Famed runner visits Austin

Famed runner visits Austin

By Mary Tuma Thursday, 05 November 2009

AUSTIN — The subject of New York Times bestselling book “Born to Run,” Micah True, known in the running community as Caballo Blanco, scoffs at the mythical storied tale swirling around his persona.

“That’s just not me,” he said. “I used to do manual labor to make money. Now they’ve got me on the talk show circuit. Who would have thought?”

The athlete is noted for starting the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon, an annual event in Mexico that aims to encourage the Tarahumara Indians of the region to continue their running tradition. After eight years, the 47-mile marathon now attracts international runners and increases in number of participants each year.

His trip sponsored by local athletic outfitter RunTex, True visited Austin the first week of November to promote awareness for his nonprofit Narawas. He joined the Austin Barefoot Running Group on a four-mile run around Lady Bird Lake.

Austin held the country’s first ultra marathon as part of the 1927 Texas Relays. Six Tarahumara took part.

“There seems to be a big running community here,” True said.

The son of a U.S. Marine, True grew up in the northern part of California. In the ’70s, he had a short-lived career as a prizefighter, a role he has never truly connected with.

“It’s not my identity by any means,” he said. “I watched Muhammad Ali on TV and was inspired to learn self-defense.”

After exiting the boxing ring, True settled in Colorado where an experience changed the young athlete’s life. Though he no longer boxed, True maintained his endurance by running. On a 100-mile trail in Leadville, Col., he met a Tarahumara Indian from Mexico’s Copper Canyons.

Enamored by the Tarahumara’s way of life, True traveled to Mexico in the mid-’80s to be among the “Raramuri,” as they are call themselves in their own language. He said he built a modest house from stones and adobe at the bottom of a 6,000 ft-deep canyon in the state of Chihuahua, and traveled everywhere by foot.

He would often run from village to village amid volcanoes and mountains, spend the night at local hotels for a cheap rate and wake up to run another 40 miles to the next city.

Caballo Blanco

Flying by a Mexican woman on one of his runs, True heard her yell “Eres un caballo blanco!” (You are a White Horse!). Unbeknownst to him, she was referring to an old folk song and had just ascribed him a lifelong moniker, a common tradition there.

“The culture is very unpretentious, they call it like they see it, and no one takes offense,” he said. “I carried the nickname with me wherever I went. People seem to embrace that for some reason.”

Initially, the newcomer slowly interacted with the indigenous people, hoping to respect their reserved nature and remain as non intrusive as possible. To help encourage the Tarahumara’s long tradition and offer another way for them to secure the crops they need to survive, True started a race in 2003 and even provided the prize money with cash he received doing odd jobs back in Colorado in the summers.

“I would go back to Colorado flat broke but happy,” he said. “At first [the race] was just myself and a handful of Raramuri, but word of mouth helped us grow.”

The Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon takes place on the first Sunday of March every year. Runners trek rock trails, partake in multiple hikes and run a 48-mile footrace in the bottom of the Urique Canyon.

“The Raramuri were always looked down on in the Urique Canyon, they were seen as just “Indians”, he said. “But since this race they are treated like heroes.”

Run Light

Jim Nicar, member of Austin Barefoot Runners Group and director of the University of Texas Heritage Society, paced True on the run around Lady Bird Lake in five-finger shoes, a durable alternative to sneakers. Nicar began using the slip-on footwear after a foot injury.

“When I started running barefoot, there were no injuries,” he said. “I took it as an experiment at first, but now I run like this five times a week.”

True is also a minimalist. He sports flexible, open-toed sandals that are traditionally not made for running, but seem to help him glide through races with ease.

“I was getting hurt a lot anyway with normal sneakers,” he said. “I realized I don’t really need those shoes and that these sandals could get me closer to the ground and were lighter.”

True said he is rejecting the over-commercialization of sports, powered by marketing and money.

“My biggest challenge has been the corporate interest in the event. They want the Tarahumara to wear their swag,” he said. “But I won’t let them. It’s not about corporate sponsorship, it’s about people, that makes it unique from other races and I want to keep it that way.”