Breaking: Ryan Hall Retires at Age 33

When Jesus stopped training him why did he take away all of Ryan's testosterone?

Good for him. I always thought he would try and run some trail ultra races if he gave up on competitive marathon running but it sounds like his body can't even handle that. He was a big time risk taker with extreme self confidence which enabled him to run 59:xx and 2:04-06 on his best days.

demethedream wrote:

http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-runners/ryan-hall-americas-fastest-marathoner-retires-at-33?cid=soc_Running%20Times%20Magazine%20-%20RunningTimesMagazine_FBPAGE_Runner%E2%80%99s%20World__EliteRacing

Could not steal your thunder and start another thread. RunnersWorld also posted.

Sounds like it was really bad if he couldnt run 12 miles a WEEK. You almost wonder if he meant 12 a day.

I dont know his story that well, but I thought folks said he had a TUE for this stuff way back when in 07-08? Makes you wonder if he just got treated if that would be the key.

Regardless of where you stand with Ryan he did a lot to advance US distance running. Hell enjoy being a father and watching his wife continue to train at a high level. If he is coaching her it makes you wonder if maybe he will form a small training group eventually.

Getting a TUE for testosterone is very hard. Not sure what the rules were in 2007.

On another note: Hall had a very good career and added some excitement to distance running. He took a chance few Americans took in going to the marathon early.

Ryan Hall can look back with pride on his career. He ran some great races, and wasn't afraid to mix it up and take chances in races, which showed courage because he knew he might look really bad if he failed.

I think it is also worth noting how his career ended (complete bodily exhaustion) - as a cautionary tale. I think the majority of posters on this website will defend Hall's approach as the price you have to pay to fly that high. And there seems to be a pervasive meme that when somebody like this retires, they have to say "I don't regret a single thing". I think that is overly simplistic. Yes, you probably have to take some risks. But I believe Ryan's career could have been extended if he'd been willing to accept sensible input from others.

Also, I noticed that the linked article seemed to be saying: career over due to low testosterone. I didn't see any mention of the fact that he was known to be taking thyroid medication (treated by none other than Dr Jeffrey Brown of Houston). I think it is at least worth considering whether that played a role in his eventual downfall. After all, the anti-thyroid medication people have been saying that you'll see the fallout for inappropriate thyroid use when these athletes get older. Is Ryan's condition a preview of what many other thyoxine users will experience?

nikeman wrote:

Greatest American marathoner ever? Not even close. Try Salazar, Shorter and Rodgers before hall ever even comes into the conversation. Even then there's still a whole handful of other guys that I'd pick over Hall.

If he's not the greatest American marathoner ever, he's really, really close. This is pure speculation, obviously, but I don't think any of these runners could have stayed with Hall at his peak (2007 to mid-2008).

Plus I'd put Meb over a couple of those guys.

His Olympic Trials win in Central Park was really impressive. I've never seen a runner appear so effortless. I think on that day he could've beaten anyone in the world.

Raysism wrote:

nikeman wrote:

Greatest American marathoner ever? Not even close. Try Salazar, Shorter and Rodgers before hall ever even comes into the conversation. Even then there's still a whole handful of other guys that I'd pick over Hall.

If he's not the greatest American marathoner ever, he's really, really close. This is pure speculation, obviously, but I don't think any of these runners could have stayed with Hall at his peak (2007 to mid-2008).

Plus I'd put Meb over a couple of those guys.

Wrong thread

Guess this means there'll finally be an end to the 41st day

Raysism wrote:

Holy shit, I thought this was a joke.

Which of the BroJos called this on the podcast yesterday? Step up and claim your prize!

Wejo is the one. He had interviewed Hall last monthf or like 30 minutes (1st part here:

2nd part here:

) and knew from that while Hall was saying the right things, it was clear Hall was quite down about his own running.

I think we should start a petition to get Hall to run the marathon Trials 1st loop. Run the first loop as a going away party. Sort of like how NFLers come back on the field to have their jersey's retired. Have hall run loop with the leaders and then when he comes by the finish line take his jersey off and throw it into the stands.

questions that need answered wrote:

When Jesus stopped training him why did he take away all of Ryan's testosterone?

