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Lead Stories: Friday, July 25, 2008

Ryan Hall: Olympic Trials and Running Shoes [Part I & II]
(Elite Athlete Blog Entry 13)

Posted July 18th, 2008 at 12:00 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/

PART I

This past Tuesday I returned to Mammoth Lakes to put in my last hard month of altitude training after spending a week in Eugene to watch Sara compete in the Olympic Track and Field Trials. Watching the trials was one of the most emotional week-long experiences of my life. Watching some of my teammates and friends qualify for the Olympics kept me up late at night as a result of my excitement for them. However, my heart broke with my wife and some of my other teammates who failed to qualify. I could feel their pain as my own. I know all too well what it feels like to dream big, invest everything, and come up short. It is a risk we all take as athletes and when it all comes crashing down there is really very little one can say in the face of shattered dreams.

When I was a senior in high school I had a huge dream to run a sub-four minute mile. I can remember very clearly my last crack at it.
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Kate O’Neill: Re-living Childhood at Red Robin
(Elite Athlete Blog Entry 12)

Posted July 7th, 2008 at 10:41 AM by Kate O'Neill

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics, Elite Athlete Blogs, Kate O'Neill

Hi, this is my blog in TFS’s Elite Athlete Blog Series. Bookmark kateoneill.thefinalsprint.com and check back every other Monday for my latest entry as I strive for the 2008 Summer Olympics!

The 2008 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials have been addicting. As much as I would have preferred to have a spot on the starting line rather than the living room couch, I still found myself enjoying the viewing experience. I was cheering along with the amazing Hayward field crowds; feeling inspired at the breakthrough performances of Christian Smith in the 800 meters, Amy Yoder Begley in the 10,000 meters, and Billy Nelson in the steeplechase; feeling awe at the survival story of 1500 meter Olympian Lopez Lomong; and smiling at the pure joy that registered on Abdi Abdiriham’s face as he celebrated after his victory in the 10,000 meters.

I had been afraid that watching the Trials would be emotionally difficult. For some moments, it was. I kept re-living the last Olympic Trials and wishing the intermittent four years had brought more success. For the most part, I tried to re-direct those thoughts toward the next four years. The thought of all that I want to accomplish makes me excited, but does not completely vanquish the feelings of nostalgia for the past.
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Josh Cox: The Library
(Part I) - “A Dream”
(Elite Athlete Blog Entry 10)

Posted July 5th, 2008 at 9:00 AM by Josh Cox

Section: News & Results, Elite Athlete Blogs, Josh Cox

Welcome to the official blog of U.S. marathon runner Josh Cox. Every other Wednesday visit http://joshcox.thefinalsprint.com for Cox’s latest blog entry and for more information, also please visit: www.joshcox.com

Not too long ago you had a dream - this dream as a matter of fact. Don’t feel bad, you just forgot, most do. How many of us remember our dreams? How many attempt to remember them – try to revive them – try to bring them back? We dream, but then we wake, reality sets in, and our dreams are forever lost. It’s understandable, we’re busy, we have things to do, obligations, you know. Sometimes we remember bits, pieces even, occasionally we think about dreams but most times they just slip and slide away, unless you’re in the habit of writing them down – as I am. I do this while I’m still dreaming, I know it sounds odd, but it’s for the best. Author George MacDonald described this moment in the first strides of Phantastes: “I awoke one morning with the usual perplexity of mind which accompanies the return to consciousness.”

It’s the moment when your dream still has a pulse but it’s faint and fading fast. This is when we must write – before the dream dies. If only more people remembered their dreams. Forgotten dreams, dreams forgotten. What could be more tragic?
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Sara Hall: Sled Dog Racing
(Elite Athlete Blog Entry 12)

Posted June 28th, 2008 at 3:00 PM by Sara Hall

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, 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/

One night at pre-season camp in Mammoth the summer before my freshman year at Stanford, we had a guest speaker come talk to us as a team. The one thing I remember from his talk was his story of going for a ride on a dog sled in Alaska. The morning of the ride, he came out with the sled driver, and as soon as the dogs saw them, they just started going nuts, pulling at their chains and working themselves into a frenzy. One of the dogs was so excited he actually pulled on his chain so hard that he pulled the stake out of the ground! “You see that?” asked the driver, “They all want to be one of the ones that is picked to pull the sled. They were created to run, it’s what they love to do best”.
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Kate O’Neill:
Personal Fulfillment
(Elite Athlete Blog Entry 11)

Posted June 23rd, 2008 at 7:58 PM by Kate O'Neill

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Motivation, Track & Field, Olympics, Elite Athlete Blogs, Kate O'Neill

Hi, this is my blog in TFS’s Elite Athlete Blog Series. Bookmark kateoneill.thefinalsprint.com and check back every other Monday for my latest entry as I strive for the 2008 Summer Olympics!

With the Olympics fast approaching, I have been spending more time than usual thinking about goals. Ever since the Chicago Marathon, I had been chasing the goal of making the US Olympic Marathon team. When that did not work out, I was miserable, but quickly made new goals. I had to remind myself that being part of the US Olympic team was not the only reward of accomplishing my goals. The feeling of personal fulfillment was my prime motivation and that was something that I could still chase after.

