Downloaded from YTS.MX
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
[soft piano music]
[Ian] Ryan Hall? Always a story, especially in the US.
[man] Then 2007 showed up in Houston in January,
and he ran 59:43, first American under 60 minutes
for the half marathon.
[Tim] I must admit I was very skeptical. I,
I immediately thought, "Short course.
How's he doing it? Is that real?"
And of course, he was the real deal.
[Ian] Ryan Hall right now is on the cusp
of becoming the greatest American distance runner ever.
He has the fastest half marathon by an American ever,
he's run the fastest marathon by an American ever,
and he's had success at every distance he's tried.
[man] He's a natural front-runner,
and he loves to bury the field.
[Ian] Six times Ryan Hall has finished in the top five
in major marathons throughout the world,
and he's made to Olympic teams to boot.
[man] He's just Mr. Consistent.
[Tim] Clearly you can't put in what God left out,
and Ryan has got an awful lot of talent.
The guy is very much the real deal.
[crowd cheering]
[starter pistol fires]
[Ryan] Growing up in Big Bear was just a huge blessing.
You know, a small resort town in Southern California,
right around 7,000 feet, pine trees everywhere.
It just kind of was perfectly suited for me
because I love to be outside
and I love to just be in God's creation.
When I was growing up I had big dreams
about being a professional baseball player.
I wanted to follow my dad's footsteps.
He played baseball at Pepperdine University,
was drafted to play in the Major Leagues.
He decided not to go to the Majors,
um, he felt like God was calling him
to do a teaching exchange program in Australia.
My dad was always at the helm of our family,
was a very strong leader and we all kind of
just followed his lead on things.
[birds chirping]
[Mickey] The thing that probably
most sticks out in my mind
is the energy level that he had.
Everything that he did was in high gear.
And then he would collapse. [laughs]
His elementary years were filled
with a lot of hiking, a lot of basketball.
Even when he was in elementary school,
there was a competitiveness there
that would come out when he was out on the field,
not necessarily in the classroom.
Middle school started with Ry really being involved
in a lot with all kinds of sports.
But, at the end of every school year,
they would bring all the kids together
in junior high and have a track meet.
He got picked to run the mile on eighth grade,
and he was running against a kind named Gilberto Santillion
and they had an epic race. [laughs]
And, as they came into the last lap,
they both had this look on their face, both of them,
like, "You're not going to beat me."
And as they came down with 100 meters to go,
Ryan pulled ahead of Gilberto
and just beat him right at the end.
And I think for Ryan, that was the first time
he might've thought like,
"Hm, maybe I'm a runner."
After the school-wide track me, my dad,
he told me, he's like, "You know what? You could be
a great runner if you wanted to be."
And, you know, I looked at him, and I remember thinking,
and just saying, you know, "That's cool,
but I don't want to be a great runner." Like,
"I want to play baseball like you played baseball."
And then one day
while he was playing eighth grade basketball.
And it was during that basketball season,
I would say that was the first time
I really experienced God speaking to me
in a super-tangible way.
I was traveling down to a basketball game,
and I was just kind looking out at the lake
in my hometown, "So you know what," like,
"I'm just being hit with this thing right now
where I just really have this huge desire
to try and run around the lake in my hometown."
He got home, it was Friday night,
and he came to me and said, "Dad,
I'd really like to run around the lake."
And I was really grateful that my dad didn't just,
you know, gun down the idea and say, "You know what?
That's like biting off way more
than you should right now."
It's about a 15 mile run around.
And, I talked to Ryan for a while
and tried to discourage him.
And he was saying, "No, I really want to go."
And so, I said, "Okay, no whining, no crying."
So, we, we started out early in the morning, about seven o'clock.
[Ryan] I just remember that run just taking in,
it seemed like an eternity to me.
But my dad was with me every step of the way.
[Mickey] He was doing fairly well going through the six mile mark.
But when we got to Fawnskin, which is nine miles,
I noticed he was starting to struggle.
And I was saying to him, "Come on, Ry, we're on the bike
path, we can just stop and we'll walk, and."
"No, Dad, I don't want to walk, we're going to run."
And so when we got about a mile from home,
we stopped at the AM/PM and we got something to drink,
and Ryan was saying, "Dad,
I think this is something I can do."
You don't normally run 15 miles
and feel like that makes you feel like
it's something you want to do.
Come home, collapse in my couch, just dead tired.
The run itself actually inspired him.
God hit me again and started speaking to me
for the second time in a very tangible way.
And I really felt like He was telling me, like,
"I've given you a gift to run with the best guys in the world,
but I've given you that gift so that you can help other people
and love other people."
And, uh, I didn't really understand
the second part of that vision at the time.
[Mickey] After that, Ryan was all in to running.
[Ryan] I had started running every day with my dad.
My dad was my coach. He wrote up workouts for me on a weekly basis.
He really poured into my life.
And that was really important for me at that time
because I was struggling with friendships at school, like,
because I wasn't doing baseball,
basketball, and football anymore,
I kind of lost like all of my friends.
So, you know, I remember during my freshmen year,
walking across the quad and just seeing all the kids
at lunch hanging out with each other, eating lunch,
laughing, having a good time, I'd take my lunch
from home and go in my dad's class
because he taught special ed at the high school,
and I'd just go and have lunch with him.
One day I was walking through the quad
and just feeling that kind of loneliness come on me and,
um, I just remember at that time just asking Jesus,
I was like, "Man, I really need You
to be my friend right now."
You know, it was during that time of asking Jesus
to come and be my best friend
that things really took off for me,
in terms of the faith becoming my own.
[Mickey] So after that, it was more about trying
to get him to relax and not take it quite as seriously.
[film reel clicking]
Big Bear High's Ryan Hall is one of the top three
distance runners in the country.
His resume has been growing
ever since he first burst on the scene
as a junior in last years' Masters Meet.
Ryan won the mile in 4:05,
second fastest in the country.
[Mickey] When he ran that 4:05 at Mt. SAC,
that definitely changed his life.
But for him, it didn't change a lot
except for he was super excited about what happened.
And then I think he started saying,
"Going under four is definitely possible."
[reporter] Only one high schooler has gone sub-four
in a mile since Jim Ryan, 30 years ago.
Ryan Hall thinks he'll be the next,
so much so that he put his goal in concrete
right next to the family's home.
The point is I love to run
and I'd run whatever event I was best at.
But I really do believe I'm a miler
and I'm really passionate about the mile.
[Mickey] Ryan was thinking I want to go under 4:05,
and for him, there's always that,
"Yeah, I won the race but I want to go faster."
[Ryan] Well, I see myself running in the Olympics
and when I'm training, I see myself running
with El Guerrouj and those guys.
And my friend Tyree, he made a picture for me
and put me in the race where--
The finishing picture of the Olympics,
so I have that hanging above my bed and I'm in front of them.
You know, I didn't have quite the year I was hoping for,
um, my senior year. And I had a good chance
of breaking four minutes.
I remember in that last race it was a mile race
and they'd kind of set it up for me to try and break four.
You know, I was really hoping that this would be
my day and I could break four, but I was way past
my peak and already tired at that point
and ran a really bad last 800.
[Mickey] Done with high school, ready to get after college
and the college thing was a very difficult decision for him.
He'd always wanted to go to UCLA,
and Stanford was the running place for guys at the time.
That was also a big decision that came down to the end
when him and his mom finally drove to Stanford a second time
where he went in the chapel,
and in the chapel made up his mind,
he was going to go to Stanford.
[Ryan] It was cool to finally be a collegian and...
what was really cool was to be on a team
where like everyone was really going after their goals
and training really hard.
Nineteen year old Ryan was extremely driven and focused
in a way that most 19 year old aren't.
[Ryan] During that freshmen year in cross country, you know,
my first two races were my best races,
and I think I just came into camp like
too fit and too gung ho.
[Ian] He was, he was very serious.
