Ryan Hall to Run the Utah Valley Half Marathon In June 2015

Press Release
December 10, 2014

Not only will Ryan Hall be running the Utah Valley Half Marathon on June 13, 2015, he will also be speaking at the Fitness Symposium  on June 12, 2015.  Ryan Hall is one of America’s leading long distance runners.  His accomplishments include placing tenth at the Olympic marathon in Beijing, China.  Ryan is also the first U.S. runner to break the one hour barrier in the half marathon and holds the current U.S. record in the half marathon with a time of 59:43.

During high school, Ryan ran for Big Bear High School and was the California State cross country champion his junior and senior years.  Ryan competed in college for Stanford University and during his freshman year (2001) won the Murray Keating invitational.  His sophomore year , Ryan won the Stanford invitational and the Notre Dame Invitational.  During this same season he was named first team all Pac-10 and earned All-American honors.  In 2003, his junior year, he was named the Pac-10 Cross Country Athlete of the Year and in 2004 once again earned All-American status.  In 2005, Ryan won his first individual NCAA Championship, running the 5000 in 13:22:32.  Ryan graduated from Stanford with a Bachelor of Science in Sociology.

Ryan won his first national title in 2006 in the 12k cross-country championships.  In 2007, Ryan set the current U.S. Record for the half marathon when he won the Aramco Houston Half-Marathon in 59:43 making him the 49^th fastest half marathoner is history.

In 2007, Ryan’s marathon debut was the Flora London Marathon where he finished in a time of 2:08.24 which was the fastest marathon debut by any American.  In 2008, he won the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in 2:09.02, a trials record.  He was also chosen Road Runner of the Year in 2008 by the Road Runners Club of America.

In 2009, Ryan finished third in the Boston Marathon with a time of 2:09:40.  In the 2011 Boston Marathon, he ran the fastest Marathon ever by an American in a time of 2:04:58 and finished fourth overall.

In 2012 Ryan secured a spot on his second Olympic team by finishing second in the Olympic marathon trials in Houston, Texas in a time of 2:09:30.  Unfortunately at the Olympics in London, he has to drop out at mile eleven due to a hamstring injury.  In 2013, he pulled withdrew from a couple of races due to injuries.

In 2014 Ryan finished 20^th in the Boston Marathon with a time 2:17:50, which was his first marathon finish since the Olympic trials in 2012.

Ryan and his wife, Sara, founded the Hall Steps Foundation in 2009.  The Hall Steps Foundation is a non-profit movement with a goal to build communities and to provide each member of the community an opportunity to alleviate suffering and assist the poor to improve their circumstances.