The Ryan Hall Story Really Pulls at My Heart

The Bayman wrote:

ConspiracyTheorist, why are you being such an arse? Why is it so hard to understand that an American man wanted an American man to win a race and knew how to mess with some cocky Africans? Maybe it is all fabricated just to have a feel-good story for the USA, but I'm gonna have to say the chances of that are microscopic.

I'll put things in a different perspective. In cross country a few months ago, my team was going up against a county powerhouse. These guys had a state-champion 4x800 team a few years ago and they had a ton of studs who could all do sub-4:40 miles. These kids were killing everybody in our league; they were getting in their first 10 guys before the other teams would get their first one in. Me and my brother are the two fastest guys on the team but we both knew a win was going to be impossible. However, we knew these guys were cocky, and we knew they played games with the other runners when they ran. So raceday is here, and we line up at the line and the gun goes off. Everybody is running out and it's just me, my brother, and a pack of probably 8 kids from the other team. Me and my brother are leading the race for the first half mile when my brother darts up one of the hills and gets an early lead. He keeps darting up the hills and the lead is slower getting bigger. When I was halfway on the course the other team's pack is still on my back but my brother has a 30 second lead on all of us. I was running an honest pace but I knew the drill. The other team started talking to each other, saying how they still saw my brother through the trees up ahead and they were gonna push with 1 mile left. I knew in my head that we had a set of crazy hills on our course just ahead, so I slowed a little bit and they still stayed on my back. The hills come, and they're still on my back, but once we reach the last hill they sprint up it and they're going in for the kill. The only thing is it's already over. After those hills you have probably a half mile to go, and they underestimated that distance. They thought there was much more to go and they could catch my brother.

My brother ended up winning by 15 seconds. At the time he had never ran faster than 4:54 for the mile and 10:42 for the 2 mile. That day had been his fastest time for a 5k on that course ever. Not a course record, but still a respectable time. All those studs from the powerhouse underestimated the course, my brother's will to win, and their athletic ability. They're still incredible runners but today was not their day.

This is almost identical to Boston. My brother was Meb, I was Hall, and the other team was the Africans. The Africans got cocky, thought they could reel him in later, waited too long and blew the chance. Hall knew how these guys raced, perhaps from his time in Ethiopia, and he waited back. Hall couldn't take those Africans - let's be honest, there was no chance he could beat them on Monday. But just like me, he played his role in that race and did something for the better good. I couldn't take those guys either so I held them to a weak pace and they were stupid enough to take the bait and wait. Hall telling the other Americans not to push because the Africans would follow is totally believable. If it can happen in high school, you bet it could happen in the pros.

The Boston Marathon is not a team event. There are no teams, no team medals, only individual places. But it isn't hard to see strategic racing and people looking out for somebody they'd rather have win. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend", and on Monday an American wanted an American to win on American soil rather than an African just there for the cash. I was okay with my brother beating me if it meant the other kids weren't going to win.