Serious in good ways, and serious in ways
that were going to be-- you could tell were
going to be challenging in college.
And I enjoyed
putting my teammates through pain.
And I wasn't accustomed to working out with people,
so during those first two years at Stanford,
like, every single workout was a race,
every single workout I was trying to prove my fitness.
You know, a kid comes in, especially a high, like,
high school kid, freshmen in college comes in,
and he's working harder than the guys
on the team are working, or he wants to work harder.
You know, not everybody takes that particularly well.
Again, very successful early on in my sophomore year.
Come back to camp just killing guys,
making people angry up at camp because I was in good shape.
He didn't have a team in high school,
or junior high, and so he didn't really know
the whole work together as a team thing.
In practice it was like he was used
to just like going all out, all the time.
There was some friction at times,
and I think that was kind of the root of it.
Something else, you know, I was just struggling
with the lifestyle of college.
Um, not only was my sleep disrupted,
but then my academics were super hard
and I was really struggling with my academics.
I don't think we had any idea really the extent
to which he was struggling, because he always had Sara.
[Sara] I was kind of his one person
and I know he really struggled with loneliness a lot,
his first couple years, just like when I couldn't be there
and, and just being a part of such a close family.
But I definitely saw him grow in that, in the next two years
and just learn to really foster relationships on the team
and how to be a good team member.
One of the biggest things that changed
is I started really prioritizing
my time with God a lot more
and I started going down to the stadium.
I'd sit down and just hang out with God.
I had a little journal and I, you know, I'd read my Bible
and I'd just write down things I felt like God was telling me.
Before that I was a, a runner who happened to be a Christian,
and then after this season in my life
I was a Christian who happened to run,
which is a huge shift and, um...
it really changed the way I saw myself.
Now I could get up in the morning and be satisfied
with what I saw in the mirror.
I think as I matured I kind of came
to an understanding of how Ryan works.
The guy is just probably more internally motivated
than anyone really.
He can just go out and hammer.
It was kind of like a... [fingers snap] switch
just sort of flipped. In his last year of college,
we got along great. We were, you know, good training partners.
I don't think there was any friction. At that point
we were really starting to see things
the same way and work together well.
[Mickey] His time in college when he won the 5,000
was an incredibly happy moment
because he was having one of those on days.
[soft piano music]
I would say the first couple years as pro
were definitely a transition.
We loved the Mammoth Track Club,
that was a lot of great people.
And Ian was still there to train with Ryan
just as they had been at Stanford.
For a while I was just, "I'm getting dropped on every workout."
I was like, "What's going on," you know?
I kind of eventually had to just
bite the bullet and say like, "Man, he's progressed,
um, in a way that I haven't."
And he was doing some pretty impressive tempo runs.
[Ryan] My success from the marathon came in largely
from just, you know, being fresh and my body,
really, I think was super-compensated for the extra work I was doing.
[Ian] When he went and ran that half marathon,
which was really the...
moment that I think everyone
went like, "Whoa," like,
you know, "He's not just a little better at the distance stuff,
he's like really good at it."
[gentle piano music]
[reporter 1] Ryan Hall 59:43, at the Houston Half Marathon,
shattering the 60 minute barrier.
[reporter 2] This is going to be an Olympic trials record with ease.
Ryan Hall, book it.
You're on your way to Beijing.
2:09:01, by more than a minute,
he sets the Olympic trials record at the marathon distance.
[Ryan] Before I began my training for the games
I was really excited about my chances to get a medal.
I really felt like I had a great shot, you know,
I had run really well in New York off a slow pace
in championship style race,
and then, you know, run a fast time in London
and got a good look at the best guys in the world.
I think Ryan has just got all the qualities necessaries.
He's a very good mover biomechanically.
He's a very good mover, he's got great track times
over 5,000 and 10,000 meters
and you, you don't get those unless you move pretty well.
So the combination combined with the talent is what's made Ryan so good.
[Ryan] Terrence is a great coach. I really feel like he did
a great job of preparing me for those marathons.
[Tim] As a combination, as a team,
they produce some astonishing performances for a period
of, of, of three or four or five years.
[birds chirping]
[Ryan] When I was on the starting line of the Olympics,
it was a funny sensation because it is a moment
that you have thought about for a long time.
You're like, "Wow, I can't believe this is it."
You know, "It's finally here." It was an amazing start,
you know, right in Tiananmen Square.
-[starters pistol fires] -[Ryan] I could feel it
right in the first 100 meters.
It was like someone hit me in the chin
and I remember looking at my split early on
and thinking, "Man, I'm running 2:06 pace right now,"
and I was so far back.
It was a total shock,
and I wasn't mentally prepared for that.
That's not how you picture your Olympic marathon happening.
That really shifted when I went into the Olympic Stadium.
Going into the stadium is the moment
that I had always dreamed of.
And God really got ahold of me in that moment,
and I felt like what He told me was,
you know, "This isn't everything you have dreamed of,
but this is everything you need right now
for this stage of your career."
I really enjoyed my last lap that I did around the stadium.
You know, I finished the race and then things, you know,
started to set in right when I finished.
I think, "Man, I can't believe that just happened like that."
[commentator] Samuel Wanjiru just obliterated the field,
winning the gold medal for Kenya in the marathon,
breaking the Olympic record with a time of 2:06:32.
And at the closing ceremonies, they award
the top three marathoners, their medals,
and, uh, that was such a crazy thing to, to watch, you know,
I was 50 feet away from Sammy when he got his gold medal,
and I remember just looking at him and just thinking,
"Man, in four years' time I want that to be me."
[upbeat triumphant music]
Every day has the possibility, so we'll see.
[reporter] Ryan Hall continues to pile up
impressive performances.
And he's one of the only athletes out there
who can contend the with East Africans.
I've never stepped on the starting line
of a race, I didn't think I could win.
[upbeat triumphant music]
[keyboard clicking]
[announcer] This evening we are joined by a pair
of record-setting athletes.
Ryan Hall and Denise Robson.
[man cheering]
[Ryan] The running and the faith
has always been hand-in-hand for me.
And I was feeling more and more drawn to,
you know, "How do I live out my faith daily
and how is this something that's actually
impacting my day-to-day life?" There was some,
some issues where I was feeling like
Terrence wasn't believing in me in the same way
as he had in the past.
I remember having a conversation with him on the phone.
He was like, "Maybe you just don't want it
as much as you used to."
I felt like that really shattered
how I perceived Terrence's perception of me,
which is really important, you know, you have to have
a coach that believes in you. And I felt like,
you know, he was starting to maybe waver in that.
Coming off Chicago I was just... [sighs] totally fried,
and I didn't know what was going on.
And I just want to be more desperate to hear God's voice
and I want to involve God more
in what I'm doing every single day.
My body wasn't responding well to training, you know.
And I'd get halfway into the workout
and I just couldn't finish it.
And it wasn't like a motivational thing.
I'd learned from amazing coaches
all throughout my career, and I felt like
that prepared me to be ade-- adequately prepared
for this season of faith-based coaching.
[reporter] Ryan Hall to be coached by God
is not a headline that you'd read that often,
and this will, no doubt, get everybody
in the running world talking.
[Ryan] You know, I haven't heard of anyone else doing faith-based coaching.
There's lots of people who are coaching themself.
It requires a risk to go out and try something new,
to pioneer new ground, and a lot of runners
aren't willing to take that risk.
Ryan has, has allegedly, I understand,
said that, you know, God is his coach now.
Well, I'm, I'm, I'm not sure that's enough.
I, I, I think God sometimes
would like you to go and get advice.
Yeah, it didn't surprise me all that much.
Known Ryan long enough
now to know that he's--
you know, to not just write off
his decisions as, as silly.
I was pretty surprised and, and definitely asked a lot
of questions at first, just about what it would look like.
It was a big decision for him to leave his coach. It,
it's not something that's natural to him
to just bounce around to different coaches.
And I think Ryan, all along really,
took more ownership of his training than, than most of us did.
