Research by Swedish physiologists a few years ago suggested that Kenyans benefit from genetic advantages. They found Kenyans experience less ammonia build-up in their muscles after a strenuous workout. There also have been unfounded accusations that Kenyan athletes have engaged in blood doping, the practice of creating a surplus of red blood cells in their systems, thereby enhancing the body's ability to transport oxygen to the muscles. Almost every successful Kenyan runner claims to have run or walked six or seven miles to school every day as a child. As one moves around the country, it's obvious that that's the way things are.
Poverty is everywhere.
Very few families have motorized transportation, especially in the agriculture-oriented Rift Valley, where most of the runners come from. The red dirt roads of Kenya are filled with young children, all in neat little uniforms, walking to and from school. They walk to school at 7 a.m. They walk home for lunch. They walk back to school.