Interview with Ryan Hall

By Duncan Larkin

Who hasn’t heard of Ryan Hall? The American marathon debut and half-marathon record-holder and winner of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon really needs little introduction.

At age 25, Hall is already one of the most dominant American distance runners ever, and he may well be on his way to the Olympic medal podium in Beijing this summer. His running career started when he ran cross country and track at Big Bear High School in Big Bear City, CA. His junior and senior years there, he was the California state cross country champion. In a now-famous three-way duel, Hall finished third in the 2000 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships behind Dathan Ritzenhein, and Alan Webb.

Hall attended college at Stanford University. There, he struggled with persistent injuries but still managed some incredible performances. Most noteworthy was his second-place finish in the 2003 NCAA Cross Country Championships (leading Stanford to the team victory) as well as his Stanford record-setting first-place finish in the 5000 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2005 (beating teammate Ian Dobson at the line in 13:22.32). In 2005, Hall turned pro and in his first professional race, the 5000 meters at the USATF Outdoor Track and Field Championships, he finished third behind Tim Broe and Ian Dobson.

Hall currently lives in Big Bear Lake, CA. and is coached by Team Running USA’s Terrence Mahon. He is married to fellow professional runner Sara Hall.

The New York Road Runners caught up with Hall as he as preparing for the USA Cross Country Championships on February 16, in San Diego.

New York Road Runners: 2007 was an incredible year for you. You first ran an American half-marathon record, then you ran an American record for a debut marathon, then you placed first at the Olympic Team Trials - Men’s Marathon. Taking all those incredible 2007 achievements into account, where do you see yourself in 2008? What are your 2008 goals?

Ryan Hall: I definitely have some pretty exciting opportunities for me coming up in the future. I’m really looking right now at hitting cross country nationals, the Flora London Marathon, and the Olympic Games. I just kind of look at it in terms of opportunity and last year I had some opportunities to shine. This year there are more exciting things for me than last year. I’m just really excited to go out there and train and give everything I have and take my swing—getting out there and really going for it. If it happens, great; if it doesn’t, then I can live with that.

NYRR: Let’s go back to your marathon debut in London last year. There, you ran 2:08:24. Then at the Olympic Trials you ran on a very tough course a 2:09:02. Where’s the next marathon step-down for you? Are you looking at running a specific time or just medaling at the Olympics?

RH: You know, it’s definitely all about place at the Olympic Games. I feel like I’ve left myself kind of hungry to pop a good time in the marathon. I don’t feel like I’ve really gotten that yet. I feel like I [was] in much better shape than my time showed last year in London. But because of the weather and how the race played out strategically, I wasn’t quite able to run as fast I could have run then. In New York, I felt like I could have really run faster. If I had run the first two miles at 5:00 pace instead of 5:30 pace, I would have broke 2:08 and run 2:07. I felt like that was very doable for me on that day. How fast can I run? I don’t know. I’m kind of a time trialer at heart and love to see just how fast I can run. So if I get good conditions in London and good pacing, I think, who knows what the limit could be? But I think I could run very fast.

NYRR: During the Olympic Trials race, you progressed down to 4:30 miles to drop the field. What I’ve read of your post-race interviews, you felt very strong when you did that. Still, you slowed down to celebrate at the end. Did you have any regrets for doing this?

RH: No—not at all. I was actually pretty glad that I did my celebrating out on the course, because obviously when I learned of Ryan Shay’s passing afterwards that kind of ended my celebrating. I was glad in some ways that I had my moment to celebrate. I think that Ryan [Shay] would have wanted me to. I felt that also celebrating what happened to me on the day was far overshadowed by what happened. It ended up being a pretty sad day. If I go back and look at, yeah, maybe I could have run 10 seconds faster or even 20 seconds faster. It really wasn’t about the time out there and to run 2:08:40 versus a 2:09:02 really doesn’t mean a whole lot.

NYRR: At the end of the Trials, the crowd got to watch you come in, and then Dathan [Ritzenhein] come in, and then Brian Sell. Both you and Dathan were high school standouts and sub 9-minute two milers. Brian Sell, on the other hand, was a 10:17 man in high school. Even though you beat Brian by nearly three minutes, does he still manage to inspire you in any way?

