Letters to the Editor
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Proud To Be A 4 1/2 Hour Marathoner
I think your article is patronizing beyond belief and does not take into account the facts. First as a long time runner I run to kill and I have medals to prove it. It took me two years to train for the only marathon I have been able to run and I look at it as a tremendous accomplishment. There are very few runners who can break records but that does not mean that all of us are taking our sweet time putting in the miles. There are a whole lot of competitive American runners doing their damndest to beat the Kenyans.
Second, the Kenyans are truly an anomaly. It is not just American runners who have difficulty beating them, and yes I know there are some who have.
I know some of the young runners who will compete in the Olympic trials and they literally have made it their life. I used to read Bingham's column in Runner's World every month and it was a consolation as I got older and could not keep up the pace. If he gets just one person out for a run he will have done as much as the runners who set records. After all most of us know from the get go that we will never break a record. It is great to try however.