Pair this higher than average aerobic ability with youth who desperately want to escape the poverty and destitution of Kenya (40% of the country is unemployed, and almost half live in absolute poverty) (“Kenya Unemployment), and what results is thousands of young Kenyans who, after seeing the success and following wealth of the elite Kenyan runners who have come before them and who have established a tradition of running excellence, want nothing more than to become successful runners themselves, in order to escape poverty and to find financial success for themselves, their families, and their communities. For Justin Kipchumba, a 27 year old aspiring athlete who resides near the Kenyan distance running mecca, Eldoret, competitive distance running is what he believes to be his ticket to a better and more financially successful future for himself and for those he is responsible for; his “aging parents, children, spouse… and siblings.” (Burke). His life, as he explains to journalist Jason Burke upon completing a morning 30 kilometer run through the fields and hills of Eldoret, “is like this every day. I sleep, I run, I eat. One day,” he promises, “I will win big races.” This promise of one day winning big races (many of which, such as the Boston Marathon, award prizes of up to $150,000 to its first place finisher) (Guilardi) is a shared vision that motivates thousands of hopeful East African runners like Kipchumba to develop their skills as runners in order to escape their country’s poverty and finally become financially successful. It is their route to escape the poverty and destitution that surrounds them. Notably, the investment required of these runners to achieve the distance running greatness they desire is of a commodity that they possess and are capable of paying- the investment of time and pain spent training, and requires very little of the commodity that they lack- money, allowing them to pursue their athletic greatness in the first place. Kipchumba, for example, is able to able to pursue distance running greatness despite of his poverty, as he gets by training in “cheap Chinese shoes,” and living out of a low-level rental (Burke). And, to give even more incentive to these financially struggling athletes, this vision to bring in big money from big races isn’t only achievable by those who cross the finish line first, but is expanded to an entire group of runners who are near the top. In the Boston Marathon alone, $203,000 is given collectively to the second through fifteenth place finishers (Guilardi), not to mention the large amount of money earned by these high caliber runners through sponsorship and endorsement deals, meaning that for Kipchumba, and others like him, becoming rich, or at least financially stable, through distance running isn’t as much of a pipedream as it might seem. Kenyans and other East Africans run towards the riches that accompany elite performance when they race, needs that are magnified for them because of the hardships of where they originated, being a more influential motivational factor for them than for others who perhaps have an easier home life, setting the East Africans apart.