While in Colorado researching his previous book, Born to Run (2009), McDougall first comes across the sport of pack burro racing, in which competitors race next to donkeys through intensive off-road courses (See: Background). The sport was notably open to women in 1951, whereas the Boston Marathon did not admit female runners until 1972. Its World Championship is held yearly in Fairplay, Colorado. The races developed as a way for dwindling mining towns to honor their Gold Rush days, especially the bonds between prospectors and their burros.

McDougall is invited to compete in a race in Leadville, Colorado, where he meets Curtis Imrie, a major figure of burro racing’s inception. McDougall’s first attempt at burro racing is humorously calamitous: He is forced to quit the race midway due to his animal’s stubbornness.

Tanya is incredulous when McDougall tells her he wants Sherman to run the World Championship in Fairplay later that year. McDougall’s instincts tell him the best way to help Sherman heal is “movement-as-medicine” (58), as physical activity releases “healing hormones” (58) into the body that precipitate recovery.

McDougall reflects on the actor Jimmy Stewart’s reputed love for animals and ability to work with them, which he attributes to empathy, imagination, and communicating “with them as equals” (60).