Marathon report

  Here's a major surprise.  

  The men's winner was Kenyan.  
  The second place winner was Kenyan.  
  The third place winner was Kenyan.  

  And don't forget, the two "rabbits" at the beginning of the race -- both supposedly from Georgia -- were originally born in Kenya.

  Do you see a trend here?  

  The Kenyans have won a whole slew of marathons in a row.  It often makes you wonder what on earth they do in order to win so consistently.

  I don't know that much about it, but here are the rumors I've heard.

  1. Boston has the premier marathon in the world, and from what I've heard the Kenyans put a tremendous amount of effort to try to win it.  From what I've heard, their win rate in other marathons is much lower than their win rate in Boston.
  2. Kenya sends a large number of elite runners to Boston.  Although any individual athlete has a low chance of winning, having a lot of competitors representing your country gives you a higher possibility of winning.  (I'm ignoring all of the local hoi polloi with bib numbers in the 10,000's -- they have absolutely no chance of actually winning).
  3. Several of the Kenyan runners may belong to tribes and peoples with genetic traits which may make them good long-distance runners.   It's well-known that certain ethnic groups have unique genetic markers (Tay-Sachs disease is unusually common among Jews, for instance).
  4. Westerners very likely have sacrificed much of their physical potential to technology.  How many people walk 5 miles to work each day in the United States?  How many people work on farms in the US?  No wonder Americans tend to be out of shape when compared to people in other cultures.  Having an American diet certainly doesn't help.
  5. Kenya must have an established running club or prize related to the Marathon.  If it were just an ethnic/cultural issue, many of the former British colonies near Kenya (Uganda, Tanzania, and so forth) would also be able to field strong teams.   

  I highly doubt that this is an issue of training.  An athlete's will and self-determination clearly transcends national identity and culture.  You can't become an elite runner
without lots of training.  I'm curious if the Americans can learn something from the Kenyans.