And I remember sitting in his family room in Mammoth
at the house and he was just like, "What do you think?"
And I said, "You know what?
I'm super proud and I think you should do it.
This is a big step."
But I could see his, his reasoning
behind it because I have a similar
belief that like,
do what it takes to... [chuckles]
...experience God more in your life,
that's the most important thing.
I mean, I'm an atheist and he's, you know,
clearly a very devout Christian.
As far as... him as, as an athlete,
I mean, I think I would really envy that, really. I mean, I think that, that,
if I could flip a switch... [fingers snap] you know,
as an athlete and really have that sort
of faith that he has that,
"This is really what you should be doing and,"
he draws on that as, um...
as something that helps him as an athlete.
I sometimes think maybe athletes and coaches,
rather than splitting up, should have a holiday.
To actually end a relationship that has proved so fruitful,
to say, "Nope, I'm going to do something different,"
is big, big decision
and, and, and so often athletes get that decision wrong.
Walking away from the standard American way of coaching,
um, was a huge, huge step.
Because what it does is it actually removes
everything that we've been taught for so many years
about the modality of running,
about what it means to have a coach.
It's hard to-- when you're doing really well,
to, you know, change things.
And I was also uprooting my wife,
who's also a professional runner,
and she was very supportive throughout that.
And I think we headed off to Flagstaff.
I've learned a lot from other coaches, um,
but I'm not, I'm not a coach, you know?
But I, I live by the Spirit
and I ask God what to do every day,
and He tells me what to do.
I go out there, run, and do my thing,
focus on what I'm doing and trying to please God,
and that's all that's important to me.
I think that's the part about Ryan
that's the best, is that he is
embracing his own identity in who he is in Christ.
[man] There are a lot of questions entering this year's
Boston Marathon for Ryan Hall.
Hall's first major race since leaving Terrence Mahon
and instead, being coached by God.
Boston was really just a crazy run.
It was a day that I'd been praying for for years.
[commentator] Ryan Hall will finish
with an astonishing performance.
This will be an American record by nearly a minute.
He becomes the first American ever
to run under 2:05.
[interviewer] There've been some doubters there,
you made the coaching change.
How much does, does this confirm what you have done?
I mean it's just a... [laughs] you know, like,
this just blows me away right now.
I, I can't believe what just happened.
I feel like I'm just getting
the ball rolling, you know? And, uh,
and to come out here and run something like that
was an incredible confirmation of,
you know, being on the right track.
[Ryan] I was telling Sara what was really driving me
is I was thinking about walking into the opening
ceremonies with her. That's something
I've dreamed about doing
ever since, you know, we started dating.
And now that we're married, to be able to do that together
would make me cry, probably. [laughs]
[slow soft music]
[Sara] Well, the very first time we met
was at the Footlocker Western Regional Championships,
our senior year of high school.
So, we had a mutual friend,
he introduced us after the race.
The immediate thing that
kind of I noticed, the similarity was of our faith.
He had actually signed someone's race number
and put a Bible verse, and I actually
would always do the same thing in high school.
And I was like, "Oh, that's kind of cool."
I didn't know that he was a believer also
and didn't really know each other until we got to Stanford.
And then at pre-season camp in Mammoth Lakes, California,
we started to talk a little bit more
and then our first date was the first week
of freshmen year of college.
And, just dated ever since.
You could tell that he was a very passionate person
about all areas of his life,
that he was extremely focused on running,
but also his faith was extremely important to him,
family is very important to him.
His love for me became a huge priority
and he pursued me like he did running
and everything else.
And so, that to me, spoke a lot about his character.
-[man] Go. -[woman] Get out there!
[Sara] Ryan's career has inspired me incredibly,
to continue running,
and at times when maybe I'd thought about retiring.
Growing up, something I wanted more than anything
was a happy marriage and just to really
be married to someone that I was in love with my whole life
and that is was this fun adventure,
and God's just totally
given me the desire of my heart,
because that's exactly what it's been.
[crowd cheering]
[Ryan] You know, Sara's successes are my successes,
and her failures are my failures.
And so, you know, I feel like I'm out there running
when she's out there, and I feel like I'm kind of getting
to live this other side of the coin,
um, this runner who's just like a, a, a sit and kicker,
but just like a ferocious, tenacious runner
that's taken part in these incredibly exciting races.
[announcer] Let's give them a nice round of applause, folks,
the US Cross Country Championships.
[light playful music]
[crowd cheering]
[Ryan] I'm just looking at the next seven months,
preparing for the Olympic games. I, I really have
a sense of destiny about this race,
it's going to be the, the best Olympic marathon ever assembled.
There's going to be multiple 2:03 marathon runners in there.
You know, for me to think about getting a medal
and two minutes slower than a lot of these guys.
And so I just know God's going to have to show up,
and it's going to be a total run of faith.
I really feel like this is the race that
God's been preparing me
for and that I was made to run.
[woman] So come see me tomorrow, okay?
[Ryan] I was really feeling like the second week of my recovery
that God was calling me to do a fast.
And I was feeling like God was telling me to fast
because I feel like this is my way of positioning myself
in a, a posture of humility before Him and being like,
"If Your grace isn't all over me
during this season of my life,
there's no way I cannot get a medal without You."
In the middle of the night I was just lying in bed
and I really felt like God was... speaking to me
about what this buildup was going to look like,
and He gave me this picture of this golden puzzle all coming together.
And I really felt like He was telling me everything
that I've learned throughout my life
and throughout my running career,
the 14 years I've been running,
all those lessons were going to come together
as this puzzle, and it's all going to come together for the Olympics.
I felt like He was saying like, "You're going to hit it."
I really felt like God was telling me
right from the beginning of the marathon I need to attack,
and I need to be on the offensive.
I need to be the one
going at Goliath, so to say.
And He started to give me specific strategy
on needed to train at 4:40 pace.
From day one, everything started to click together.
And it really kind of launched me into my marathon training,
with a new vision and motivation
that I've never had before.
[rain spattering]
[Ryan] The story of David and Goliath has always been
a super inspiring story for me.
There was this huge battle going on
between Israel and the Philistines.
Goliath is this massive warrior, nine feet tall,
and he was going out and taunting both the Israelites
and their God for 40 days.
No one was willing to go fight Goliath, not even the king,
until David arrived on the scene
to actually give his brother some food.
And he sees Goliath come out and taunt the armies.
He's like, "He's taunting my God."
He's like, "I'll go fight this Philistine."
And he goes out to fight Goliath with what he knows
and what he's used before when he went
and fought the bear and the lion
to keep his flock safe in the past.
He meets Goliath on the battlefield,
and first, Goliath taunts David.
David is not intimidated at all
and he's confident that God's going to deliver the Philistine,
Goliath, into his hands.
David ran towards Goliath with his sling
and with his stones.
One shot, hit Goliath right in the forehead,
Goliath went down.
He used Goliath's own sword
to cut off his own head.
As soon as that happened,
the Philistines all fled,
and they lost the war.
It's just an incredible story of a kid
who was super confident in who God is
and how powerful we are because God is behind us.
You know, it says in the Bible, "If God is for us,
who can stand against us?"
When he got to that moment and he arrived
on that battlefield, he knew that,
"Hey, God's prepared me for this."
So, after 40 days of taunting
and 40 days of defying the living God of Israel,
David finally came, and on the 41st day,
David fought Goliath.
[ran spattering]
-I'm still going to wear gloves. -You want to wear gloves.
Feel free.
[interviewer] How does all this feel to you? Doing things like this?
[Ryan] It's kind of surreal. The first time
I started doing shoots like this,
there was like 50 people here just to shoot me,
to take pictures of me. I'm like,
"Man, I feel kind of weird being the center of all this."
But, now it just feels like, you know, part of the business
and I just, I just really enjoy it, it's fun.
It's pretty cool. Not very many people get to experience this,
and I just feel like it's a, it's a super blessing and so,
just enjoy it, you know.
