“Why are the Kenyans runners so good?” is a question that has been asked thousands of times. Some part of the answer to this lies in the economics of running. In Kenya, running is a career choice. Almost every runner here is trying to run professionally. In a country where the per capita GDP is about $1600, the average person is living on about $5 per day. Many are living on significantly less than that. The prize money from a major road race can be $10,000. A major marathon win can bring in $250,000 not counting appearance fees and sponsorships. Dedicating several years of time to training seriously can pay off for the fortunate ones. In the U.S. a post collegiate athlete who decides to postpone a career to pursue athletics is taking a serious pay cut. In Kenya, the aspiring athlete is pursuing a financial opportunity unavailable to them in any other endeavor. In Iten almost everyone with a fancy car is a successful international runner. The richest people, those who own the businesses and have founded schools, are runners.
My neighbors are fully dedicated to running. Their days are filled with running, resting for the next run, eating to fuel up for the next run, more running, more resting, more eating, etc. These athletes train two or three times a day. I met Daniel Kipkoech whom I had started with at the Columbus Marathon a couple years ago (I won’t say raced with, because he was a minute ahead of me by the mile mark!). He said he would come visit us sometime. After about 4 weeks, he did. He lives about 600m away. He said he hadn’t walked to town here in that time; his training was so hard that he needed to rest for the next session. He is headed to Italy this week for racing. Although many people take Sunday off, many others treat it as a light day. One runner I talked to said Sunday was a rest day because he ran only once!
Training hard is exhausting. I used to think that being a professional athlete would be a dream career. Now I am pretty thankful for my job. After all, there are not hundreds of people doing everything in their power to take my teaching job! And, as tiring as teaching is, it is not as exhausting as full-time training.
A career in running is a bit like lottery ticket, but the odds are probably better for the runners. Still, there are many runners who will not make it out of Kenya, as there are many who will never win the lottery. I figure any man I pass in a hard workout is not going to make it (and of course many who are far faster than me will never make it). When I introduce myself as a runner here, I tell people that “I am not a professional. If I were a professional I would be starving!” (I am pretty much the slowest man out there.)
The racing season is really getting underway. There are European track races, American road races, spring marathons and half marathons. I went to a group workout the other day. Where there were about 150 runners in early April, there were about 60 runners now. These races are the payday for all the tough miles run over the hills at altitude over all those years of dedicated training.
So, why are the Kenyans so fast? There are no recreational runners here. The only Kenyans I see running here are full time runners whose whole life is dedicated to being fast. The only Kenyans you will see running in the United States are the very fastest of those dedicated runners.
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