RH: Yeah, definitely. Not to say that Brian’s not a talented guy. His talent lies in the fact that he stays healthy and is an extremely hard worker. His body is able to accommodate that kind of work ethic, which is pretty rare. A lot of guys try to train that hard and can’t get away with it because the body simply won’t allow it. I do think of him as a gifted athlete even though he wasn’t quite running the same times as Dathan and I were in high school. It is inspiring to see what is possible in the marathon. You see a guy like that run that well and beat the type of guys that he beats, it just reemphasizes the fact that in the marathon, anything is possible. Even though [Haile] Gebrselassie is four minutes faster than me right now, doesn’t mean that on the day I can’t beat the guy. It is inspiring.

NYRR: You are 25 years old: That is a very young age to be running a marathon. You probably have the time and the leg speed to return back to focusing your efforts on shorter-distance races. After the 2008 Olympics, are you going to drop back down and go after something like Bob Kennedy’s sub 13-minute 5K record? Where do you go after this?

RH: I think Dathan [Ritzenhein] showed me last year that just because you run a marathon doesn’t mean that you can’t drop back down and run some quick times. He had quite an amazing 2-mile time at Pre [the Prefontaine Classic, where Ritzenhein ran an 8:11.74]. I do feel like there is some unfinished business on the track. I would love to run under four minutes for the mile; I still haven’t done that. I think I could improve a lot on my 5K and my 10K—especially my 10K. I feel like I can run a good 10K. That’s a big goal.

I also look at my teammate Jen Rhines; She was running marathons and went back to the track, and really improved her track times. I think that is important for the longevity of my marathoning career. It will be a challenge to go back to the track, just because I do love the marathon so much. I love the training for it. I love to race it. There’s no event I’d want to be running more than the marathon. I kind of have to make myself go back to the track. I definitely still have that hunger to get back out there and improve upon my speed and track times.

NYRR: Regarding the USA Cross Country Championships coming up next week in San Diego, assuming you make the U.S. team, would you run in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland, at the end of March?

RH: Unfortunately not, because I’m running the Flora London Marathon. I won’t want to be racing at that time. I’d love to run, but obviously the focus will be on London.

NYRR: What are your thoughts on the USATF getting rid of separate “A” and “B” standards for the men’s Olympic marathon trials? What do you make of the argument that tightening the standards isn’t good for the sport?

RH: I can see both sides of the argument. But what is the purpose of the Trials? It is to select the Olympic team. But at the same time, I think it is fun for guys to compete in the Trials. A lot of guys have that as their career goal, and so it would be a shame to knock that number down. But it comes down to what can our race organizers accommodate? I guess that’s the better question and also I feel like it would be great to have a nice big field, but if our race organizers aren’t able to do that, then there’s a not a lot we can do about it.

NYRR: There was a big deal last year about Alan Webb breaking the American record in the mile and then saying he was going to go for the world record. You are obviously looking at medaling in Beijing, but are you willing to be bold and say you’ll go for a world record?

RH: Alan [Webb] and I are of the same breed—we really love to get out there and time trial and run fast times. I definitely don’t put a world record outside of my reach. I think it’s possible. Will it happen? I like to take chances and big swings. That might be something that’s in my future. It’s kind of exciting to think about, but I don’t want to say that I’m going to definitely get a world record or that my career is going to be incomplete without one. I’ll just try and do my very best in training and leave the outcome up to the Lord. There’s only so much I can do.

NYRR: You’ve implied before that you are not long for running—that you have other things you’d like to do, such as pursuing missionary work. What kind of pressure do you feel from the fans to stay on until, say the 2016 Olympics?

RH: I wouldn’t say that I feel pressure from fans at this point. I feel encouraged by them. Knowing that people are excited at what I do makes me even more excited about what I am doing.. I’m not a big guy on message boards. I don’t read my own press. I kind of stay away from the hype that comes with being a professional runner. I do feel encouraged by fans. I really appreciate their support. I know that it’s going to come and it’s going to go. I’ve been one of the big guys in high school before and then had not done well and no one was talking to me for a long time and then I kind of got it back here in the last couple of years. I just know that I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts. I know that at some point, my time will come to an end and I’ll go on to do other things, and life will go on. I’ll still be a happy guy.

