The ING New York City Marathon is the only sporting event of its type that garners as much or more attention from the U.S. media as the Boston Marathon does. In both the approach and the wake of this year’s race, the ubiquitous “How can Americans beat the East Africans?” question — seemingly as fascinating to non-aficionados as it is within the running community itself — enjoyed a resurgence, being the subplot of a New Yorker article by Jennifer Kahn and an NPR segment featuring Kahn and a pair of longtime running experts. While never fading away entirely, the issue enjoys unusual spikes in popularity when American marathoners experience either unanticipated successes or “inexplicable” pratfalls, even at the level of a single runner’s boom or bust.
First of all, you’ll have to ignore the inherent arrogance of the inquiry itself, which, it seems fair to say, has not been twisted or exaggerated in its presentation. “How can it be done?” implies that there is indeed a way for American runners to match and overtake the best runners in the world, which is merely a corollary of the belief that, given enough money, savvy and hard work, we can be at the top of the heap in anything. This bloated sense of entitlement, while borne in other areas to an extent sufficient to maintain the general scheme in a plausible enough state, is not working in the marathon. READ ON
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