byLarry EderRyan Hall is preparing in earnest for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. We asked long time contributor Elliot Denman, 1956 and 1960 US Olympian in race walk and one of the sports most prolific writers, to help us catch up on Ryan.
Ryan Hall, 2011 Aramco US Half Marathon Champs, Houston, photo by PhotoRun.net
Hall is one of our sports most gifted and mercurial athletes. At Boston, when he needed to deliver, Ryan Hall delivered and then some. Now, he has a fast, flat course in Chicago, and how fast can the guy run? 96 days later, Ryan Hall will line up with about 130 other men, intent on making the 2012 Olympic team. The difference is, Ryan Hall can make the team in his sleep if the right Ryan Hall shows up in Houston, and it looks like Hall wants to put his mark on the marathons in both Chicago and Houston.
Ryan Hall Story…
By ELLIOTT DENMAN
This one will “be for Sammy.”
Totally shocked by the tragic passing of Olympic marathon champion
Sammy Wanjiru, a fellow warrior of the roads, USA marathon great Ryan
Hall has declared he’ll donate all his earnings at the Chicago Marathon
on on Oct. 9 to his Steps Foundation, and its mission of “taking small steps to the marathon goal of ending poverty.”
The bucks he earns in Chicago will be used to fill starving stomachs in Kenya, the late-great Wanjiru’s homeland.
Many of Hall’s top American marathon rivals are already keeping their
schedules clear of virtually anything that could be viewed as
detrimental to their chances of succeeding in January’s USA Olympic
Marathon Trial in Houston.
But Hall’s not playing that waiting game. No way.
He’s booked to run the Oct. 9 Bank of America Chicago Marathon and, far from crimping his chances of running a top-quality performance in Houston,
he feels the Windy City effort will actually help his Olympic Trial
chances.
There are 96 days between the Chicago and Houston 26.2-milers.
To Hall, that’s far more than sufficient to build himself back into absolute top form for the Trial race.
And absolute top form for Hall in Houston could result in an
American-record performance. The USA best-ever is Khalid Khannouchi’s
2:05.38 at London in 2002,
Hall ran faster than that – 2:04.58 placing fourth at Boston last
April – but that mark won’t make it onto the charts as a legitimate
American record. The point-to-point Boston course, with its net
downhills, just isn’t legal for USA record purposes.
Hall and wife Sara, herself an accomplished distance person, spent
much of the summer in Switzerland, taking in the many magnificent Alpine
vistas, rolling up the mileage amid those superb settings.
The World Championships will rage on without him in Daegu. On
paper, the five-man USA marathon delegation to Korea – Nicholas
Arciniaga, Michael Morgan, Sergio Reyes, Jeffrey Eggleston and Mike
Sayenko – seems to be totally outclassed.
Kenya’s Abel Kirui, the 2009 Berlin Worlds champion in the
meet-record time of 2:06:14, is coming back to the global title meet.
And the Kenya delegation includes such other talents as Benjamin Kiptoo, David Barmasai and Eliud Kiptanui.
Team Ethiopia is led by the familiar face of Gebre Gebemarian, the 2010 ING NYC Marathon champion.
Other potential Daegu spotlight-stealers: Abderrahim Goumri and
Abderrahime Bouramdane of Morocco and Uganda’s Stephen Kiprotich.
Hall will simply stay away and log up massive totals of quality training miles.
He will mark his 29th birthday on October 14, five days beyond
Chicago, and plans to be at a physical peak when it matters most.
Ninety-six days later, Houston will beckon.
Back in November 2007, Hall ran off with the USA Olympic Trial
marathon, setting an event record of 2:09:02 over a loop course running
through NYC’s Central Park.
Hall went on to run a 2:12:23 placing 10th in the 2008 Beijing Olympic marathon. Not too bad, but not too great, either.
That 2007 Trial race in Central Park was also the race marked by the
tragic collapse and death of Ryan Shay, a very good friend of Hall’s.
With Wanjiru’s passing – circumstances still not completely explained – that was a second huge shock to Hall.
And maybe that’s another reason he’s downplaying the 96 days between Chicago and Houston.
He’s determined to “do this one for Sammy,” to “do it now'” and do it for a very good cause.