Take one.
Knocking it out of the park.
[director] Action, Ryan.
[light upbeat music]
[engine rumbling]
[people chattering]
You keep very, very fast and focused.
[camera clicking]
The longest 30 seconds of my life. [laughs]
[audience clapping]
I wish you guys all the best tomorrow,
I hope you have a good time out there.
It's much easier to slow down
than to speed up, which is totally true.
[audience laughing]
[people chattering]
Thank you so much.
Getting it for the campers, so just sign it.
[light upbeat music]
[razor buzzing]
I want some lunch. [laughs]
[camera clicks]
Little more, little more.
[camera clicks]
[man] To the camara. Throw it in the air.
[whistle blows]
[people chuckling]
[indistinct]
In my laptop, for two hours,
I use between 500 and 1,000 watts of power.
[woman instructing]
So if you're looking at, you know, doing a, a run
at marathon specific speed.
[footsteps thudding]
Nice to meet you.
[light upbeat music]
[crowd cheering]
This one's classic.
Okay, here we go.
Today's workout.
Where we going? Up there.
[people chattering]
[man] Awesome.
[traffic humming]
[people chattering]
[man 1] All right, man.
[man 2] Right here. Over here.
[man 3] That's right.
[people chattering]
This is going to be an interesting day on Saturday.
But, you know, a great opportunity
and it's fun to, just to see where you're at.
It's been four months since the trials and,
yeah, I'm stoked to, to get back out there and race again.
The point of this race is preparing me for the games,
and so I'm just going to, I think, go out at 4:40 pace,
have my watch on, be checking it,
and then try and come home faster
than 4:40 pace if I can.
-[woman] So fun. -Yeah, it's so nice out here.
[woman] Everyone's been so excited to have you.
I'm good, ready to go.
[announcer] Now, ladies and gentlemen, to bring up
our final three male competitors,
please welcome the president and CEO
of New York Road Runners, Mary Wittenberg.
[Mary] At New York Road Runners we love
to give you the chance to run with the world's best
and to make a difference.
Today we get to do all three.
[crowd cheering]
[announcer] On your mark.
[horn blows]
[crowd cheering]
[horn honking]
[people chattering]
- Yeah, yeah. In decent shape.
- [woman] How's the foot? - [man] I think it's okay.
[woman] When did he start, I mean, May, June, July...?
[woman] Not even for a few more weeks, do they?
[man] He's running--
[engine rumbling]
[people chattering]
[man] Pushing the pace.
Um, with Dube and Rutto right behind him.
[man] David, are you there?
-[David mumbles] ...right behind you. -[reporter] Right behind you.
[man] Meucci looks like has moved into third,
just, just a half stride ahead of the pack.
[crowd cheering]
[announcer] There he is, ladies and gentlemen, Ryan Hall
approaching the finish line.
What a team, USA going to London later on this year.
Bobby Curtis is going out to take his victory lap.
[Ryan] Hard thing with, with running is
knowing what causes bad races.
You know, I still don't totally know why I raced so poorly.
I really backed off for it and,
you know, I'd been doing lots of work at 4:40 pace,
like I should've been right in the mix. Like,
any professional runner should be able to run
under 30 minutes... [laughs] for a 10k.
Was it my nutrition?
Is it my weight?
Like the fact that I've fasted for a week
and came into this buildup leaner than I typically do?
I really felt like something that God was highlighting
to me in the last couple of days is I just have
too much slow running in my program now.
[announcer] We'll get Ryan here in a minute.
[people chattering]
[announcer] We're just going to take a quick comment
from each of the three US Olympians here
about today's performance and how this, you know,
fits into or looking ahead to London.
My training's going well and I'm healthy.
And that's all I can ask for right now.
[Meb] I'm very pleased with today,
just because you got to start somewhere.
Obviously it wasn't a great run for me today,
but it's fun to be out here with these guys, and, uh,
and, you know, get to take in New York on last time
before heading to the games.
[Ryan] Just getting whole legs back today.
[Billy] Yup.
[Ryan] Not, not trying to... set any records.
[crickets chirping]
[pop music playing on radio]
Good job, Ryan.
♪ All to you
[man] Stop.
Could be Ryan.
Huh?
[Ryan] Even though, you know, the workout, I couldn't finish it
and it went really poorly,
and I was running 5:45 pace at the end, which I should be
all around the five minute pace pretty comfortably.
I felt okay starting, then just got,
like, I don't know, man, just like... no pop from there.
But, I mean, I kind of expected it for this workout.
Wasn't expecting to light the world on fire.
[Billy] You just tired from Saturday?
Yeah, just all that travel.
My body's just, I don't know, man,
it's not responding the same way as it was.
I think part of it is emotional too you know?
Like that race kind of beat me up for a couple days,
so you're kind of like emotionally kind of beat up
and that has physical effects too, you know?
Got to find joy despite what's going on around me.
And so, even if, you know, my workouts
continue to get worse and worse, which,
which I'm not anticipating that happening, you know.
Um, but if that's the case,
"Can I find joy and satisfaction?"
And, "Is God really the gold?
Is He really what I'm going after more than anything else?"
And that's kind of what I'm confronted with
after this last weekend.
"Is He enough?"
[Ryan] Three months out from the Olympics
and I've kind of felt like I needed just a fresh start.
And like today was like a fresh start.
One of the big things is wanting to go back to Redding
and be around friends
and people outside of the running circle.
That also helps me like...
get away from it for a little while,
because it can seem a little bit much at times.
You know, I'll be like, "Ah, man, when I'm not running,
then I'm always thinking about running."
Eat your heart out, all you vegans.
[people laugh]
[people chattering]
[man] The natural.
All you got to do is spread your feet out,
-bend your knees. -[man] Yeah.
That's all you got to do.
You weren't properly instructed.
[man 1] Woo! It's official.
[man 2] Good.
[Ryan] Redding was always a place
that Sara and I were thinking about,
kind of in the back of our mind,
especially once we left the Mammoth Track Club.
Just because, you know, we followed Bethel Church so closely
and we've gotten to know people from the church.
And so it's something where we were like, "Oh, yeah,
one day, you know, we're going to live in Redding,"
because we wanted to experience God in his fullness.
[parishioners singing]
[Ryan] God's put so much amazing stuff in us,
but when we're striving to get it out,
and I do this in my workouts all the time,
I'm like, "Ah, I got to make this happen,
I got to make this happen I'm trying so hard,"
it doesn't come out.
But when you just let it come out,
it's the same way with our pursuit of God,
when we just put ourselves in God's lap,
and He's always there, you know, and we're able to just
release what's already inside of us.
I mean, God has put such amazing things in each one of us.
I certainly feel a lot closer to God now
than I did, you know, up in Mammoth.
Something amazing happens when you're desperate for God.
Being desperate for God definitely
makes you closer to Him, you know.
But then what comes with that is a little bit of tendency
of, you know, using God.
Like, I think sometimes I, I want to take God
and have Him as my lucky rabbit's foot,
but I, I don't want to put God to the test anymore.
I think people put God to the test all the time.
I know I have Him in my life, you know.
I'm like, "God, if You're real,"
like, "Come, heal my foot that's been bothering me
for the last eight months."
In my left foot, I can feel it when I press on it here.
It's just kind of like all right here...
We believe here at Bethel that God wants to heal
every disease and every sickness.
We look at, you know, the life of Jesus
and He said that He healed everyone that came to Him.
So, we believe God's heart is always for healing and
I came to the healing rooms, they have them every Saturday,
and is my first time at the healing rooms.
Leading up to the trials I was really nervous about my foot,
and it was really bothering me, like,
not only physically, but also emotionally.
Mainly just by pressing on it.
-[men and women] Okay. -Because that like puts like pressure on it
right there when running.
[woman laughs]
Jesus, we just invite your presence to come
and to fill, to fill Ryan's body.
