Just in case anybody is inclined to misread my Hall cheerleading and cries of "Mzungo victorious!" as a racist rant, let me be clear: I'm one of those who is simply delighted that East African runners, especially Kenyans, have been gracing the American road racing scene with their presence for the past several decades. I wish they'd marry our women, join our tribe, and help us up our game THAT way, too. (I'm a fan of Lagat, needless to say.) They provide models of excellence that, if we let them, can inspire us and challenge us to up our game. To that extent, they've been offering us a gift. The alternative--no Kenyan runners haunting our road racing scene--would allow US runners to win races easily and convince themselves that they compete at the world level. In this respect, Kenyans are the element that forces US runners to abandon the pleasure principle, and the fantasies that animate it, in favor of the reality principle.
The problem is, Kenyan dominance has for too long precipitated a secondary fantasy: they're too good, too "genetically gifted," and we'll never beat them.
That fantasy, too, that negative idealization, needs to be escaped.
Hall has escaped it, and it helping us escape it. That's a good thing.
May the best man (and woman) win. Thanks to our Kenyan visitors for challenging us to excel and providing us with models for what excellence might look like.