Running with Sherman

Running with Sherman: The Donkey with the Heart of a Hero is a non-fiction memoir by Christopher McDougall, first published in 2019. McDougall is a former war correspondent and a regular contributor to Outside magazine. His first book, Born to Run (2009), explored the world of ultramarathon running and was a best-seller. Running with Sherman is a work closer to home, primarily set on McDougall’s farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and including an odd cast of his friends and neighbors as they coalesce around the fate of a neglected and abused donkey named Sherman. The memoir charts Sherman’s recovery as McDougall takes possession of him and attempts to rehabilitate the donkey into a long-distance runner. In order to succeed, McDougall must forge a relationship with Sherman, working past the abused donkey’s trauma and anxiety, while learning both to abandon his ego and find the common ground of a shared desire to run.

This guide uses the 2019 Borzoi Books edition.

Content Warning: The source text deals with animal abuse and discusses attempted death by suicide.

Summary

Running with Sherman is essentially a training diary, charting the period during which McDougall gains possession of Sherman and his subsequent rehabilitation and training of the neglected donkey. Each chapter has a digressive section that focuses on a figure from the wider world of burro racing, ultramarathon racing, animal-assisted therapy, or the rag-tag collection of people who support McDougall’s attempt to train Sherman.

Sherman arrives at McDougall’s farm in a highly distressing state after being recused from the neglect of an animal hoarder. The first people to appraise him are unsure of his ability to survive the move. Tanya, a donkey-trainer friend of McDougall’s, advises that Sherman may have fallen into despair during his neglect and will need a purpose, or a job to do, if he is to emotionally survive. McDougall decides that this purpose will be training for the World Championship burro race, but Sherman is in such a sorry state, and riddled with fear, that the task seems almost impossible.

Since donkeys are so strong and stubborn, McDougall cannot simply train Sherman to run the way one would with a dog. McDougall’s first attempts to take Sherman out are failures, as Sherman is too wary to venture far from the farm, and McDougall does not know how to communicate with Sherman. Eventually, McDougall induces Sherman to cross a stream by following a hapless goat and McDougall realizes that Sherman will require a support team to run with. He enlists Tanya, her miniature donkey Matilda, and her riding donkey Flower, to train with him and Sherman. For a while, the training goes well.

Tanya’s husband leaves her, and with the commitments of her farm and new financial obligations, she is unable to help train Sherman. McDougall and his wife try, but are unable to handle the three donkeys themselves. Roughly a month later, however, they are joined by Zeke, a young man who is home from university after an unsuccessful suicide attempt. Zeke takes to running with Sherman, and training resumes.

A couple of months before the race Tanya suffers a serious injury and is no longer able to drive the donkeys to the race, putting McDougall in a bind. McDougall and his team enter into individualized training and escalate their practice, getting into final shape for the race. Soon after, McDougall suffers an injury in his hand, and Zeke breaks his foot. With the race approaching, McDougall finds two strangers to help him take the donkeys to the race, and along the way one of the women gives McDougall vital advice relating to Sherman.

McDougall, his wife, and a friend, run with the three donkeys in the World Championship. For the most part the race goes well, but at one point Sherman grows obstinate and McDougall uses his deeper understanding of the donkey to encourage him on. The team finishes respectably, in the middle of their category, and Sherman is returned to McDougall’s farm, rehabilitated and surrounded by the animals and humans that bring him comfort and love.