Where the track is

I finally figured out where the track is around here.  There's no more avoiding the speedwork I know I need to do: 400s and 200s, Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Why would someone who mainly runs marathons need 400s?  Well, because at this point, my lack of natural speed is holding me back.  Let's see if this works. 
If anyone has ever seen Eastbound and Down, they'll be amused by Kenny Powers' take on endurance sports (v. "real sports"):

Distance running forgives a lack of athleticism, but only to a certain extent.  Speed and agility still matter.  You need to be able to "shift gears," so to speak, in races and in workouts, to vary the pace as conditions demand.

I once read an article that described Gebrssalassie as a "classically trained" distance runner, one who moved up in the marathon in his late 20s or early 30s after significant accomplishments at shorter distances on the track: the 1500, the 5k, the 10k.  A classically trained runner increases his or her race distances as age repays in endurance gained what it exacts in speed lost.  Sammy Wanjiru and Patrick Makau, two up-and-coming 2:05 marathoners, 24 and 25 respectively, have broken with tradition, as have a number of Kenyan half marathoners who are making waves as young as 21.  Ryan Hall was 25 when he debuted at London, but the AR holder in the 10k, 26-year-old Chris Solinsky has not spoken publically about a marathon.

The question hanging over the young marathoners is longevity.  Will they burn out?  Perhaps.  But this question ignores the economics of the matter.  There's no money in track, but there's plenty in the marathon, prizes at or over $250,000 in major races.  

There's another aspect of this that we don't really talk about: the fact that the really good runners don't get the American shoe contracts.  Someone like Ryan Hall gets a sweet endorsement deal from Asics.  Pennsylvian Brian Sell, whose 2:10 PR is five minutes off what's becoming the new East African standard, gets to be the face of Brooks. 

So readers, why is it that Americans don't want to see East Africans endorsing their shoes?

Postscript:  My wife and I found the track and we did a short interval workout as the sportivi played a "real sport," soccer, on the infield.  I did 9 x 400, with a minute rest, then 4 x 200 with 200 jog in between.  Not too much, but intense -- haven't done that kind of anaerobic work in a while.