animal was their motivation. The fact that we are here today is the best evidence that they accomplished their mission. They were wise, humble and genuine achievers. There was no reason and no room for cheating.
On the other hand, since nowadays marathoners enjoy easy access to food with the risk of developing obesity and other diseases, the rational indicators of running performance are their physical and mental health and their fitness relative their age—not deserved or cheated numbers, records, certificates or rankings.
In July 1975, in a display of voluntary servitude and parody of British and French colonial manners in Africa, British businessmen carried in a sedan chair—with another white man holding a sunshade—the overweight Ugandan president Idi Amin from his residence to a conference center for a summit meeting of the Organization of African Unity in Kampala. “I think you have heard I was being carried at 258 pounds (117 kg) by 19 people who managed to carry me 11 1/2 miles, and they were very tired,” Amin later said.
Cars, trains, buses, electric scooters, electric bikes, etc., have replaced the colonial sedan chairs, but contrary to widespread belief, our hunter-gatherer body is designed for long-distance running and walking—not for physical inactivity and motorized locomotion, hence the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, including obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, dementia, fatigue, insomnia, stress, depression and vulnerability to pandemics.
Getting Pontificated by the President of a Marathon Club
I was inspired to write this article by the president of a marathon club who—when I “dared” to leave their club because of their incoherent definition of countries—misguidedly felt entitled to lecture me about running pioneers and even French geography. Excerpts of the “facts” he put to me in two e-mails: “You should always check the facts. The pioneers of the club were running marathons in countries before you were born. I have a problem understanding your ignorance of this fact: Paris and Marseille are regions...”
Well, the “pioneer” pretending to be running marathons before I was born is barely 11 years older than me. Regarding his “problem understanding my ignorance,” any French high school student can humbly help him by explaining that Paris and Marseille are cities—not regions. Paris is one of the cities of the region Île-de-France, and Marseille is in the region Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Monsieur le professeur.
Persistence hunting was an inclusive, collective and non-competitive human activity for survival. Catching and sharing the animal was their motivation. The fact that we are here today is the best evidence that they accomplished their mission. They were wise, humble and genuine achievers. There was no reason and no room for cheating.
On the other hand, since nowadays marathoners enjoy easy access to food with the risk of developing obesity and other diseases, the rational indicators of running performance are their physical and mental health and their fitness relative their age—not deserved or cheated numbers, records, certificates or rankings.
In July 1975, in a display of voluntary servitude and parody of British and French colonial manners in Africa, British businessmen carried in a sedan chair—with another white man holding a sunshade—the overweight Ugandan president Idi Amin from his residence to a conference center for a summit meeting of the Organization of African Unity in Kampala. “I think you have heard I was being carried at 258 pounds (117 kg) by 19 people who managed to carry me 11 1/2 miles, and they were very tired,” Amin later said.
Cars, trains, buses, electric scooters, electric bikes, etc., have replaced the colonial sedan chairs, but contrary to widespread belief, our hunter-gatherer body is designed for long-distance running and walking—not for physical inactivity and motorized locomotion, hence the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, including obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, dementia, fatigue, insomnia, stress, depression and vulnerability to pandemics.
Getting Pontificated by the President of a Marathon Club
I was inspired to write this article by the president of a marathon club who—when I “dared” to leave their club because of their incoherent definition of countries—misguidedly felt entitled to lecture me about running pioneers and even French geography. Excerpts of the “facts” he put to me in two e-mails: “You should always check the facts. The pioneers of the club were running marathons in countries before you were born. I have a problem understanding your ignorance of this fact: Paris and Marseille are regions...”
Well, the “pioneer” pretending to be running marathons before I was born is barely 11 years older than me. Regarding his “problem understanding my ignorance,” any French high school student can humbly help him by explaining that Paris and Marseille are cities—not regions. Paris is one of the cities of the region Île-de-France, and Marseille is in the region Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Monsieur le professeur.
British businessmen carrying in a sedan chair the overweight Ugandan president Idi Amin to a conference center in 1975
You can navigate and zoom on the following interactive map through the marathons (orange icons) and ultramarathons (blue icons) I have completed around the world with the purpose of promoting the excellent health and fitness benefits of running. Click on an icon to see the name of the race and on the link to access the related article on this website.
The book Running Barefoot for Human Survival is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book format (French edition: Courir pieds nus pour sauver les humains).
The book Running Barefoot for Human Survival is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book format (French edition: Courir pieds nus pour sauver les humains).
