In recent years, the 25 fastest marathon runners were Kenyans, too many to wonder how this is possible and once again the debate is as always between genetics and environment.
Marathon runner and manager of a Kenyan athlete, Tom Payn attaches great importance to the mental component of the running and so responds to Adharanand Finn: “The main thing I learned from the Kenyans regards their mental attitude, the way they run, they are relaxed and even if they have a negative race immediately forget it, thinking I’ll win next time and beat the record. They are very confident and show an eternal optimism about the next race.” The same concept is something that is reported by Boniface Kiprop Kongin, the athlete he coaches, which says “to have success you have to be optimistic and patient.”
