“One year in middle school, I got this vision that I wanted to run. I think it came from God. I was on my way to a basketball game—it was just this crazy idea that comes into your head, and the desire to act on it. The next weekend, my dad and I ran around the lake, fifteen miles. After that, I decided to start training.”
--Ryan Hall, American Olympian marathon runner.
In 2007, he ran the fastest debut-marathon time by an American, finishing seventh in London in 2 hours 8 minutes 24 seconds. He followed that in November by breaking the Olympic trials marathon record on a tough course in New York with a winning time of 2:09:02.
This year Hall was fifth at London in 2:06:17, making him the second-fastest American ever and giving him the seventh-best time in the world this year.
In August 2008, Hall placed 10th at the Olympics in Beijing with a time of 2:12:33.
Excerpts from the New Yorker, 8/11 & 8/18/2008.
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