Needs to join NOP and get on the "T" juice!

tripstop wrote:

His Olympic Trials win in Central Park was really impressive. I've never seen a runner appear so effortless. I think on that day he could've beaten anyone in the world.

I agree. I'm not positive, but wasn't his second half split for that race like 1:02! Man he was entertaining when he was on. I remember watching one of the London races (might have been his debut), and he was asking the pace makers to speed up while he was surrounded by the Lel, Tergat, Ramallah, Limo, Gharib and Goumri... PURE AUDACITY!

Also kudos for applying an internally consistent action. How much of a hypocrite would he be if he were still dominating while on testosterone.

Tip of the hat to you Mr. Hall.

Good article and the Halls do look very good, but quite a few errors there:

1) It describes his race-soiled uniforms as "immaculate," meaning unstained/pure.

2) It calls him an NCAA 5k champ, when the distance is 5000m, which brings with it different measuring standards and obviously is a track distance.

3) It fails to point out that there was a massive tailwind on that point to point Boston course where he ran 2:04:58 (his best legit marathon time is the 2:06:17 at London).

Also, on another note, aside from the youngest, the kids don't look very happy. Must be rough first to be orphaned and then moved about 7,000 miles away from your culture. Younger kids are more adaptable. Best of luck to them, and I wish Hall good luck in recovering his health with a year or two off.

I agree with Rojo, I'd love to see Hall start the trials as a send off.

jjjjjj wrote:

Good article and the Halls do look very good, but quite a few errors there:

1) It describes his race-soiled uniforms as "immaculate," meaning unstained/pure.

2) It calls him an NCAA 5k champ, when the distance is 5000m, which brings with it different measuring standards and obviously is a track distance.

What are you talking about? Hall was the NCAA 5K champ on the track at Stanford. What do you mean by different measuring standards? 5k = 5000m do you not understand that?

Primo Numero Uno wrote:

jjjjjj wrote:

Good article and the Halls do look very good, but quite a few errors there:

1) It describes his race-soiled uniforms as "immaculate," meaning unstained/pure.

2) It calls him an NCAA 5k champ, when the distance is 5000m, which brings with it different measuring standards and obviously is a track distance.

What are you talking about? Hall was the NCAA 5K champ on the track at Stanford. What do you mean by different measuring standards? 5k = 5000m do you not understand that?

I'm guessing he hates Ryan Hall and therefore feels the need to nitpick the most inconsequential details of an article about him.

As far as his career goes, it was tremendous. He made some mistakes along the way but rose very high. His over-training was a problem at least since entering Stanford and maybe even in high school when he was hammering ten milers downhill in incredible times--obviously, not ideal for training for 5k xc.

He talked about how when he got to Stanford, he was going all out all the time instead of taking easy days and running workouts as workouts. He ran his best toward the end when he was training more wisely. At that point, he ran 13:16, debuted at half marathon in 59:43, ran the marathon in 2:08 in London in 2007, before taking it down to 2:06:17 there in 2008. In all, he ran at least 8 sub 2:10 marathons, which is probably third all time (Khalid Khannouchi has 9 at 2:08:44 or faster; Meb has 9, plus 2:10:03, but the fastest is only 2:08:37, so Hall's average is much faster). But what he also changed, in addition to overtraining, as he started to struggle more, was to stop doing faster pace work. He was running long marathon pace tempos but he stopped doing 10k or faster work, and that to me was key to his falling so far off his best after that, with the one exception of the wind-aided Boston time. I am not the only one to have posted about this over the years, and in fact, Hall himself agreed with us--on numerous occasions TALKING about needing to get back to the track and faster workouts but never following through.

jjjjjj wrote:

...

Also, on another note, aside from the youngest, the kids don't look very happy. Must be rough first to be orphaned and then moved about 7,000 miles away from your culture. Younger kids are more adaptable. Best of luck to them, and I wish Hall good luck in recovering his health with a year or two off.

I'm guessing that you are joking. You can't possibly believe that one can judge the happiness of someone by looking at a random picture.

Can you?

Does this mean Tim Jeffreys will finally release the 41st Day. Or have we all been taken to the cleaners?

jjjjjj wrote:

Hall himself agreed with us--on numerous occasions TALKING about needing to get back to the track and faster workouts but never following through.

I believe he later stated he tried many times and always got hurt when he did.