Thank You for this gift and this ability to move on.
We prayed for a guy last week who had broken his foot.
[Ryan] I think a lot of people agree that there's a lot of power
that comes with just physical touch
in general and, and the power of love, and that's,
that's what's going on in the healing rooms.
And it's been cool to see all the miracles
that have been happening right here.
On cancer being healed,
legs growing out, deaf ears opened.
Like, all kinds of crazy stuff.
It's been about six months
and my plantar fasciitis has been bothering me.
And I've tried everything on it.
Everything from injections
of naturopathic stuff to get the inflammation down,
shockwave therapy, endless icing.
Ah, yeah, no, it feels better.
-Really? -Yay. [claps]
It would be like a two or something.
-Really? -It's dialing down.
That's awesome. Yeah.
I wouldn't say it's completely better,
but definitely feels a little better.
And I think healing comes in a lot of different ways.
You know, there's the obviously, the physical healing,
but then also just like an emotional
and spiritual healing as well.
Sometimes the healing, you know, isn't instantaneous,
sometimes it takes time.
Um, so I'm going to keep believing God for healing
and keep going after it.
[announcer] We are very lucky to have two Olympians
who are possibly going to be running in the half marathon,
and then winning, becoming the oldest American
to win the Olympic marathon trials in Houston.
Please, give it up for the great Meb Keflezighi.
[audience clapping]
[drums rolling]
[announcer] First American to break an hour for the half marathon,
going 59:43.
He's a 2008 and 2012 Olympic marathon qualifier
and Boston in 2011, he ran 2:04:58,
the fastest time ever for an American.
Please, welcome the great Mr. Ryan Hall.
[audience clapping]
[drum rolling]
[Ryan] Now I think going into San Diego,
I need to just have a positive experience there.
I need to just find that line, you know?
Like how hard can I go without going over the line?
And find a nice kind of rhythm with my body.
A good intuitive race I think
is the big goal in San Diego.
You know, if I can get down to 4:50 pace,
that'd be really good.
It's exactly where I'd need to be, um,
at this point in my buildup for the Olympics.
I think a lot of the nerves that I-- that sometimes I feel
before some of these shorter races just
feeling like, you know, this isn't right up my alley.
I'm learning to embrace that more, you know,
realizing that if you're going to be very specifically good
at one thing, it's going to be very, very difficult
to be good at a bunch of things.
And so if I have to trade
a half marathon or a 10k,
it's part of the growing experience.
[slow soft music]
[Ryan] So the morning of the race, you know, warming up,
and my legs felt really good, actually.
Um, I felt like I had some, some zip in there and some pop,
and so I was really excited for the race.
[Ryan] The problem is I kind of got influenced
to go out a little bit harder than I should've.
They wanted Meb and I to run together,
and so they could get some pictures of us
running together, which is all cool.
He went out at like 4:40 and so I just went with him,
you know, and I was feeling pretty good, feeling pretty comfortable.
And so I was like, "Well, I'll just, just go with Meb."
But then after the first mile,
I started feeling like I was breathing pretty hard
and working pretty hard, so I let him go after that.
[slow soft music]
I came to 10k like 30 seconds faster than I raced it
at Healthy Kidney, so I was like, "Well, that's a good sign.
I'm definitely heading in the right direction."
And then, you know, I was running on my own and then
the wheels started to come off around like seven or eight miles.
And that's kind of when the frustration started
to creep in with my foot and stuff,
because, you know, my foot was sore,
but my foot, it's, it's sore every day I run.
So it really wasn't anything new
or out of the ordinary, but I need to practice
and practice not thinking about it.
But it, it is difficult because I feel like
it is kind of like altering my stride a little bit.
[slow soft music]
That was good but, it's not track,
like my stride's not right now.
My foot is jacked.
But...
what can you do, man?
You know, I wasn't really bummed because
I was kind of just, I think tired of being bummed.
It was like I just wanted to try and come here
and run 61 minutes or something good, you know?
So, but then as things progressed,
my body just hasn't quite come around like I was hoping.
I'm still battling this plantar fasciitis, it's,
it's really lingering and giving me some problems,
so I need to get rid of that.
The hard thing is, you know, you finish a race
and it didn't go how you expected
and you're falling apart,
you just need some time to process things.
You know, like it always takes me just like getting
away for a day or so and just processing the race.
I did kind of need some motivation
at this point in my training,
because I trained hard for a long time
and been on a bit of a up and down
rollercoaster ride, and it's been tough.
Kind of struggling a little bit with just like motivation.
[Ryan] I'm so stoked to have, you know,
Chad join Sara and my family.
[soft piano music]
[Chad] Ryan was the middle child and Craig my--
was my next oldest brother, and then me.
[Ryan] You know, Chad has trained with me
throughout the summers before,
and we always just have such a great
time training together.
I think that's been one of the things
that like has drawn Ryan and I closer together
is the fact that we've had success,
and like we both want to do great things with our running.
So, he was a huge mentor for me throughout college.
He kind of tried to help me get through those tough times.
[Ryan] Chad is the guy that I want to see him
go way faster than I've ever gone.
[Chad] It means a lot to me having a brother
that's that supportive.
[Ryan] You know, one of my proudest moments
of my career, or life,
or whatever you want to say, was watching him
win the Footlocker National Championships
when he was in high school.
I think his potential is better than what I've done.
It's just a matter of time until he hits it right.
[Chad] It worried me a little bit when
his races weren't going as well as he thought they would.
And then obviously there was some disappointing workouts
when I first got up there.
I just have a lot different perspective I'd say now
than I had, say three months ago or six months ago.
I realize that, you know, for the time being,
I need to just get away from the watch.
[Chad] You're not timing yourself, right?
I just need time for recovery.
So who knows? We might run 75 or we might run 60.
[Chad laughs] All right.
-Let's not do 60. -[Billy laughs]
[Ryan] Stop putting myself in holes in workouts,
stop getting discouraged if I see a split
that's slower than I want to see,
and just open up my mind too to what can happen
if I'm not married to my watch.
[man] That's it.
[heavily breathing]
Nice job, guys. [claps]
Nice work, nice work.
[men panting]
Good workout today.
Yeah, they are getting better and better.
Slow.
It's a progression.
[birds chirping]
I should've been doing this stuff back in February.
It's been a crazy buildup.
With the information I have now,
I would certainly have done things differently
for this buildup.
But with-- considering the information I had then,
I don't have any regrets.
When you run or when you put your body
through this kind of stress
for this long of a period of time,
you're sitting right here, and essentially, by definition,
that line between when you're actually now injured
is right here. Because you want to be
putting in as much as you possibly can
and your body will tolerate it.
Our role has been putting him back together
after some of these crazy races,
and just trying to anticipate anything
that we could see coming up.
[Chad] But it's hard, too. You know, you want to see
nice, smooth buildups,
especially if you're thinking about doing
something amazing like you think you-- like he was.
The excitement is still there, it just kind of like,
I'm just kind of thinking to myself, "Man,
anything is possible here."
My foot has just taken... an incredible turn for the good.
I haven't been feeling it hardly at all.
[Chad] I kind of had faith that he would come around.
He was even telling me from time to time that he's never
had a buildup that was totally smooth.
[Ryan] You know, I'm out there running now,
I'm thinking I've run 2:04 for marathon,
I am a great marathon runner.
[soft dramatic music]
[Billy] That's it.
[Ryan] It's good, man, we were rolling.
[soft dramatic music]
[Ryan and Chad breathing heavily]
That's the stuff right there.
Good one. Last 75 minutes end well.
[tires crunching]
Last one won't go over two hours until, until the games.
[birds chirping]
[soft dramatic music]
My Olympic uniform, Olympic gear.
It's pretty sweet.
What you dream about when you're a little kid.
"Congrats on your selection, 2012 Olympic team."
Yes.
[people laughing]
[bags rustling]
There's the, the jersey I'll be donning.
