On the plane ride home from my sister’s wedding in Florida this weekend, (see photos below), I finished Christopher McDougall’s fantastic book Born to Run. The moment I turned the final page, I wanted to read it again. I wanted to do my own research on the Tarahumara Indians of northern Mexico, the running men. I wanted to travel to the Copper Canyons to spend time in their world. I wanted to know if barefoot was really the way to run. But, more than anything, I wanted to get the heck home so I could go for a run. As I was waiting for my bag, it’s all I could think about. I’ve never been so excited to get home after a tiring day of flying, put on my running shoes and hit the Santa Monica running path.

The book centers around the Tarahumara, a tribe who are quite possibly the greatest athletes in the world. They are certainly the best runners, and until this book, little was known about them outside of their brief encounters with a few reporters and ultramarathoners. They are fascinating, and we can learn so much from the way in which they live their lives. And from the way they run.

McDougall also introduces us to several of the world’s best ultramarathon runners—all interesting characters—as he helps gather them for the “Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.” He takes Nike, and Bowerman specifically, to task for creating the foot and knee problems associated with running when he created the world’s first running shoe. He introduces us to scientists who have spent their careers making an argument for the idea that man was, literally, built to run. The fact that so many of us no longer do is the reason we are obese and dying from heart disease. And if we run the way we were built to run, we can do it every day, for long distances and without injury until we are old and gray.

On my run that night, I didn’t need my iPod. I didn’t need music. I ran, like the Tarahumara, with a huge smile on my face. I did plyometrics to warm up instead of stretches. I ran with my back straight, knees forward, feet kicking back. I took short strides, struck the ground with the balls of my feet. I found myself watching other people who were running on the beach to see how they ran. When I saw someone running with their back straight and smiling, I wondered, “Did he read the book? Has he always run like that?”

After four miles at a pretty quick clip, I realized my legs were exhausted. So I started to walk. And then, I stopped. I smiled. I took off my shoes, put one in each hand and ran the final two miles home in my socks. I felt lighter. In the grass, I was faster. Even on the pavement, my legs were able to push through those two miles in a way I don’t think they could have if I were still wearing my running shoes.

It sounds crazy, but this book has already made me a better, smarter runner. It has changed my mindset and the way I think about the human body’s ability to run. It has changed the way I think about my own body’s ability to run. I will be running shoeless more often. And I will have a smile on my face.

And I’m going to save a lot of money on running shoes.

NOW, MANDEE AND BRIAN’S WEDDING, IN PICTURES …

MOM WALKS DOWN THE AISLE, TO ODE TO JOY. HOW PERFECT …

BRIAN WAITS …

HERE COMES THE BRIDE …

DANCING THE NIGHT AWAY WITH THE FOLKS. MOM AT MIDNIGHT: “CAN YOU RUN TO THE CAR AND GET MY FLIP FLOPS? WE STILL HAVE AN HOUR OF DANCING” …

TOTO, WE’RE NOT IN NEW YORK ANYMORE. WE’RE AT A REHEARSAL DINNER IN FORT MYERS, FLORIDA. MY FRIEND MIKE WAS OUR WEDDING PHOTOG EXTRAORDINAIRE AND LINDSAY WAS A FANTASTIC DATE …