Thanks for the insight. It's tough to find good information about these athletes that puts them in context with their culture. I don't read/write/speak Amharic or Kiswahili, so that limits a lot of opportunities. Maybe you are East Africa's answer to Brett Larner, the English speaking guy with the excellent blog on the Japanese running scene? Do you have a website or anything like that? Sorry for my ignorance if this is common knowledge. I only spend as much time on letsrun as I have to.
And yes, getting passed quickly by a small woman when running at 50min 15k pace would be...destructive, at least to my ego! Cheers.