[gear rustling]
[Ryan] It's kind of crazy, I think it's finally starting to hit me,
now that I'm leaving tomorrow, on the way to London
and seeing some of the track races on TV,
it's starting to hit me a little bit more even.
When Sara didn't make the team, it was really like... [sighs]
...a strange emotional rollercoaster
for me to go through.
You know, I was obviously like super disappointed,
and just how I viewed the games totally changed.
Because I just pictured us doing everything together,
the opening ceremonies, all that stuff.
When that wasn't going to happen anymore,
it did totally kind of light a fire in my belly a little bit.
I was running for me and a lot of different reasons,
but now I was running for both of us.
Beijing, when I finished tenth,
I was certainly a little bit disappointed
with that at the time, but the funny is
as I've gotten older and as I've looked back
on that experience, I've really grown to appreciate that.
And as I've kind of embraced that experience,
I think it's allowed me to come into this Olympics
with a very positive mindset.
Last workout before the marathon today.
Just doing a ten minute, just kind of like easy tempo run.
Slower than marathon pace.
And then some like pretty chill 400s.
I'd say this definitely is the biggest race of my life.
It doesn't get much better than this for me.
You know, my preparations haven't gone perfectly,
but, you know, I'm 29 years old,
it's right at the prime of my career,
it's the Olympic games, in a place that I've raced before,
that I'm familiar with, that I've run well at.
And the conditions are going to be good for running.
You know, I want to run a beautiful race.
A race that is totally me
and is just me being myself out there,
taking risks, really going for it.
But what enables me to do that
is just being completely free, knowing that
when I stand before God at the end of my life, like,
He's going to look back at marathon day,
the Olympic marathon in London,
He's going to be like, "Man, I was so proud of you."
But He's like, "I don't care if you finish last or first,
I'm just proud of you because you're my son."
[slow somber music]
[Ryan] Waking up the morning of Olympic marathon,
it was surreal.
Usually I'm just very relaxed going into it,
and I felt a little bit more nervous than I'd been
for any other marathon.
[slow somber music]
I remember walking to the train station, just being like
taking deep breaths, just being, "Wow,
here we go," you know, "It's starting."
[Ryan] I felt ready, you know? Just ready to go battle,
ready to go to war out there, and ready to run my heart out.
[people chattering]
[starter pistol fires]
[Ryan] Right off the bat the race started,
and I wanted to get to the front.
It just felt like really uncomfortable,
like really early on.
So, you know, I wasn't freaking out about it.
You know, I could see Meb up in the front
and Abdi was kind of next to him.
If those guys up in the front, would be like, "Okay,
those are the medal spots right there.
My goal is to get in that spot."
It was not until about 5k the hamstring
just continued to, to cinch up on me.
I was just trying to enjoy the race as much as I could,
trying to take my mind off the hamstring.
I was thinking about having qualified,
and I was thinking about all the guys back at home
watching me run, and how they would just kill
to be out there running the Olympic marathon.
That thought crossed my mind a whole bunch of times,
you know, where I just wanted to be like, "No,
I've never dropped out, I'm finishing this race."
It was like a mile away from finishing the loop
where I started asking God questions.
I was like, "What's the wise thing to do here?
I know that You brought me here to run this marathon
and I don't understand why this is happening
and why my hamstring's so tight right now."
And it became apparent that
things were just going to get worse for me.
After finishing one loop and just pulled off
to the right hand side of the road and started walking.
[announcer] But that withdraw is a significant one,
just going back to it.
That was Ryan Hall of the USA.
He is certainly one of the finest long distance runners
in the world, and it's very sad,
after all the preparation he has done for this race.
[Ryan] This was the first race where I've DNFd in my life,
so it's, you know, that is a real bummer.
[laughs] Oh, man.
I'm kind of, kind of in shock right now,
hasn't really hit me what just happened.
So, it's one of those things where
it's going to, it's going to take some time to,
to get, get through,
but today just... wasn't,
wasn't in the cards.
The biggest breakthrough that happened for me in London
was what happened after the race, you know, like.
Usually I would've just been so devastated,
and it would've been like life was over,
and I would have had a serious meltdown.
And... it would've triggered something very bad in me.
But then, at the end of the day, realized God is still good
and He still loves me and I still love Him,
and I still love life, and life is still good,
and life is still worth living,
and there are other races to be run.
[birds chirping]
[slow dramatic music]
[Ryan] The marathon was definitely my worst experience
ever in a race.
Everything was on the line for the Olympic marathon.
I felt like that was the moment that I was created for.
There's always that point in the race where
it's just super painful and it hurts,
and it feels like you have a long ways to go,
and there's no way you're going to make it.
But this was different. It was inhibiting me from
having my natural stride. I was starting to feel
like I was limping a little bit,
and the real problems I was having was with my hip,
and it was kind of related to the hamstring.
I think as a professional runner and as a marathon runner,
you just learn to ignore pain.
[Sara] I think 22 year old Ryan,
I think he was just happy to be living his dream, you know?
Like the now Ryan, I have, I kind of have to remind him,
when you have come as far as you have, like 2:04
and under 60 minutes for half and all of that,
it's sometimes hard to keep in perspective
that that can't always happen every time out.
[Ryan] Through it all I've just felt this sense of hope.
I know what's inside of me
and I've seen it come out before at Houston,
I've seen it come out when I ran 2:04 at Boston.
I know it's still there.
But right after the games
I was just super frustrated with it,
and I was not sure if, if I wanted
to keep doing the whole faith-based coaching,
or if I want to just get a traditional coach.
I'm just realizing more and more that
God is not the god of performance,
and, uh... He, He loves to watch me run,
but I don't have to win to make Him happy.
You could probably count the number of athletes
who have made it to world-class,
or, and/or stayed at world-class without a coach
on the fingers of one hand.
There is so much knowledge out there,
so many good people with good knowledge and good will
that, uh, I don't think you can actually get too much counsel.
And I would say my initial reaction
is just like throw in the towel and just be like,
"Oh, this faith-based coaching thing doesn't work."
But I really feel like it does work,
and like God does want to be involved in the process.
I'd rather go down in flames with God
than do this thing without Him
and have it go really well.
[man] Any better?
Or hurts the same?
[laughs]
[birds chirping]
[Ryan] Came down with a bit of a hip flexor thing
before leaving for Kenya.
And that was three weeks ago, and is still bugging me.
Yeah, so I've seen John every couple days,
and he just thought I should be able to run.
He's like, "You'll be able to run when you get to Kenya."
He emailed me back yesterday,
and he's like, "Yeah, if you're still not running
after three weeks," he's like, "You need to get an MRI."
This is the fourth big injury that I've had,
and I'd never had a big injury in my entire running career.
And now, in the last two years,
I've had four big injuries.
I'm just taking it one day at a time.
[machine whirring]
[machine beeping]
[doctor] So there is some inflammation,
some fluid accumulation in the bursa,
we find there's a bursitis.
[birds cawing]
[people chattering]
[doctor] Is that painful?
-Mm-mm. -[doctor] Not at all?
-Mm-mm. -[doctor] That's completely
-comfortable for you? -Yeah.
-[doctor] Now? -Yeah, it's still fine.
[doctor] That's fine. Okay, then yeah,
it might be the bursa.
Come, it's okay.
What you have to do is, uh...
we'll have to put you on some medication.
Okay? Um--
[Ryan] Just like a-- what kind of?
I think anti-inflammatory. But an oral steroid.
A short course, we taper it off
in about ten days' time, okay?
In the meanwhile, you cannot do any hip flexion.
Okay? Anything that flexes the hip,
-the iliopsoas is the one that's doing it. -[Ryan] Yeah.
Okay? Especially internal rotation also.
-[Ryan] Yeah. -Okay?
-Okay. -If you should rest,
it should go away.
Should not trouble you at all.
[Ryan] Great. That's good news.
Okay? Right.
I am to give you prednisolone.
Okay? But this time oral, okay?
