Publisher's Synopsis
In this New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice, the son of working-class Mexican immigrants flees a life of labor in fruit-packing plants to run in a Native American marathon from Canada to Guatemala in this "stunning memoir that moves to the rhythm of feet, labor, and the many landscapes of the Americas" (Catriona Menzies-Pike, author of The Long Run).
Growing up in Yakima, Washington, Noe´ A´lvarez worked at an apple-packing plant alongside his mother, who "slouched over a conveyor belt of fruit, shoulder to shoulder with mothers conditioned to believe this was all they could do with their lives." A university scholarship offered escape, but as a first-generation Latino college-goer, A´lvarez struggled to fit in.
At nineteen, he learned about a Native American/First Nations movement called the Peace and Dignity Journeys, epic marathons meant to renew cultural connections across North America. He dropped out of school and joined a group of Dene´, Secwe´pemc, Gitxsan, Dakelh, Apache, Tohono O'odham, Seri, Pure´pecha, and Maya runners, all fleeing difficult beginnings. Telling their stories alongside his own, A´lvarez writes about a four-month-long journey from Canada to Guatemala that pushed him to his limits. He writes not only of overcoming hunger, thirst, and fear-dangers included stone-throwing motorists and a mountain lion-but also of asserting Indigenous and working-class humanity in a capitalist society where oil extraction, deforestation, and substance abuse wreck communities.
Running through mountains, deserts, and cities, and through the Mexican territory his parents left behind, A´lvarez forges a new relationship with the land, and with the act of running, carrying with him the knowledge of his parents' migration, and-against all odds in a society that exploits his body and rejects his spirit-the dream of a liberated future.
"This book is not like any other out there. You will see this country in a fresh way, and you might see aspects of your own soul. A beautiful run." -Lui´s Alberto Urrea, author of The House of Broken Angels
"When the son of two Mexican immigrants hears about the Peace and Dignity Journeys-'epic marathons meant to renew cultural connections across North America'-he's compelled enough to drop out of college and sign up for one. Spirit Run is Noe´ A´lvarez's account of the four months he spends trekking from Canada to Guatemala alongside Native Americans representing nine tribes, all of whom are seeking brighter futures through running, self-exploration, and renewed relationships with the land they've traversed." -Runner's World, Best New Running Books of 2020
"An anthem to the landscape that holds our identities and traumas, and its profound power to heal them." -Francisco Cantu´, author of The Line Becomes a River
