The Secret to Your Best Performance: A Lesson from Ultrarunning GOAT Courtney Dauwalter, the Golden State Warriors and the Tarahumara Runners

In 1993, running coach Joe Vigil set off on a quest. Vigil had been the track coach at Adams State University from 1965 to 1993, where he won 19 national championships in track and field, and cross-country. But American long-distance runners were in the midst of a long drought, and he wanted to know why. It had been over 20 years since America’s Frank Shorter won the Olympic marathon gold medal with a time of 2:10:30. The timing of Shorter’s gold medal coincided with the dawn of Nike, which sparked a running revolution. Over 25 million Americans took up running in the 1970s.

But despite the growing popularity and improvements in training, nutrition, and shoes, marathon runners around the world hit a plateau. Their times stopped improving. Not only that, but American runners were also getting slower, not faster. They had failed to win a medal since Shorter’s gold—and even worse, there wasn’t a single 2:12 marathoner in the country.

In search of answers, Vigil attended one of the toughest races in the world—the Leadville Ultramarathon. The race is a 100-mile trail run through the Colorado Rockies. It’s cold, the air is thin, and more than half the runners don’t even finish.

But Vigil wasn’t there to watch some world-renowned runner decked out in the latest shoes and running gear. He was there to study some unknown, middle-aged men in togas, wearing sandals, and smoking tobacco at the starting line. These runners were the Tarahumara. In the previous year, the unknown Tarahumara runners had come out of nowhere to dominate the race, and Vigil came to study them and learn how. Now, in only their second year of running the race, Vigil watched these unknown runners once again dominate the field.

In the final 20 miles of the race, when all the other runners started to fade, the Tarahumara picked up their pace. How did they do it? Many onlookers admired their form. With toes down and backs straight, they looked as if they were effortlessly gliding. But their form wasn’t what was most remarkable; it was the huge smiles on their faces. Joe Vigil, America’s greatest running coach, couldn’t believe what he was seeing: “They ran with such a sense of joy!” It was in this moment that Vigil discovered their secret.

The Tarahumara are a little-known group of indigenous people from Mexico, popularized by Christopher McDougall’s book, Born to Run. In the book, McDougall recounts the story of Vigil’s discovery:

“Vigil had become convinced that the next leap forward in human endurance would come from a dimension he dreaded getting into—character. Not the ‘character’ other coaches were always rah-rah-rah-ing about; Vigil wasn’t talking about ‘grit’ or ‘hunger’ or ‘the size of the fight in the dog.’ In fact, he meant the exact opposite. Vigil’s notion of character wasn’t toughness. It was compassion. Kindness. Love. That’s right—love. […] That was the real secret of the Tarahumara: They’d never forgotten what it felt like to love running.”

The more you learn about the Tarahumara, the more you understand that love isn’t just their secret to running; it’s the secret to their culture. The Tarahumara, who live in the most remote wilderness in North America—the Copper Canyons of Mexico—aren’t just the greatest runners but arguably the most healthy and peaceful people in the world.

The Problem with American Runners

The secret of the Tarahumara’s greatness was also Vigil’s answer to America’s running problem. Sports in America started to change drastically in the 1970s—and that included running. The growing consumerism of American culture is best exemplified by the rise of marketing in sports. Not only did athletic gear companies like Nike take off in the 1970s, but so did sports television. On September 7th, 1979, ESPN was launched to provide 24-hour sports coverage—further evidence of the growing market.

All this money and attention impacted athletes. Running in the 1970s started to become less about the joy of the activity, and more about other outcomes: trophies, shoe deals, fame, losing weight, and looking better. None of these things are bad reasons to run—or to play any sport—but they can distort and even destroy sports as a whole. They can suck the joy and love of sport out of an individual.

Today’s coaches—and even parents—often complain about the modern athlete’s lack of desire. Is it really any wonder why? Our joy and love for an activity fuels our passion and motivation. The Tarahumara’s love for the act of running, and their absence of other motivations, made them the world’s greatest runners.

So, as he watched the Tarahumara once again dominate the race, Coach Joe Vigil dedicated himself to testing his newest theory. He returned home and retired after 30 years of coaching at Adams State. Vigil recruited Deena Kastor, who had a modest collegiate career at Arkansas. According to Kastor, Vigil’s formula for running “had absolutely nothing to do with running […] but personal relationships and showing integrity by giving back.”

In an interview with Women’s Running, Kastor said, “Coach Vigil never talked about talent or winning. He talked about character and attitude. He has this way of igniting a fire in people and allowing them to see more opportunity and possibility within themselves.” The old running coach’s newest training regime was more focused on character and spiritual training than athletic training.

Vigil’s theory and training methods proved to be highly effective. Deena Kastor started breaking American records left and right, and finally, in 2004, she became the first American to win a medal in the Olympic marathon event in 20 years.

Courtney Dauwalter and The Golden State Warriors

When you look at the stories of the Tarahumara runners and Deena Kastor, it’s no surprise that Courtney Dauwalter has risen to become the GOAT of ultrarunning. Dauwalter has shattered records and dominated some of the world’s most grueling races, outperforming both men and women in events like UTMB, the Western States 100, and the Moab 240. What’s remarkable, though, isn’t just her victories but her approach. She doesn’t follow strict diet plans, wear the latest ultrarunning gear, or adhere to rigid training schedules. Instead eats candy, drinks beer, and she listens to her body each day to guide her daily runs. When asked about her secret, she puts it simply: “My fuel tank is based on joy. If I’m happy, the engine works way better.”

Dauwalter’s joy isn’t just a personal quirk—it’s the same quality that Joe Vigil saw in the Tarahumara. Like them, Dauwalter runs with a smile, radiating an effortless joy that fuels her performance. But where does that joy come from? Dauwalter credits her coaches. “We had amazing coaches all the way through high school. The guys’ and girls’ teams trained together, like a family of best friends,” she recalls. Her coaches knew how to work their athletes hard without ever sacrificing fun. This highlights an essential truth: it’s not just up to athletes to find joy; coaches play a crucial role in creating an environment that nurtures it.

Steve Kerr, the head coach of the Golden State Warriors, embodies this philosophy. Two of the four core values he built his championship-winning team around are joy and compassion. Kerr intentionally fosters joy within his team, finding creative ways to keep the atmosphere light and energized. For them it’s creating funny birthday videos for every player and blasting music during practice. They are always looking for ways to create more joy. The joy you see when the Warriors play is the same kind of joy Vigil witnessed with the Tarahumara—a joy that leads to extraordinary performance.

In today’s sports culture, where outcomes and results often take center stage, coaches and athletes are sometimes labeled as “weak” or “unfocused” if they prioritize compassion, empathy, and joy over trophies and accolades. But the success of teams like the Warriors and athletes like Dauwalter proves otherwise. They’ve achieved what many thought impossible because they’ve learned to fuel their performance with joy.

So, what might you and your team accomplish if you started fueling up on joy?

Works Referenced

_ https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a20954821/born-to-run-secrets-of-the-tarahumara/

_ https://www.womensrunning.com/culture/deena-kastor-letting-mind-run/

-https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/sep/25/courtney-dauwalter-ultrarunner-greatest