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Lead Stories: Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Ryan Hall to Make Boston Marathon Debut Next April

Posted November 18th, 2008 at 12:00 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons

It’s been more than 25 years since an American man crossed the finish line first at the Boston Marathon, but race organizers hope that will change next April when Ryan Hall of Big Bear Lake, Calif., steps to their famous starting line in Hopkinton for the first time. John Hancock Financial, which funds the elite fields for the race, announced today that they had landed Hall, America’s top marathoner with a 2:06:17 personal best, for the 2009 edition of America’s oldest marathon.

“I am grateful to have the opportunity to compete on the John Hancock elite team at the 2009 Boston Marathon,” said Hall, 26, through a news release. “The Boston Marathon is the grand daddy of the World Marathon Majors. To win here would mean as much to me as winning any marathon in the world, including the Olympic Games. To win in Boston would show the world that American distance running is indeed back to the days of Salazar, Beardsley, and Rodgers.”
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Sara & Ryan Hall:
Our Fall Adventures - Part 1
(Elite Athlete Blog Entry 18)

Posted November 14th, 2008 at 12:00 PM by Sara Hall

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

I don’t even know where to start! Since I last wrote, we have experienced so much that it’s overwhelming to try to sum it up succinctly in a blog. So this will have to be Part 1 of the Hall’s Fall Adventures!

Last I wrote we were about to head off to the Chicago Marathon to cheer on Team World Vision. It was incredible to actually be with the team in person, meet them at the pre-race pasta dinner, and rally the masses in orange ready to run Sunday morning! Team World Vision had around 800 runners in the marathon, making them close to if not the largest charity in the race! It’s been exciting to see the word getting out and the momentum that the team is generating. During the marathon, I ran around the course cheering on my teammate Kate O’Neill and the hundreds of orange TWV runners that were so easy to spot! Afterwards, we had a barbeque in a park adjacent to the finish, and we got to hear the stories of the 26.2 miles and what had motivated them to join Team World Vision. Some of the runners even ran with buttons displaying a picture of their sponsored child, of whom they were running in honor.

NOTE: Check out the following video of Sara and Ryan addressing Team World Vision runners before the 2008 Chicago Marathon. Then make sure to click “Read the rest of this entry” to continue viewing Part 1 of Sara’s blog entry about their Fall Adventures!

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Sara Hall: Back to Training, Chicago and Off to Zambia
(Elite Athlete Blog Entry 17)

Posted October 23rd, 2008 at 10:17 AM by Sara Hall

Section: News & Results, Marathons, 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/

Well, the break is over and I’m back into training for the 08-09 season! It went by fast with our multiple trips, but though it would seem like all the traveling would be draining physically, it’s actually been really invigorating! After a disappointing season, it can sometimes be hard to motivate yourself to keep giving it your all day in day out with the risk that the results won’t follow. But now, a few weeks later and a few states traveled, I am re-inspired and motivated to start a new season!

After New York, Ryan and I traveled to Chicago to meet some of our Team World Vision members, encourage them in their training, and recruit others to join us in our efforts to eliminate the root causes of poverty by choosing a race and raising money for World Vision’s projects in Africa. We had really looked forward to this time, as we’d been praying for and encouraging the team from afar, but were looking forward to meeting them in person. We met up with some of the TWV members for an early morning run on the Lake Michigan bike path (I cheated my break and jogged a few miles! I justified it by taking a rain check for a day off later this month). It was neat to hear their stories about what was motivating them, and see their excitement and nerves as the 2-week countdown began!
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Ryan Hall: Olympic Memories
(Elite Athlete Blog Entry 15)

Posted August 20th, 2008 at 12:52 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/

I have always dreamed about what the whole Olympic experience would be like. I have seen portrayals of the Olympics in many movies, the most memorable of which was “Cool Runnings,” but to experience it for myself has been both exciting and boring. I know that “boring” wouldn’t seem to be the adjective of choice when describing the Olympic experience, but the truth must be told that the Olympics is not all excitement, all the time for us athletes. I have been telling people that I want to go back to the Olympics sometime when I am not competing so I can get the full experience.

My journey started nearly two weeks ago when I left my hometown in Big Bear after an exciting send off party held in my honor where nearly two thousand people turned out to support me. Upon arriving in San Jose for team processing I was surprised to learn that I was the only athlete going through team processing that day. I had pretty much the whole staff waiting on me, which made a four hour process go by in a little under an hour. I was the last of the nearly six hundred US Olympians to pick up all my gear, which meant that I had to settle for some oversized items, such as some size 44″ cargo pants (I hope that I don’t fit into those anytime soon). Even though processing was pretty much empty it was still exciting to finally get the official USA gear. It was surreal to try on the opening ceremonies gear.
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Sara Hall: The Calm Before The Storm
(Elite Athlete Blog Entry 14)

Posted August 15th, 2008 at 9:00 AM by Sara Hall

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

Nihao (hello) from Dalian, China! I am writing this from the US training base on the coast of China. We are enjoying some quiet days of training and resting along with our teammates and other Team USA members here before leaving for Beijing in a week. I am excited to get to Beijing and experience the energy of the Olympic Games, as we are somewhat removed from it all here, except for the television coverage of the games (in Chinese). It will be fun, also, to get a taste of what “real China” is like where we are there, as we haven’t gotten to experience much here since security is tight.
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Ryan Hall:
A Bad Case of the Mondays
(Elite Athlete Blog Entry 14)

Posted July 31st, 2008 at 12:26 PM by Ryan Hall

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

I could write a whole book on the lessons I have learned from marathon training. I feel like every time I build up for a marathon I get a whole life’s worth of wisdom from just three grueling months of training. These past couple of weeks has been filled with ups and downs. One day I will be doing a 13-mile tempo run feeling strong and filled with energy. The very next day I will be doing close to two hours of running (split between two runs) and feel like I couldn’t take on a recreational jogger. Deena has routinely been dropping me on my easy runs, but its OK, I can take it, she is a bronze medalist after all.
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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

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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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

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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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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