For some people, personal fulfillment comes from very different accomplishments. After my long run this morning, I lounged on the couch for a while and watched the MTV show “Made” with one of my roommates. I had never seen the show before today. For those of you who are not familiar with it, the series profiles teenagers who want to be “made” into something more glamorous such as singers, athletes, or dancers. To guide them in the process, they are given a coach who is an expert in their chosen field. On this particular episode, a girl named Dyanna wanted to win her high school’s beauty pageant.
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Ryan Hall: The Countdown
(Elite Athlete Blog Entry 12)

Posted June 20th, 2008 at 7:55 PM by Ryan Hall

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field, Olympics, Elite Athlete Blogs, Ryan Hall, Road Racing

As I laid awake last night trying to fall asleep, I did what I have a tendency to do once training is clicking well and I feel my legs beginning to feel “alive” again after the initial callusing is complete from the first month of marathon training; I began the countdown. Only a little more than two months until I run in the Olympic marathon.

Countdowns are nothing new for me. When I was a little kid my siblings and I used to fight over who gets to open the next day’s door on a Christmas countdown board. I am not going to lie, it was the chocolate behind the door that we were really fighting over, but it did make Christmas all the more special once it finally arrived.
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Sara Hall: Learning Life Lessons Through Running
(Elite Athlete Blog -Entry 11)

Posted June 13th, 2008 at 4:00 PM by Sara Hall

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics, Elite Athlete Blogs, Sara Hall

There are many lessons that I’ve learned from running that I have applied to my life outside of the obvious- “perseverance” and “goal-setting”. The idea to write about this came from my coach at Stanford Dena Evans. (Dena is a perfect example of this herself because she has taught me just as much about life outside of running as she has about running itself).

Investments: Ryan and my first year out of college, we were ultra frugal. Neither of us had any money before we signed our contracts, and having lived on campus all four years at Stanford, eating in the dorms and rarely spending money, it was a huge transition year for us to be writing big checks for life expenses. We felt strongly that the money we had been given was not ours, but entrusted to us by the Lord to manage wisely. However, I think we took it to the extreme, reusing ziploc bags and eating Thanksgiving dinner leftovers for a month.
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Kate O’Neill: My Dad, the Ultimate Sports Fan
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry 10)

Posted June 9th, 2008 at 1:30 PM by Kate O'Neill

Section: Elite Athlete Blogs, Kate O'Neill

Hi, this is my blog in TFS’s Elite Athlete Blog Series. Bookmark kateoneill.thefinalsprint.com and check back every other Monday for my latest entry as I strive for the 2008 Summer Olympics!

I ended my blog four weeks ago by talking about my mother’s support of my running. With Father’s Day approaching, my dad needs a proper tribute! My dad has been equally supportive, but in a different way. Like my mom, he never ran competitively. He has, however, played sports for his whole life. Throughout my childhood, I had the chance to see his pure enjoyment of all sports. By watching him, I saw the importance he placed on participating in athletic endeavors at any level and the importance of learning to work with a team. These lessons did not translate into success in any of the sports that he actually played (as I have mentioned in past blogs, I was terrible at any sport involving a ball), but they did apply to running.
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Ryan Hall: The Team
(Elite Athlete Blog Entry 11)

Posted June 7th, 2008 at 11:30 AM by Ryan Hall

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Olympics, Elite Athlete Blogs, Ryan Hall

Eleven weeks to go. I go back and forth between thinking I have too much time before the games, and then feeling like there is not enough time. Eleven weeks sometimes feels like a long time to train at the intensity that I am now daily putting forth, but then when I think to myself that in two months I will be heading out to Beijing, I wish I could sneak in a few more weeks at altitude before then. I have found that it is usually a good sign to feel like I wish I had one or two more weeks of training. It is a sign that I am still fresh, still hungry, and still moving forward. Contrast this with my first marathon run at the 2007 London Marathon when I had been hanging on for a month after training for what seemed like an eternity.

Today I will be repeating the same workout I ran two weeks ago before I left for Bolder Boulder—a ten mile tempo run. Last time out it didn’t go so well. Waking up to snow was my second sign that I was going to have a tough day, with the first sign being my cranky ankle that had been bothering me after doing an hour and a half run on a rocky—yet beautiful—single track trail in Big Bear. So between my cranky ankle, snow falling, and being out there all by myself without my shuffle (which I forgot at home) I set myself up for a long day. Let’s not get too much into the specifics; we can just leave it at that I went out slow and came back even slower. Not to mention picking up my bottles off the ground didn’t seem to speed things up any. I left for Boulder concerned.
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Sara Hall: Getting Back Up
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry 10)

Posted May 30th, 2008 at 1:00 PM by Sara Hall

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Elite Athlete Blogs, Sara Hall

Part I: Last Week

During a recent visit to my hometown,Santa Rosa, CA, when Ryan and I were speaking at a local running shoe store, Ryan said to the crowd of young runners, “Someone once asked me ‘What describes an Olympian?’ and I said, ‘It’s the person who just keeps getting back up.’” I had heard him say this before, but this day it stuck with me. I’ve had my fair share of ups and downs in my professional career. This outdoor season has been no exception.
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