Ryan Hall is the US record holder for the half marathon (59m 43sec). In 2011 he ran the fastest marathon ever by an American (2h 04m 58sec) in Boston. We speak to him in Ethiopia.
Hi Ryan. What have you been up to recently? Being a new dad, actually. I’m just adopted four Ethiopian girls and I’m enjoying getting used to my new role. We’ve spent a lot of time in Ethiopia, we came for three weeks before this year’s Great North Run and then came straight back here for another three weeks. We’ll be heading back to the States on Thursday so [my wife] Sara can run the Chicago Marathon, and then we’ll be settled in the States. We’ve been travelling around a lot for the last 10 years, living out of our car, off and on, which has been fun but it also throws you out of your routine. It can be quite boring being in one place, but now with the kids I think we’ll be content to be in one spot.
What brings you to Ethiopia? We love to travel and explore new places. A couple of years ago, Sara did a mission trip in Uganda. She spent a week here and even though it was the rainy season she really loved it. We’ve enjoyed being able to help people here a little bit as well, with our foundation and with World Vision, and now through adopting the kids.
Can you see a difference between the Ethiopian and American training philosophies? I actually feel like they’re pretty similar, more so than in Kenya. There, every day is a big effort, a progression run that ends really hard. Here, they have a few hard days a week and a few easy days, like at home. On their easy days here they’re just zigzagging around in the forest, pretty chill.
Where is your favourite place to run? My favourite place is probably Entoto [the highest peak overlooking the city of Addis Ababa]. I love hill climbs in general but Entoto is just so beautiful, with the smell of the eucalyptus and the view from the top. With all the churches I really feel like I can get close to God up there, too.
Do you remember your first race? Yeah, my first race was actually when I was in seventh grade. Our whole school had a track meet, and I was running the mile against this other kid. We had a little rivalry going because we went back and forth, breaking the school mile record in PE class. I was 12 years old and I didn’t know a lot about running but I managed to win that one. I think I ran the mile in 5m 42sec and thought it was amazing. Apparently Sara was running the same sort of times when she was in the same grade, so if I’d known about that I’d probably have given up right there!
When people ask you for a training tip, what do you say? In general, to try to make running fun. You can make it boring and monotonous, doing the same workouts in the same places every day, or you can go to different places and mix it up. I also think you should never underestimate the power of gradual progression. Whenever I push it too much too fast, I end up fried or hurt, but if I take training gradually it all adds up, little by little. I think it’s better to be 100 miles undertrained than one step overtrained.
Do you ever struggle with motivation? Definitely. Anyone who has run for any amount of time will have days when they struggle to get out the door. And running is never fun when you’re injured. I had plantar fasciitis for eight months. Every step hurt, and it was all I could think about. That was a hard time to get through.
Do you listen to music when you run? I go through phases. I don’t if I’m running with people, that would be a little rude. But sometimes if I’m bored I put some on. But because we’re not allowed to listen to music in a race I don’t get too used to it. If I could race with it, though, I would. It can be a great motivator.
What’s the worst thing about running? Injury, of course. But also not being able to isolate one variable. That’s really tricky when it comes to finding out why you’re not feeling good. You can change your easy run speed, or the amount of workouts you do to try to fix things. But every day you’re eating different foods and sleeping different amounts. You don’t live in a glass bubble and you can’t control all the variables of life.
And the best thing? The people you meet. The characteristics required for running are characteristics that make good people. The ability to face suffering, and to overcome challenges. And being able to go on a journey with people, with 50,000 others at big marathons. I’d say 95-99% of the people I meet through running are just great people. And the other thing is those days when you’re just having a great day, popping along and feeling like a million dollars, that’s amazing when that happens. The only problem with those days is that once you taste it you want that feeling every day, and once you can experience it at the highest level it’s very difficult to feel satisfied when you’re not at that level.
What would be your post-race indulgence? Cinnabon cinnamon rolls. After the London Olympics, which was my first time ever dropping out of a race, I was super bummed out. My hamstring just tightened up completely. The next day we were going around London, and we came out of the subway, and the first thing we saw was a Cinnabon. My dad and I went and I was just so stoked to find it and get a hot cinnamon roll. I went round the corner down this lane and I was crouched down eating it, and a woman took a picture of me. I feel like I was caught red handed. I’m supposed to be this picture of health and here I am going crazy on this cinammon roll!
What would you eat for breakfast before a hard session or a race? Sara and I have the same breakfast every morning, so we travel with a burner and a pan and a spatula and we have our special pancakes. They’re made with teff, cocoa powder and Muscle Milk. When I was doing marathon training I would always wake up ravenous, and cereal just wasn’t cutting it. We’ve worked on the recipe for a while, but I think we’ve perfected it now.
Have you ever tried barefoot running? We did a little bit of that in college, just to cool down after workouts. Because I change my shoes between a cushioned shoe on easy days and racing flats on harder days, I give my feet a bit of variety. I’ve worn the same racing flat for seven years (the Asics Gel Hyperspeed). If you find something that works, you stick with it.
Who is the greatest-ever runner? In my mind, Paula Radcliffe, just because no one’s ever been close to her world record in the marathon. That’s probably the single greatest performance in running – that one will be on the record books for a while.
Ryan Hall is sponsored by Asics, Muscle Milk, Oakley and Fitbit. He and his wife Sara set up the Steps foundation in 2009