-[Ryan] Okay. -[doctor] Ten milligram.
Three times a day for five days. And then you reduce the dose.
[Ryan] I think I've just been learning the importance
of not having everything riding on running.
Like, you go through big injuries and it happens once,
and you kind of rally through it.
It's like every time it's happened...
it's not like it's getting easier to handle the injury
because I've been there before,
it's almost like it's getting harder and harder,
because every time it feels like... I'm getting further
and further away from where I've been
and also where I want to go.
[chanting in foreign language]
[Ryan] So, I met Wesley at Prefontaine Classic
and Wesley had just won the LA Marathon.
He was all excited to meet me
because he'd always
looked up to me for my faith.
We chatted and, and been friends ever since.
Wesley approached us about the hospital a couple years back
and he told us his story,
which just kind of captured our heart.
Well, his little brother got bit by a snake.
If his little brother had been somewhere close
to a medical facility that had antivenom,
his little brother would've been fine but
they didn't have a hospital or medical clinic
anywhere close to their hometown,
so his little brother ended up dying.
And so Wesley wanted to build a hospital
in honor of his brother, and to make sure
that that never happened again to any other kids
in his hometown and-- So he decided to build
the health, health clinic and hospital,
and when he told us how much it was going to cost,
I remember we were just blown away
at how cheap it was to build a hospital.
We ended up fundraising about $26,000 for it,
and that pretty much built the entire hospital,
and that was through The Steps Foundation.
[chanting in foreign language]
[Ryan] He has so much going on and he's in such
close community
with the people around him.
And he's so busy throughout the day.
And there's something almost
that draws you in about that,
because it's nice to have something else in your life
besides just running, just hanging out.
And I think Wesley has that.
[slow soft music]
[traffic humming]
[people chattering]
[birds chirping]
[Ryan] So, right now we're in Ethiopia,
about 10k away from Addis Ababa,
which Sara had actually been here prior to our trip
to Kenya this last fall,
and she just fell in love with Yaya Village,
with the culture in Ethiopia,
with everything about this place.
And we're at 9,000 feet so,
the training is hard, it's intense.
[birds chirping]
I was just hoping to check out Ethiopia
and see what the training was like here,
observe how other guys run and train here,
and then also take in the culture.
Sara and I, we got to visit a couple orphanages
while we were here, a couple different programs,
and see like if there's something for us here in the future.
I think just traveling and seeing the world
and seeing how maybe God can use us in the future,
and you never know what contacts you're going to make, build,
and how you're going to get inspired.
It's been fun to interact with some of the other runners
who are staying here, and it has a little bit
of a training camp feel.
I was feeling like for this buildup for Boston,
I needed to just kind of get lost
and I needed to just lay low and be quiet
and put my head down and just train super hard.
I feel the peace of God when I'm here,
and I think that's one of the biggest things
that has really helped me to really click here.
We're probably like ten or 11,000 feet right now,
but it's just the most beautiful run
I think I've ever done in my life.
It's just epic views the whole way,
just the scenery here, it's so peaceful, that was,
it was amazing. I wish I could do this run every day.
Running makes you so crazy, emotionally.
You know, when I was going through that tough time in Kenya
and, and after Kenya, too, going through little episodes
of like depression, and even when I was coming back
and I was able to run those half hour runs,
I would still feel my hip.
And I remember almost after every single run,
the thought would go through my head like, "I think I'm done."
I wasn't convinced that
I was ever going to get back into the same shape.
I think when you're constantly having disappointments
and injuries all in a row, then you're,
as a coping mechanism, you don't want to hope again,
you know, you, because you have been hurt so many times.
And, and that's kind of been the last year and a half for him.
I think now he's finally letting himself dream again,
you know, and not feel like you have to be protecting yourself.
[Ryan] And I think this has really been the theme of my life
and the theme of my story is
you just got to keep getting up in the morning,
you just got to keep going out there and trying
and putting yourself out there.
If there's anything I've done in my life, that's it.
It's like you either get up or stay down
and staying down sucks.
[laughs] So, I might as well get back up.
I have an insane amount of talent.
I think God's given me a talent to run,
but I think more than anything, um...
He's just put a resilient spirit in me.
It's amazing how things can turn around.
[birds chirping]
[slow soft music]
[Ryan] God was telling me as I was praying
about how to train for this marathon,
I felt like He was telling me I needed to go there
a million times. And what I interpreted that to mean is
I needed to experience the pain of a marathon,
over and over again. I needed to put myself
in the same situation I'm going to find
in Boston, in the marathon, at mile 20 when I'm hurting.
A lot of it's just feeling
like I'm being obedient to what God's called me to do,
so then I have the confidence when I'm out there that this is good for me.
And even if it hurts like crazy, even if it's not fun,
it's what's going to get me ready for the race.
And having that confidence in my coach
makes all the difference in the world.
So this past Sunday I did two hours tempo,
and, you know, I was really nervous going into it.
I've done two hours hard before in this buildup,
and every time it's, it's super grueling.
But I want to get it out of the way in practice
so that way when I get into the marathon
and I am on totally fresh legs,
and I'm in race mode and I'm fired up,
it won't be the first time I've experienced that.
The whole 40 days of testing
and the 41st day being the day
where you emerge from that testing victorious and stronger,
it resonates now more than ever.
I mean, it's been a lot longer than 40 days
and sometimes our season of testing
lasts years and years and years.
I feel like I've been through that furnace now,
and I am coming out to other side,
and I will be refined as gold.
I still don't believe I've reached my full potential
in the marathon, but I know that if I hadn't gone
through these 40 days of testing
that I wouldn't reach the potential
that I'm going to one day achieve and get to.
[soft piano music]
[Ryan] When I was out there running, honestly,
I'm just taking one mile at a time.
I started out and I was running the first mile,
and I remember thinking to myself, I was like,
"It feels like it could be in the 5:40 range."
So, when I looked down and I saw my first split
and I think it was around 5:10 or something like that,
I was really surprised and I was like, "Wow,
this, this is a very, very, very good sign."
I was able to average 5:18 pace at, you know, 6,200 feet,
running all by myself for two hours hard.
That was one of those workouts where I'll reflect back on that
when I'm heading to the starting line in Boston
and I'm needing to give myself some confidence.
Be like, "Well, you know I can run 23 miles at 5:18 pace
at 6,000 feet, so I better be able to run,"
I don't know, "At least a five minute pace for a marathon."
All the injuries and things he's gone through,
and to come out on the other side and, and to have a moment
of triumph after all that would be incredible.
But I think just towing the line, just finishing the race
in a solid race, that would be a victory in itself
and something he can build on.
[Ryan] I believe that I'm finally not over-training,
and I'm finally giving my body the rest that it needs
to progress how it needs to progress.
And I think this feeling is,
I think it's here to stay this time.
It's going to be interesting to see what happens in Boston.
I'm going to be a little bit short on time though,
to be honest, like I wish I had another month, but I don't.
But, you know, Boston is not the end all,
and I'm really excited about what's going to happen
after Boston.
[birds chirping]
[man] We were optimistic about Hall
entering this race based on what he said
about his training in Ethiopia, his 23 mile tempo run.
But after his performance,
perhaps he ran some of his best performances in workouts,
which is what led to that 2:17
and that 20th place finish in Boston.
[slow soft music]
[man] Been battling some series of injuries
over the last couple of years.
But everyone is anxious to see
how he's going to do on Sunday
as the native Californian returns
to the biggest marathon in the state,
let's welcome Ryan Hall.
[audience clapping]
[man] How do you find yourself on the starting line
after not really being able to produce the types of marathons
that we've come to expect from you?
Yeah, I'm really excited to,
to see what, what happens on Sunday.
You know, Phoenix was a really good experience.
I kind of just need to practice
competing again, you know?
Like, after you run 2:04,
I think people expect you to always be on time trial
and at races and, and trying to run faster than that,
and it's just going to take some time to get back to that level
so I kind of see like every race as opportunity
to, to work towards that goal
of getting back here a year from now in top form, you know,
and trying to make the Olympic team again.
