Sara Hall: Success in London for Ryan, Now On To Mt. Sac (Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #7)
Posted April 18th, 2008 at 4:00 PM by Sara Hall
Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field, Olympics, Elite Athlete Blogs, Sara Hall
Welcome to the official blog of U.S. middle-distance runner Sara Hall. Sara’s list of running accolades include being a former NCAA All- American at Stanford, the 2006 USA 5K road champion, and the 2006 champion at the Continental Fifth Avenue Mile. Check back every other Friday for her latest entry at http://sarahall.thefinalsprint.com/
It’s over. I am definitely running a little lighter these days now that London is behind us, successfully completed! There is so much buildup going into marathons, especially for Ryan since he usually doesn’t race too much leading up to it. Just one shot, make or break, all that training and dreaming coming down to one day.
This year, Ryan seemed a lot less nervous than last year and at the Trials, which helped me stay relaxed too. I take Ryan’s races very personally, because we are a team- whether playing Poker with our teammates (much to the frustration of Ian [Dobson] frustration) or cheering each other on in workouts, we are “Team Hall” and try to do it together and support each other to the point where his races seem like my races, his victories my victories, and his failures mine as well. The Bible puts it well when it says, “a man shall leave his father and mother, be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh”. Since we’ve been married, I definitely feel like we are “one”, so it was great to be able to be there the whole trip to London and experience it all together!
Our trip to London was very similar to last year- we stayed in the same apartment on Bushy Park, moved to the same meet hotel, and went to the same events leading up to and following the race. But there were some key things in this year’s trip that made it unique that stand out when I think back on this year’s marathon. While staying out by Bushy Park, we found we were living above Adriana Pirtea, who was also out in London for her second marathon after Chicago last fall. She would stop by and cook for us and tell us about being a foreign transfer in the collegiate system, the Romanian training center, and her training setup in Fort Collins, Colorado. We enjoyed the company, as we missed having Meb and his family, Terrence, and Bob (Larsen) there like last year.
One day, Ryan and I decided to walk into Kingston, the nearest town, to get some lunch and buy some gifts. We saw a Farmer’s market and after buying some produce, stopped in a Moroccan booth cooking up stews in a tagine (a cone-shaped clay pot). After our delicious meal, we chatted with the owner over mint tea about running and the Moroccan runners in the marathon on Sunday. We were surprised how much he followed track and field in his native country. He offered to teach us how to cook with a tagine that weekend, but we had to decline since we were heading into downtown the next day, but told him we’d take him up on it next time we were in London!
It’s these little interactions that make our profession so fun- getting to meet people from such varied backgrounds and experiences and learn from them. While in downtown London, the days flew by with press conferences and media, but we enjoyed sharing a meal with the crew from New York Road Runners, going on a run and doing some strides with our coach and Ray Flynn in Hyde Park (yes, Ray was doing strides too! It was impressive), and hanging out in the Asics expo and trying out the new “Inner Muscle” line (really cool stuff, you’ve got to check it out once it hits the US!)
It was a great trip, but by the end I was glad to get back and turn my attention to the Outdoor Season! I always come away from Ryan’s marathons inspired to get to that level where I am competing against the best in the world! I feel like I’m taking steps to get there in training, and I’m excited to start racing to see where I’m at! I’ll compete this weekend in an 800 and 1500 at the Mt. SAC relays to kick off the season, and I’m looking forward to running with the weight of London lifted and my newfound lightness!
Check back on Friday, May 2, 2008 for Sara’s latest entry at: http://sarahall.thefinalsprint.com/
To comment on this entry and to send feedback & questions to Sara, please click here.
For more news, analysis, and results from the 2008 Flora London Marathon, please visit: http://london.thefinalsprint.com/
In addition, check out Ryan Hall’s official blog at: http://ryanhall.thefinalsprint.com/
Photograph: Courtesy of NYRR
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Tags: 1500m, 800m, blog, elite athlete, elite athlete blog, elite athlete blog series, elite runner, england, flora london marathon, GB, Great Britain, hyde park, ian dobson, London Marathon, marathon, marathon training, mt. sac, Mt. SAC Relays, Mt. San Antonio College Relays, Olympic Trials, professional running blog, running, running community, Ryan Hall, ryan slynn, sara hall, team hall, terence mahon, Terrence Mahon, tfs elite athlete blog series, the final sprint elite athlete blog series, thefinalsprint.com elite athlete blog series, track and field, travel, traveling, u.s. olympic track & field trials, UK, United Kingdom, usa olympic track & field trials, weblog
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The Final Sprint
This is beautiful Sara. It is evident that you are “team Hall.” How fortunate and blessed you are to have each other as cheerleaders in life and for us to have you in our! Susie
April 19th, 2008 at 11:16 pmSara Ryan has to be so blessed to have such a wife as caring as you. I love how you make his running almost as much as your repsonsibility as it is his. I hope that with this weight of your shoulders you can perform well through the track season and set some new pr’s.
Always,
Brandon Hough
April 24th, 2008 at 5:11 pmDear Sara:
Hello! I am Shannon Sweeney’s husband. We both would like to congratulate “Team Hall” on the London results, Ryan is inspiring as always. Congrats to you, as well, on a nice win at Mt. Sac! Shannon and I want to wish you the best of luck at the Trials this summer.
I read a couple of months back that you and Ryan joined Team World Vision. Fantastic. World Vision is a wonderful organization. My research institute, Desert Research Institute, has been working with WVI for the past 16 years developing better water well drilling techiques and methods in West Africa to provide clean drinking water to small villages in countries like Ghana. It has been the most rewarding work I have done as a scientist. Best of luck with Team World Vision, you are making a difference!
Regards,
Tim Minor
April 30th, 2008 at 1:16 pm