49 pages • 1 hour read
Christopher McDougallRunning with Sherman
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Sociocultural Context: The Culture and History of Burro Racing
The World Championship of burro racing that Sherman competes in is part of a wider ecosphere of races that take place yearly throughout the summer in Colorado, where the sport originated in the 1940s. Based on the state’s long history of gold prospecting and mining, the nature of the race is dictated by the conditions of prospecting, which saw prospectors tying their heavy equipment to their donkeys and thus having to walk alongside the animals rather than riding. Due to this, each donkey that competes in a race must “carry a thirty-three-pound packsaddle with a prospector’s traditional tools: a pan, shovel, and pick” (51). The human competing with the donkey must hold onto the donkey’s tether at all times; if they drop this connection, they must return the donkey to the spot of breach and begin again there—a process which can take hours. Beyond these two rules, the donkeys and the humans are free to run the race as they so choose.
Much like horse racing, burro racing has a Triple Crown, a series of three races which offer the steepest challenges and the most prestigious victories. Roughly a week or two apart from each other, beginning in late July and running into August, the burro racing Triple Crown consists of: the World Championship in Fairplay, Colorado, a 29-mile ultramarathon; the Leadville, Colorado race of 22 miles; and finally, the Buena Vista, Colorado race of 12 miles. It is likely the Fairplay race first appealed to McDougall due to its designation as an ultramarathon (i.e., any marathon over the typical 26 miles of a regular marathon), as McDougall regularly competes in ultramarathons as a runner, as discussed in his book Born to Run. A final distinction McDougall makes with burro racing is that it is the oldest marathon to include both men and women, with Edna Miller being the first woman to run a burro race in 1951. By contrast, the Boston Marathon, which often bills itself as the America’s oldest marathon, did not allow women to compete until 1972.
While there are more burro races in Colorado than elsewhere, the sport has reached other states that also have histories with mining. Since the 1950s, an annual burro race has been held in Big Bear Valley, California called the Old Miners Days Burro Race, and in Beatty, Nevada, a burro race using wild donkeys from a nearby historic mining district has been held since the 1960s. Surging interest in the Colorado scene has also led to newer races being run in Arizona, New Mexico, and further races in California, all in relation to mining districts. In a cultural sense, this is the primary tie to burro racing: a celebration of the American West and frontier days, recognizing the vanguard of American culture and the strength and industry of the American spirit. Burro races serve to celebrate these aspects of the past while also reviving mining towns, such as Leadville, which were flagging after losing their primary industry of mining.
Additionally, McDougall’s presentation of the history of burro racing as a relationship between the prospectors and miners with their donkeys relates to his major themes. He depicts the races as the next natural step in the evolution of the relationship between humans and animals, beyond the working relationship that the two species developed over hundreds of years. By competing together, McDougall argues, and sharing their desires, burro racing helps humans and animals find meaningful communion.
Intellectual Context: Animal Assisted Therapy
Much of the philosophy underpinning McDougall’s approach to Sherman and Zeke is comprised of two factors: the successes of animal-assisted therapy, and the work of two animal behaviorists, E. O. Wilson and Temple Grandin.
McDougall first introduces Wilson’s biophilia hypothesis in Chapter 7 as a way of explaining the dissonance in human-animal relations after the Industrial Revolution, asserting that the Industrial Revolution interrupted the symbiotic relationship between human and animals previously forged over thousands of years. Wilson first suggested that humans are genetically predisposed to be attracted to nature in 1984, and his subsequent work has promoted his theory that humans who live with animals and closer to nature are fundamentally healthier, as they have soothed the longing in their genetics. Wilson’s theory essentially states that because humans depended on animals for thousands of years as work companions and, in particular, early warning systems, our emotional states are easily influenced by animal behaviors: If an animal is calm and in a peaceful state, this will instinctually relax humans in close proximity, increasing feelings of security and well-being.
McDougall presents the data of other studies that have confirmed Wilson’s hypothesis, though the clearest proof he offers is the overwhelming success FBI agent Rachel Pierce had with witnesses after allowing them to pet her service dog (64), and the widespread achievement of the Lima Hospital experiments with allowing their inmates to regularly interact with animals. However, the most obvious practical use of the phenomenon is the success of animal-assisted therapy, which springs from Wilson’s fundamental premise: “The human-animal bond is instinctive in all of us, even if we don’t seek it” (66).
Animal-assisted therapy is used to aid the elderly, those suffering from anxiety and depressive disorders, those who wrestle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), combat trauma, and sexual abuse, amongst others. It has been found to be particularly useful with neurodiverse populations. In Running with Sherman, McDougall highlights equine therapy particularly, as it is strikingly similar to working with donkeys. He details the success Hal Walter had with his son Harrison, who is on the autism spectrum, in helping the boy develop self-confidence and become more interactive with others.
Another animal behaviorist McDougall repeatedly evokes is Temple Grandin, whose ground-breaking discoveries and theories have revolutionized modern human-animal interactions within the industrial sphere. Grandin became one of the first adult intellectuals to disclose that she was on the autism spectrum in the early 1980s, and has been vital in increasing awareness of autism and neurodiversity. She has also conducted important work in reconfiguring the industrial approach to animals by instituting practices that reduce stress in livestock and by promoting policy changes based on animal behavior and animal welfare.
Grandin has detailed her approach in best sellers such as Animals in Translation (2005). A popular biopic was made about her life in 2010, making her so ubiquitous that McDougall uses her name as a verb (81) to describe his thought process in determining what is bothering Sherman on a run. As Tanya, Mika, and Karin help McDougall deepen his relationship with Sherman, he learns to apply Grandin’s approach of considering the lived experience of the animal.
