Kenyan Fast

Why are Kenyans great runners and holding marathon records?  I want to know and pass what I find on to this blog.  This is just a test blog and more will be added soon and no later than Jan 16.  As of today the marathon record holder is by Dennis Kimette with the time of 2:02:57.  To put this in the speed of a 400M track like the one around a football field is about 1:10 a lap or a 4:40 mile pace. I would bet on this NDNU campus there are less than 10 people that can do this for one lap and less than 3 that can do this for a mile.  There are many other Kenyan athletes like Wilson Kipsand, Mary Keitany and Jemima Jelagat Sumgong that are placing in the top 3 finished winner big prize money over $50,000.  In Africa running is not really a lifestyle to get or stay fit.  Since it is such a large continent many countries are poor and have very physical laborious jobs.  This can be an advantage in their ability to run.  The determination, culture and biology sets them apart. The jobs are few and are physically challenging. Transportation for the poor is basically on foot and many times without shoes.  Bare foot running naturally land or strike forefoot or mid foot which means the heal of the foot does not impact the ground very much. There was been research that the body can be more efficient by using the body to absorb some of the impact and project it in a spring like motion on the next stride. This is one factor.  Now what I find most intriguing is that most people is Kenya do not running for pleasure, fitness, health benefits or to be social.  They run to as a means to make money. They train to be the best to win prize money. In the Los Angeles marathon the prize money purse is $200,000 which means the first male earns $25,000 and the first female earn $25,000. Only the top 5 runners in each gender earn prize money. Houston marathon winner earns $40,000 and the top 7 runners in each gender gets a piece of the total prize purse. Winners that break the course record can earn an extra $75,000 like in the Tokyo marathon, and the winner already won $100,000 since Tokyo prize purse is already $500,000. $175,000 for running fast for 2:06:49 if you are male or 2:25:33 is your are a female. Now the largest prize money for first place is $200,000 in the Dubai marathon second place earns $80,000. There is also money in half marathon like the Virginia Beach half marathon where the prize for first is $7000 and breaking the record is another $25,000.  There are also endorsements from companies like Nike which can also mean big money. With a glimpse of this new information it puts in perspective how running can be a career for runners in Kenya.





https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2014/11/04/361403249/what-makes-kenyas-marathon-runners-the-worlds-best