Ryan Hall:
More Precious Than Gold
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #9)
Posted May 10th, 2008 at 6:15 PM by Ryan Hall
Section: News & Results, Marathons, Olympics, Elite Athlete Blogs, Ryan Hall
Welcome to the official blog of top U.S. distance runner Ryan Hall as he begins his quest for Olympic gold! Check back every other Friday for Ryan’s latest entry at http://ryanhall.thefinalsprint.com/
With three months to go before the Olympics begin I am now putting the finishing touches on a vision that birthed 10 years ago during a long, slow, painful, fifteen-mile run around the lake. Now, after all I have been through I have just 105 days to pour myself into my training and prepare for the biggest opportunity of my life. All the training, all the discipline, all the depression, all the sacrifice, all the joy, it was all part of the journey that has prepared me for August 24th.
I love the Olympics. I always have. Growing up I had Olympic rings scribbled all over my text books. I find the symbolism of the rings to be quite dramatic with the five rings representing the unity of man from each of the five continents. There is something powerful about the unity of man.
Anyone who has ever been to a Boston Red Sox game knows what I am talking about. I had the privilege to go to a game before the Boston Marathon and I must say I have never seen a crowd go so crazy for their team. I could just feel the energy flowing in that stadium, and the players must have too because when the crowd would start going crazy big things would happen on the field. Unity of man, it is a taste of heaven and that is what the Olympics is about. This is also one reason why the marathon is such a special event. I always love to look back behind me before the start of a marathon to see the masses lining up behind me. They are all there with one mission. Sure maybe each has their own goal or motivation but we are all there to test the limits of our body over 26.2 miles.
The Olympics is not only about unity but unity with a purpose. The Olympic slogan for the upcoming games is “One World One Dream.” The organizers describe this slogan as representing the Olympic spirit of “Unity, Friendship, Progress, Harmony, Participation and Dream” furthermore it stands for “the common wishes of people all over the world, inspired by the Olympic ideals, to strive for a bright future of Mankind.”
A brighter future for Mankind is something we can all long for. As an athlete in these upcoming games, I hope that I can carry out these Olympic ideals and contribute to the progress of Mankind. The great thing about the Olympics is it gives athletes the opportunity to use their success to help others. Since qualifying for the games, it has been incredible for me to have opportunities to get involved with so many great causes. The most difficult part was deciding where to spend my energy.
When I look at how I want to use my running for the “bright future of Mankind” I think of what are the biggest needs in our world today and how can I use the gifts God has given me to help out. When I was approached by World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization working to fight world poverty and injustice, I already had a heart to help the poor but I didn’t truly realize the full extent of world poverty.
For example, I learned that half of the people in the world, nearly 3 billion people, live on less than two dollars a day. Just yesterday, I was doing my easy 35 minute afternoon run and thinking about how every three seconds a child under the age of five dies as a direct result of poverty. It has finally hit me that we have a major problem here. I know that a major problem can’t be fixed overnight and I realize that I am just one man but if I can use the gifts God has given me to feed one more mouth that otherwise would not be feed, then it is worth it. One of my favorite verses from Message version of Romans simple says, “strength is for service.” I am convicted that whatever strength I have been given is not strictly for my enjoyment, but also carries with it the responsibility to carry out the Olympic spirit of providing a bright future for all humanity.
This new passion to fight global poverty has brought so much more meaning to my running. I thought about it when I was training for London, and even in the race itself, I remember looking around at the group of purely African runners and thinking that maybe I wasn’t African but I was running for their people as well as my own. I have been inspired by fellow runners Paul Tergat, Lornah Kiplagat, Kip Keino, and many other African runners who have become successful and used their fame and wealth to go back to their communities and help people. As an American, sometimes I find myself getting frustrated that the Africans have become so dominate, but if they can use it as a means to fight the poverty of their communities than I wish them the best of success. In the Olympic games I have a lot to run for. I run for God, my wife, my family, my coach, my hometown, for America, and for my fallen friend Ryan Shay, but I also run for Africa, to provide clean water for their people.
I believe that many fellow athletes have the same heart but maybe they are unsure how they can use their passion for running to help others. The cool thing about World Vision is that now people can run a race to fight world poverty. Check out www.worldvision.org/team if you are interested in joining the team and adding a whole new dimension to your running.
We also recently shot some videos for World Vision and launched a new campaign to give people the opportunity to participate with me in my Olympic marathon and my pursuit of fulfilling the Olympic ideals (www.ryanhall.org). Who knows how world poverty could change in the upcoming years if we all come together and decide to do something about it.
This new passion has really fueled my training over the past two weeks of running. It has been four weeks since London now, but it seems like it was only yesterday. I took one week of complete recovery, meaning no running, and then a couple weeks of easy jogging. Last week I finally started some light workouts and was surprised at my starting point. It usually takes a couple weeks of workouts to be able to operate below five minute per mile pace but this hasn’t been the case this time around. I did a much better job of staying on top of massage, ice bath, stretching and strides than I have ever done before and it has paid off. I feel that my legs are full of run, as I like to say, and ready to begin the intense training that will be required if I am going to make a run at a medal. Next week the real training begins as I head up to Big Bear to start training at altitude.
I am really excited to have the support of my older brother over the next three months as he will become my pacer (on a bike) for all my workouts. I find that having someone along on the bike is the perfect training solution for me because it allows me to have someone pushing me along without getting competitive. I have used it a little in the past but never for an entire marathon buildup. I believe it could make all the difference for me.