NYRR: Tell me the day in the life of Ryan Hall specific to recovery. How is it aided? Are you doing ART [Active Release Therapy], acupuncture, yoga, etc,?

RH: Recovery is a huge part of my training. A lot of people focus on their workouts, but the recovery is where you make all your gains. For me, my biggest aspect of recovery is probably taking naps. I nap pretty much every day. Most of those naps are an hour to two hours long. Then I try to stay off my feet a lot. I’m not totally anal about it. For the most part, I’m not on my feet. I take ice baths during the fall and spring. During the winter, when it’s more of a stress on your body to get your body that cold, I take warm Epsom salt baths instead of ice baths. I usually get a massage once to twice a week as well. Those are the key recovery things that I try and focus on.

NYRR: I’d like to know what the untimely passing of Ryan Shay has done in terms of a wakeup call for you. Have you had any testing done? Have you put more scrutiny on your health since Ryan’s death?

RH: I’ve gotten some blood work done. I haven’t had an in-depth physical, but I’ve definitely thought about it. I have thought about things like writing up a will. I hadn’t really thought too much about that until Ryan passed away. It makes me realize how fragile life is. I can’t take for granted that I’m a healthy guy and not think about death at all. It makes you confront the issue even more when one of your peers passes away.

NYRR: About the Beijing Olympics, you mentioned earlier about being up with [Haile] Gebrselassie and the top guys. Have you started formulating your race strategy with [your coach] Terrence [Mahon] or talked things over? What kind of prep are you doing for that? And, are you just going to be going for the gold or will you settle for a silver or bronze?

RH: Yeah, we have started to identify things that we are putting into our workouts, things that are typical of a championship-style race where you are shifting gears a lot. We will implement that into our training. And then in terms of what I’m running for, I’m definitely going to give it a shot at getting the gold. But I obviously would be thrilled with any type of medal. I think the two are compatible goals. I have learned in the past that I should go out with whomever. Like when I raced Bernard Lagat in high school. I would just go out with him and hang for as long as I could and then fade away at the end. I’ve matured a bit more since then and have realized that maybe the best way for me to go for a gold medal is not necessary to go out with [Haile] Gebrselassie if he’s going out super hard. Maybe the best way to go for him is to try and creep up on him during the last half of the race—something like that. I’m going to try and finish as high as possible, but I’m not necessarily going to run outside of my ideal race in order to finish as high as possible. So it’s kind of like a balance between going for the win, but going for the win in a way that’s going to best suit you and not put you outside of your game. That’s how I’m looking at it.

NYRR: As a devout Christian, you believe in being selfless and being humble. And yet you are a world-class runner with the potential to be one of the best American distance runners of all time. Looking back at other famous Christian runners—runners like Clarence DeMar and Eric Liddell—these runners have struggled with doing what can be perceived as a selfish, almost purely individualistic pursuit with the goal of being first. Do you ever wrestle with this paradox or ever think about it?

RH: Yes—certainly. My wife and I have talked pretty extensively about that. We definitely have a heart for helping people, the way Eric Liddell, who went on to help people with his missionary work, did. We’re actually pretty excited at the direction where running is headed, because we recently formed a partnership with World Vision and have been getting involved with them to help with global poverty. We’re thrilled about that, because it’s a way for us to take kind of a selfish profession and use it to help other people. That’s the vision that we’ve wanted for a very long time and we’ve been praying about it for a very long time. It’s been a real answer of a prayer to begin to work. We were just down in Mexico this week to check what they [World Vision] are doing in some of the communities there. We are really excited about the work they are doing—coming alongside them and helping to meet people’s needs. That is what we really want to be doing with our lives. I can lie down and take a nap with a good conscience because I know that this is something that I’m not doing just for me, but also with the larger vision of helping people in the U.S. and countries all over the world.

Interview conducted on February 8, 2008, and posted February 13, 2008.