Ah, the sights and sounds of a typical footrace: Panting and grunting noises fill the air. Feet pound ferociously against the pavement. Beet red faces drip with sweat. Eyes are filled with agony and there is nary a smile in sight. You have to wonder why in the world these people are participating in such a brutal activity.

Nationally ranked ultramarathon runner Danny Dreyer is one of those who questioned the harsh nature of running. Instead, he envisioned a more relaxed style of running where smiling athletes zip along, lightheartedly and effortlessly using the forces of nature. So he created ChiRunning. His creation combines the inner concentration and smooth flowing movement of tai chi with the power and energy of running. "Most people run thinking they need lots of force and power and muscles - it's like this whole Western world, macho approach to sport," Dreyer explains. "Tai chi takes this whole opposite way of learning how to not use any of that kind of force, it's more how to develop an internal force - more by finesse than force."

Originally a custom furniture maker, Dreyer, 50, has been a recreational runner since 1971. In 1985 he began coaching a running club for kids and shortly after got into private coaching all ages. Then, in 1991, Dreyer decided to start running ultramarathons, races of 50 miles or more. Once Dreyer started running longer distances, more and more aches and pains afflicted him. He had to learn to listen to his body and figure out how to eliminate them. In the course of his training, he also began studying tai chi in his hometown of Boulder, Colorado. What all of that listening and learning taught him is that it is best to run relaxed, utilizing the loose, fluid movements drawn from tai chi. Using this style of running, Dreyer would almost always finish in the top three in his age division and without pain. "You finish the run and you haven't worn yourself out, you've gotten so much energy from running," he says. "It's the opposite of Western running. I finish a 50-mile race and I'm bouncing off of the walls, cleaning the house - it drives my wife crazy."

That exuberance may have driven Dreyer's wife Katherine crazy, but it also made her recognize the great possibilities of his new running style. In October of 1998, the newlywed couple moved to the Bay Area (they currently reside in San Rafael with their 6-month-old daughter Journey) for her job. At that point, Dreyer and his wife decided to make one more major life change. He quit his woodworking career and started coaching full-time. Although he had already been applying aspects of tai chi to his running for years, he decided to truly integrate the elements of tai chi - the foundation of which is based on using energy instead of muscles - into a new type of running.

Dreyer explains that chi, your life force, is developed through specific exercises and focuses. By practicing tai chi regularly, one learns to collect and direct this energy. ChiRunning consists of three primary focuses: to listen carefully to your body in order to know when you are running efficiently, to move in the way your body was biomechanically designed to move and to run with the absence of unnecessary effort. "Instead of pushing yourself forward and having to push yourself up into the air, you're just leaning forward and letting gravity pull you forward. It's like surrendering to an external force," Dreyer says.

What Dreyer specifically teaches in his classes is how to use less and less muscle. He instructs students to instead use gravity, as well as ligaments and tendons, to move more effectively. Ligaments and tendons are very flexible, like rubber bands, and do not burn oxygen the way muscles do. They also do not require fuel like muscles. In addition, he tells students to maintain good posture and lean over their center of gravity. The use of the center of gravity is based on tai chi's study of the movements of quick animals. Visually, these differences in running style are very subtle, but their impact on the body is notable. Although the heart, lungs and limbs continue to get a healthy workout, it all happens more efficiently. You do not burn as many calories, but the body is not being overworked in the traditional Western style. By not pushing muscles and other body parts, you avoid injuries.

The vast number of local runners figured into Dreyer's decision to introduce ChiRunning in this area. The Tamalpa Running Club alone boasts 800 runners. Dreyer got his name out there by offering free clinics at Tamalpa and other running clubs in the Bay Area and the word spread quickly. He now offers regular classes in the North and South Bay. He has received rave reviews from individual students as well as from corporate clients like NASA in Mountain View. The consensus is that ChiRunning has made their running more effortless and injury free.

Leyla Delfs of San Francisco completed Dreyer's three session beginning ChiRunning class and takes his advanced class. Delfs trains for triathlons and has constantly been plagued by shin splints when running. Since she began working with Dreyer, she has not experienced any shin splints and shaved more than a minute off her mile pace. "He's very responsible," Delfs says. "It's not like he just sends us off at the end of class. If any problems come up he wants you to call him and that's what I'm most impressed with."

Dr. David Hannaford, a podiatrist with offices in San Rafael and San Francisco, is also impressed with Dreyer. Hannaford sees a great deal of running injuries on patients who never learned how to run properly. He met Dreyer through the Tamalpa Running Club and since then has recommended that various patients take the ChiRunning class. "Knowing he is a very experienced runner and having run with him myself, I have referred some patients to him," Hannaford says. "I don't know where he coined the phrase [ChiRunning], but I know his technique has helped them."

It's helping people run without pain that Dreyer cites as one of his main goals with ChiRunning. He freely admits that not all runners will necessarily consider ChiRunning to be the "better" style of running, but he assures that it is easier on the body. At the request of his clients and because he feels many other runners will be open to his "less is more" style, Dreyer is currently writing a book on ChiRunning. "I want to feel like I can at least offer something that is more than just the norm," Dreyer says. "I want to be an alternative to busting your ass and getting injured and being all crippled up when you're an old person. I would just love to see people be athletes who grow old gracefully."