I am also excited to be back in the mountains in my supportive hometown. The have begun a “Move a Million Miles for Ryan Hall” campaign that has been very encouraging to me. They are trying to build community fitness and overall well-being by logging a million miles by the time I run in the Olympic Marathon. We are currently at just over 100,000 miles and they encourage everyone, everywhere to join so feel free to log your miles (www.moveamillionmilesforryanhall.com). I don’t think their is an Olympian in the country with such a supportive community. I am really blessed to call Big Bear Lake home.
- Ryan
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Tags: 2008 Beijing Olympics, big bear lake, charity, dream, elite athlete, elite athlete blog series, elite runner, friendship, give back, harmony, Kip Keino, Lornah Kiplagat, Move a Million Miles for Ryan Hall, one world one dream, participation, paul tergat, progress, Ryan Hall, sara hall, team running usa, team world vision, Terrence Mahon, tfs elite athlete blog series, the final sprint elite athlete blog series, thefinalsprint.com elite athlete blog series, track and field, travel, Unity, world vision
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The Final Sprint
good luck and Godspeed with beijing. the only thing more impressive than your running resume is your desire to serve Christ. that’s an amazing thing to see in the world of professional sports. there aren’t too many people who can be upfront about faith without bashing people over the head, but you manage to be wonderfully compelling. i’ve been a fan of your running since i saw you win the 1600m at the southern section masters meet in ‘01, but to find that you’re using your position to serve is what makes you truly remarkable.
May 11th, 2008 at 1:11 amRyan,
I admire what you’re doing with World Vision and I hope you’ll approach that challenge with the same discipline you apply to your running. The true fruits of your labor may be years in the making.
I’ve put links to your World Vision efforts on this biographical site as well, and I hope they will generate you some support:
http://www.squidoo.com/ryan_hall
I write a blog about the mental side of running, and your posts have made me think a lot about the role Faith plays in achieving excellence. I took my first stab at it with the post linked in my name above, and would love to hear any and all feedback from you and/or your many fans.
May 11th, 2008 at 3:26 amI remember running in some races with you back in high school and thinking wow, this guy has some real talent.It has been thrilling for me to see the way you have devoted your running talent for Kingdom purposes. I have been struggling with making running meaningful in the last year and your creation of this world vision team is an answer to prayer. As you has stated I can now train not just thinking about improving my times, but improving lives and that’s powerful. Especially when the pain sets in, I think of those children who haven’t eaten for days or have the pain of a lost parent due to some disease or conflict. Very motivating indeed. I live in Hong Kong and am trying to arrange a trip to support you in Beijing. If you stop by HK before or after I’d love to support you anyway I can…church service, housing, tour guide.. whatever! Keep sowing for him and you and Sara will reap a great harvest.
May 11th, 2008 at 4:47 pmHi Ryan:
First off I am a Big Bear resident and father of two children who attend B.B. Elementary. The Run a Million Miles for Ryan campaign is making an impact on the children. Both kids talk about you and Connor has now run enough miles to get the T-Shirt. He already proudly wears the cap.
Secondly, for job reality reasons and to be closer to my wife’s family, we are moving back to Glendale. I have the best dog in Big Bear — he is a 4 year old purebred Siberian Husky. Very lean and athletic. I see you have a husky and I was wondering if you or your father or any other runners based in Mammoth or Big Bear would like to adopt him. As he won’t be comfortable in warm weather. And being a husky he can go for miles. I have trained him to ride/pull a mountain bike. So he is used to working out. All white with blue eyes. Not as outgoing as most huskies until he gets to know you. A little fearful of children. Has never bitten anyone as huskies never do unless they were raised wrong or if they have a reason. Please email me if you can help. He has a microchip, shots, and is fixed. I have his pedigree paper. I won’t charge anything for a great owner. I paid $200 for him as an adult 1 1/2 year old dog from Emerald Siberians near Temecula. He can handle being outdoors anytime of year. (As you probably know, sibes can survive down to -70 degrees.) He is very well behaved indoors though outside of shedding hair - no trouble at all.
May 11th, 2008 at 5:06 pmA bit of a tall tale there that Alexi has been trained to *ride*/pull a mountain bike! He has been trained to pull / run in front of a mountain bike. At one time I had two sibes and I’d mush them with my mountain bike, which is safer on a fire road than on the pedal path! : ) (Wiped out on ice once and broke the derailer off my bike. And it’s interesting when the dogs encounter a squirrel!) I have a connector that connects two harnesses together to run the dogs in tandem, and at least one harness and two leashes also.
May 11th, 2008 at 5:12 pmPhoto of Alexi on the hyperlink. Sorry for posting 3 times in a row.
May 11th, 2008 at 5:19 pmA great supporter of World Vision is AIDtoCHILDREN.com.
AIDtoCHILDREN.com is a dual-purpose site for building an English
vocabulary and raising money for under privileged children in the most
impoverished places around the world.
Check it out at http://www.aidtochildren.com
May 12th, 2008 at 8:29 amThere is a lot in the news these days about Christians and evangelism in China during the Olympics.What a great witness for Christ you are and will be.We are praying for your success and that God will continue to use you in a mighty way. Thank you for using the gift God has given you to bring glory to Christ.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:36 pm