Ryan Hall: Running Wild, the 2011 Bank of America Chicago Marathon Interview by Larry Eder

Hall woke most people up in 2007 when he destroyed
the US half and 20k record of one Mark Curp, with his blazing 59:42
victory at the Houston Half marathon. In
2008, Ryan ran with the leaders until 40k, finishing fifth in 2:06.17,
the second all time US marathon time, just behind Khalid Khannouchi’s AR
of 2:05:38.

HIs run at the 2008 Olympic marathon trials, was
another example of the absolute talent this young man possesses. Ryan
Hall ran a 2:09.02 on the loop course in New York City’s Central Park to
take the win. His victory was only soured by his friend, Ryan Shay’s
death during the race.

Beijing was, as Ryan has told us, ” a
learning experience”. He finished tenth, his worst finish in the 8
marathons he has run, running 2:12.33. In 2009, Ryan ran 2:09.40,
finishing third in his first BAA Boston Marathon. That fall, Ryan ran
2:10.36 for fourth.

In 2010, Ryan ran the Boston Marathon in
2:08.34, finishing fourth. He pulled out of 2010 Bank of America Chicago
marathon, citing fatigue. Ryan Hall, who had been traveling and racing a
lot, just was not racing well. He decided to make a change in his
training group, Mammoth TC, and his coach, Terrance Mahon, who had
coached him to his marathon success.

Ryan Hall maybe just needed
some change in his environs or his training life. He finished second in
January 2011 at the USA half marathon championships, held in Houston,
Texas as part of the Aramco Houston Half Marathon.  Ryan Hall, who
sported a beard before the race, shaved it off and told RBR and
assembled media that he had noted, on USADA forms that his coach was
“god”. While he did make some light of this, Ryan Hall was serious, and
while some doubted his focus on the marathon or his sanity, some keen
observers realized that, perhaps, just perhaps, Ryan Hall needed some
changes. 

Proving his doubters wrong, Ryan Hall, at his next race, the 2011
BAA Boston had him finished fourth in an jaw dropping 2:04:58, an all
time best for an American, but, not a record based on a net elevation
drop that does not fit IAAF nor USATF rules.

Ryan Hall runs “as
the spirit moves him”. He will charge to the front, and drop back, and
charge again. ” What looks like charging is really me running even pace,
” noted a thoughtful Ryan Hall.

Whatever it is, Ryan Hall was
back as the top US male marathoner. And his performances in Boston was at the
right time, as there had come, over the past 18 months, some doubters
to his seriousness of purpose and his focus on the prize.

The
2011 Bank of America Chicago Marathon Press conference had a very
relaxed and thoughtful Ryan Hall. Ryan has raced four times since 2011
Boston: a 4:17.2 road mile, good for 13th at the Mediatronic TC 1-Mile
(05/12/11), a seventh at the high altitude Bolder Boulder 10k in 30:30
(05/30/11), a seventh at the Peachtree 10k (07/04/11) in 29:16, and a
fourth place at the Virginia Beach RNR half marathon (09/05/11) in
1:03:02.

Ryan Hall was quite talkative about the upcoming race and his training leading up to Chicago:   “This
is big for me.  This training has been really good, but there are still
things to improve. I tend to learn a lot from my racing. I am feeling good. I learn from all
of my races. My training has been going really well, I am feeling good
and snappy. The tempo runs have been good for me during this
buildup. As I was cooling down for my last workout, I felt good about my
training, I saw some things that I could have done differently in my training.  I will learn a lot from this
race. You learn about how your body reacts to both training and racing. ” noted Ryan.

Ryan
talked about how he focuses on his recovery and how he has upped the
quality of some of his workouts. ” I take every seventh week and super
chill out. I do only one workout a day, and cut down my quality. I also
take one day off a week, so my mileage is about 100 miles a week, as I
do my easy days really easy.  It’s like the Bible notes about farmers,
how many would let their fields lay fallow during the seventh year. ”
Ryan has adapted what he has learnt from the Bible to his training.

In
terms of his quality days, ” I have gone from 10k of to 20k in my speed
work, doing 1k repeats in three minutes with a three hundred meter job.
I do this on a loop in Mammoth (California), in about three minutes,
so, with warm up and cooldown, this is about fifteen miles in 5:20 per
mile pace. That’s pretty tough.” noted Ryan Hall. If one considers that
Ryan is running at about six to seven thousand feet, Hall’s talent just
comes gushing out , once again. The guy is so talented, it is scary.

Ryan
Hall also admitted that his present advisers include more than last
year’s note on God. ‘ I have several advisers, my father is one of them.
I appreciate the help of my team. It means a lot. ” He also paid some
tribute to his wife, Sara Hall, who he shares much of training
discussions with. They seem quite supportive of each others’ training.

He
also noted that he does most of his training, except for warm up and
cool downs, on his own. ” I like warming up and cooling down with
people, but I like to do  the hard workouts by myself.”

In
speaking to Ryan Hall, it seems to me, that in that solitary running,
he has found his muse. Hall trains hard, and by himself, sometimes
without a watch, as he has to listen to whoever his drummer is.

Ironically,
just before the Hall interview, I interviewed Renato Canova, who trains
many of the best Kenyan runners. Canova noted that  the best Kenyan
runners make no excuses and train, “wild”, meaning with some abandon. He
noted that the great Italian runner, Stefano Baldini was like that, and
that Carlos Lopes was like that.

Ryan Hall trains and runs
“wild”. It is, in many ways, his creative spark flying down the 26.2
miles of macadam as he thrills and terrifies us. Ryan Hall, is a wild
beast, and for the sake of American marathoning, let’s hope that he
continues to listen to his muse or muses.

The challenge for Ryan
Hall is not the other runners, it is how he controls his muse or his
creative nature. Someday, Ryan Hall will put it all together, and a time
of two hours, three minutes, or perhaps faster, will be a dream of the
past.

Just how fast will
Ryan Hall run on Sunday at the 2011 Bank of America Chicago marathon? I
am not sure, but if the conditions are willing, Ryan Hall may use the
26.2 miles of the city of Chicago for his most brilliant marathon yet.