I think that track would benefit from looking at Formula 1, since that is basically the same thing but with cars. In Formula 1, you have one event every 2 weeks or so, with the same 20 people each time. Place is emphasized, while time is either ignored or only considered relative to what has been seen that weekend (no comparison to previous races and few to previous years at the same track). Each track is different, which poses a new challenge to drivers and provides a new backdrop and story for each race. There is both an individual and a team championship, which helps to provide more context, especially for competitors further down the field. The race is long enough that there is time for drama to unfold several times a race in several spots, so there's 2 hours of action.
To make this work for running, I'd suggest making the pro circuit something that looks like a ~10K cross country race. Each course would be different, some hilly, some narrow, some with lots of tight turns, different surfaces, etc. This would take care of removing the focus on time and give an interesting new challenge every time out. 10 teams of 3 or so runners each would give us lots of mid-field battles to follow, especially when the top runners aren't doing anything interesting. A set up like this would let people follow the action and get 30 minutes of enjoyment.
I know some people would bemoan the loss of other distances and field events - those can still exist in the Olympics and other events, just like MMA didn't kill more "pure" martial arts. However, a single competition makes for a much more watchable product where we can actually follow more than just the top 1 or 2 athletes in each event. It also prevents a watering down effect that we see, where the person who won the 5K at a meet may have only done so because the better runners decided to run the 1500 or the 10K.
This new event would still have to find a way to market the runners as competitors and people you want to cheer for (or against). Many sports do this better than track, where most runners are afraid to show personality or aren't comfortable enough on camera to show it (or don't speak enough English). Drive to Survive brought this side of Formula 1 to many Americans, but the clashing egos and personalities have always been a part of the sport.