Ryan Hall DNFs at LA. Will he ever run a good marathon again?

Sad thing is, even if he COULD make the cut in the trials, who would want him to go? There's no way he'd string together TWO good marathons (trials + games).

Better to have another non-competitive American go that could at least gain from the experience for the future.

yeah it's not like he hasn't been trying to maximize his potential at other distances, like the 10K. i mean, he hasn't won an Olympic GOLD medal, so he's obviously wasting his time at that distance.

anacondarunner wrote:

And has Rupp already waited too long to ever realize his full potential as a marathoner?

Maybe Hall was doping during his prime? Hard to imagine, but need to consider all possibilities.

BryanCMU: are you in love? That's kind of weird, to say we'll never be as humble as Ryan Hall, or as happy. Is he particularly noteworthy for how humble and/or happy he is.

Plus, I can at least finish a marathon in under 3 hours, so right now, that makes me a better runner than him.

Tapia showed what? He ran faster before he moved to Mammoth when he was in Colorado.

Blood Sandwich wrote:

Plus, I can at least finish a marathon in under 3 hours, so right now, that makes me a better runner than him.

he finished Boston in sub 2:18 less than a year ago.

i maintain what's weird is that he tried to run sub-2:05 or something (the first mile was 4:41, what?), when it would have been more reasonable (read, humble) under the circumstances to have gone for sub-2:10, if not sub-2:12. Sub-2:12, he could have surely expected to have been the first American and would have achieved a nice, confidence-building result.

Blood Sandwich wrote:

Plus, I can at least finish a marathon in under 3 hours, so right now, that makes me a better runner than him.

I'd like to amend your statement by adding anyone who finished the LA Marathon today is a better runner than Ryan Hall.

Ryan did hit the B qualifier in Boston, but that doesn't matter as he has an "A" qualifier for life as do all former Olympians. It's the best thing that USATF does for our sport. Ryan had a great career, but his injury in 2012 shortly before the trials is more deliberating than originally thought. His injury basically is the result of pushing himself over the edge and redlining too much. Who can blame him after coming off his sub 2:05 in Boston. He was training for Olympic Gold and unfortunately it backed fired. His charity work is inspiring as is his faith. Don't bash the man who is the American record holder in the half and full. Quite honestly his injuries could of been prevented, but that will happen when you compete at the highest levels and are gunning for Olympic glory. I believe he moved up to the marathon too early and trained too hard which costed him his career to last in to his 30s like Alan Webb. High level of training is only sub stainable for so long.

snooby wrote:

Two possibilities.

1. His pride destroyed his career. No coach gave him the flexibility to travel and ride the gravy train. The result is he has been his own worst enemy and he wasn't disciplined enough to maintain the required top-tier edge.

2. His success 4-7 years ago was a fluke and he just isn't/wasn't that good. Being that there is no such thing as fluke good races, all things point to #1. With that being the case, it's hard to feel sorry for him.

Thanks for pointing out the only 2 possibilities, with 1 of them completely retarded, and the other a speculative slight against Hall that is worthy of middle school-level bullying

Grammar Nazis, it's all yours. Have at it.

Well, the following errors are bashworthy:

"deliberating"

No question mark after "Who can blame him after coming off his sub 2:05 in Boston."

"backed fired"

"could of been prevented"

"which costed him his career to last in to his 30s"

"sub stainable"

But the biggest head shaker is the assertion that USATF does something good for the sport.

Another DNF for Hall is disappointing, but to start the race at the pace he did in the record heat that LA is experiencing right now was an insane tactic (see http://www.craftyinteractive.com/LAM15/us_m_m.php for splits). This DNF might be an indication that Hall is done as an elite marathoner, but I think it's at least equally likely that he has been training in cool, winter conditions and just failed to adapt to the insanely hot weather he had to run in today.

Humble isn't starting a hot marathon at world record pace over hills. If he were humble, he'd hang with runners of his caliper and forget about the chip on his shoulder.

How can you say that we will never be as happy as him? He looked pretty mad today when he got humbled by the American pack, then ripped off his number after being passed by them.

To go along with the Ryan Hall theme, he needs a "come to Jesus" meeting. He's spiralling out of control but I don't believe he has crashed yet.

Since he likes Flagstaff so much, he should join up with a group there, become part of a healthy, consistent training culture and see if he can attack sub 2:10 again.

After all the press LA got for adding misting stations and stuff for the hobby joggers.... telling them to slow down, and run to finish vs run for pace.... guess they skipped over that advice in the technical meeting for the elites??

If he isn't heat acclimated ,run for surviva,l, not for speed.

Wonder what his appearance clause is? Any RD w/ a brain would limit payouts to a finish vs a DNF.

WWRHD? wrote:

...I really think Ryan's biggest problem are his religious beliefs which seem to have led him to make really bad training / coaching decisions. I don't know him personally but he often comes across as mentally ill in interviews. I don't think he'll ever run well again unless he gets his head straight (which he won't because ultra-Christians tend to "turn to the Church" in such situations rather than turning to legitimate sources for mental health therapy).

Even if he did get some real psychotherapy, he might just be too old and have too many years of suboptimal training to ever compete at a high level again. It's frankly amazing that his sponsors have stuck with him this long. The Ryan Hall story is truly something Christian distance runners should learn from and not emulate.

Best concise and compassionate analysis of Hall that I've seen. Thanks for posting. If this message board had ways of rewarding people for saying useful, humorous, and/or intelligent things, I would reward your post.

southernfriedrealist wrote:

Humble isn't starting a hot marathon at world record pace over hills. If he were humble, he'd hang with runners of his caliper n.

Was the caliper supposed to keep the runners together? Must have been a pretty big caliper.

Even more concise: There's almost no evidence that he knows how to race, or that he cares. The one possible exception was 2008 trials, where he bided his time for the first half. Everything else as a pro has always been about time, not taking into account field, conditions, course, etc., and running with the goal of placing as high as possible.

Yes,he will run a good marathon again.

You think the BAA will let Hall enter the Boston elite field? With better tactics I think he could've gone 2:09.