I was talking to Sara a couple nights ago
and I was just kind of venting.
I was like, "You know, like I have zero desire
to get out there and find out what kind of shape I'm in."
I'm not curious at all, and I wish I was.
[engine rumbling]
[announcer] An interesting storyline that we'll follow today
is the potential for a Hall
sweep as we'll get ready for the women here.
We'll start, Sara Hall making her marathon debut...
I want to try and inspire Sara when I run by her.
That's going to be a really special moment.
You know, we're both in a marathon together.
[announcer 1] The elite men getting underway.
[announcer 2] Well, we already see it. Yeah, Ryan Hall
right to the lead there.
[interviewer] Do you feel like your best performances
are ahead of you or behind you?
[sighs]
You know what? I honestly,
I don't know if my best performances
are before me or behind me.
[announcer] He hasn't run a good marathon
in over three years, can you believe it?
I don't know what God has in the future, you know.
He hasn't told me.
I'm getting away from trying to write my story myself
and more now, how can I flow with God
rather than trying to bend God's arm
to do something that I want Him to do.
[announcer 1] The quiz now is where is Ryan Hall?
As he is now not seen in the picture,
that group of seven elite athletes.
[announcer 2] The bounce has gone from his stride too.
He looks to be plodding a little bit more.
Victor will have had a glance across them.
They've gone through ten miles now, the men,
you can see it back there top left.
He's done.
I don't think he'll get running again.
He hasn't even had the heart, perhaps,
to pass his wife in the lead, women's pack, and she won't know,
-maybe that was part-- -[announcer 1] Maybe that was his point.
[announcer 2] He didn't want to depress his wife
by seeing her, by going past her
at what is for him, a slow tempo,
and then dropping out and her having to go past him
and seeing him drop out. So that could've been a,
a, a valiant effort from Hall
to try and save his wife's day.
[announcer 1] We'll have to wait to hear from him if we get the...
Well, I haven't spoken with him yet other than
he texted me and he told me that he's okay.
Um, looked like he was really doing well
at the beginning of the race, and, uh,
not really sure what, what happened.
I think physically for a while now
he's actually been in pretty... in pretty good shape.
He's been significantly better than he was
over a, a rougher period a while back
where, you know, one thing turns into another,
and turns into another, turns into another.
You get to the point where... you know,
some of the joy, I think, is out of it.
You get into this situation where you're starting
to get yourself back out of it,
you're starting to get some momentum,
but that momentum is really, really fragile
and it's easy to sort of
step yourself over the line a little bit,
and it's gotten to the point where... now,
he still physically can do it,
he still has the ability to do it,
and I still think he has the desire to do it,
I just don't truly believe he's actually
going to be able to... to, to turn this around.
I'm sorry it didn't go the way he wanted.
I'm sure he's disappointed and, uh,
I hope that he can get back on track.
[interviewer] What does Ryan need to do
between now and Olympic trials
to get him prepared to make a third Olympic team?
He needs to enjoy running.
I mean, that's basically what it comes down to.
[birds chirping]
[Ryan] I looked back at my last four years
and just took a good honest look
at how my body was doing, how I was responding to training,
big picture-wise, and it was really easy
for me to decide that, "Hey, things are just going downhill,
and, and I've tried everything I can think to try,
and my body's just not coming back."
So, it was actually a really easy decision for me
to stop running and, and kind of move on with my life.
Anyone looking on the outside could kind of see it coming.
I had been struggling for so long
and nothing was working.
And when I decided to stop running,
I could finally just look back on it all
and just be grateful.
[interviewer] Did you think that whenever you were to retire
it would be that easy? Or did you think
that it would be something different?
[sighs] I've always been kind of
an all or nothing kind of guy,
so I think I did kind of picture
like one day being really into running
and then like the next day just being like, "Okay, I've had enough."
Like I always thought it'd be more drastic than it was.
I never pictured like having my announcement
of retirement being a big deal.
I always thought, I don't know, I would write
a blog about it or something
and tweet it out and call it good.
I told Asics. They were like,
"We want to help you retire
and, and transition out of competitive running."
[birds chirping]
I just wasn't expecting such a big response
from the running community,
and such a positive response.
And Sara commented when we were talking
on the phone that day, she was like,
"I kind of felt like you died today." [laughs]
And it did kind of feel like that.
It wasn't a very emotional day for me,
because I had known for a long time.
And it wasn't until Asics,
they posted a video on their website.
So, I opened it up and started watching.
[slow soft music]
And that was the first time I got emotional
about my retirement.
But what really got me was the interviews with the people.
Hi, Ryan, it's Deena, and it seems
so fitting to send you this message
from the Green Church Road.
I wanted to congratulate you
on a great career that you had.
That's what was really beautiful about this whole journey
was all the amazing people,
all the relationships that I've built,
all the good times I've shared
with so many people.
And then the other part of the video that really got me
was just a real brief second they showed Kai
running through the forest,
and she was just like in full flight,
just like eating up the ground.
And I could feel exactly
what she was feeling in that moment.
Like, just to be in full flight, just flying effortlessly.
Just be eating up the ground, like,
I know exactly what that feels like.
I was like I'm never going to feel that again,
and that's, that's kind of sad,
because that was probably my favorite part of running.
[birds chirping]
To this day I, I still don't know, you know,
what my full potential would've been
if I would've been 100% firing,
everything clicked on the right day in a marathon,
I still don't know how fast I could've gone.
[slow somber music]
I retire as the fastest American to ever run a marathon.
It's like how many guys can say that?
I'd say over the last four years,
my relationship with God has gotten a lot better.
I had a lot of expectations
of how God should show up in my running.
And my faith was so intertwined with my running
that the two could affect each other really well.
So, I'd start questioning God
if my running wasn't going well.
And now, my love for God doesn't change based on my running
or any other thing, it's just,
I'd say I'm more firmly rooted
because I'm not as affected by my circumstances.
Today I'm definitely happier now than I was four years ago.
I think there's been a real split
between Ryan the runner and Ryan the person now,
and I really do feel like the running part of me died
that day when we announced my retirement.
Right now I'm just focusing
on the most important thing in life,
which is loving God and loving other people.
Since I've been retired, things have changed
in Sara and I's relationship a little bit.
You know, I've stepped more into a supporting role.
It's been fun for me to see her flying
and to be a part of her journey.
She's had some really impressive workouts along the way
and I feel like I'm kind of living vicariously through those.
[soft piano music]
Our house always just felt a little bit empty, our life,
to me, felt like it was just kind of missing something.
Adopting is something that I talked about doing,
I guess when I was like really young,
like five, my mom told me.
I think it was just normal in our family.
I had about seven adopted cousins.
For us, my vision
had always been giving children a home
that may not otherwise have one.
[Ryan] Sara found a family of four girls who were all sisters,
and they couldn't find a family for them.
We just fell in love with them, and they really
got along well with us.
It felt like God put the love in my heart for these kids.
And now that we have kids, life feels complete.
One of the things I love about Sara is just
like she does everything with such excellence.
And she imparts that to our girls.
She's really good at instilling
important life characteristics
that you want your kids to have into our kids.
It's been really fun being a dad for the last six months.
It honestly has not been that hard to be a dad
just because they are such great kids.
If I was to just impart one thing to the girls,
I'd want them to develop a deep love for God
and a deep love for themself.
I think if you have that,
then you can do a lot of different things in life
and, and always live a fulfilling and happy life.
[family chattering]
[Ryan] The last six months have been so much fun.
It feels like how life is supposed to feel.
Okay, let's pray.
-[all] Amen. -Amen.
[child 1] Nice.
[child 2] So I'm going to eat it like this, like--
[Sara] So, what's everyone's favorite thing
from school today and the hardest thing?
[child] Ah, you can't do that.
[slow soft music]