Through connection to their land, Tarahumara runners are among Mexico’s most beloved champions [Video]

CHIHUAHUA – CHIHUAHUA, MéMiguel Lara was born to run. It’s in his blood, his people’s history and tied to the land he calls “home.”

“That’s what we do,” said the 34-year-old ultramarathoner near his cabin in Porochi, an Indigenous community in the remote Tarahumara mountains of northern Mexico.

“Tarahumara means ‘the light-footed,’” Lara said. “Long before marathons existed, the Tarahumara people were already running.”

Deep in the mountain range, along the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Durango and Sonora, live about 56,000 Indigenous people. Though they are mostly known as Tarahumaras, they identify themselves as Rarámuris.

Lacking vehicles, paved roads and basic services such as clinics and telephone lines, communities got used to running to cope with long distances, scarcity and isolation.

“When we got married, we used to head to Urique ( 24 miles or 39 kilometers away) to get food,” said Maribel Estrada, Lara’s wife and mother to their 3- …