Ryan Hall's race didn't go as planned

BEIJING -- Ryan Hall had a plan heading into Sunday's marathon. An aggressive one, he thought.

"I was running three minutes per kilometer," said the Olympic Trials champion from Big Bear, who finished 10th in 2 hours 12 minutes and 33 seconds. "That was plenty fast."

Fast enough to break the Olympic record by more than three minutes, in fact. But not nearly fast enough to remain competitive in Sunday's race, which Kenya's Samuel Wansiru won in 2:06:32.

""It was insane," said Hall of the pace.

The lead pack passed five kilometers in 14:34, fast enough to win last week's women's 5,000 meters on the track by more than a minute. Yet these guys still had 23 miles to go.

"You're just hoping the crowd will come back. Hoping that guys will drop out or something," Hall said.

Nearly a quarter of the field did. But most of those runners were behind Hall, not in front of him. So while he didn't leave Beijing with a medal Hall, 25, still got a lot out of the race, which was just his fourth marathon.

"I'm happy with the effort. I gave 100 percent of what I had today," he said. "I did the best I could. Sometimes everything clicks and it goes great. And sometimes it doesn't. So you just take what you get on the day and do the best you can.

"I'm going to take a break [now]. I need to work on some things if I'm going to be competitive with these guys."

-- Kevin Baxter

Photo: U.S. marathoner Ryan Hall nears the finish line. Credit: Mark Dadswell / Getty Images

Comments

[Carrie]

here's today's la times article on Ryan

[julianne]

Congratulations to Ryan for coming in at tenth...he did a wonderful job!

Please, Ryan, we encourage you to return to the Olympics in four years!

Do well again, for the hometown...Big Bear and Southern California!

[Cam]

The early pace in the Beijing Olympic Marathon was almost exactly what Wanjiru and Hall ran in the 2008 Flora London marathon. London was a little faster at 14:22. The difference? Wanjiru duplicated his performance at the Olympics. Hall was not able to duplicate his effort. If he had, he would have been second instead. There's no such thing as someone coming back to you, unless you're running in the top four or five and a single person breaks away. Hall ran Wanjiru's same splits at London through 40 kilometers, so while he's capable of running with everyone else in the world -- he's not yet capable of "competing" with them. That's the difference and that's where the focus should be in regrouping for next time.

[Bob Poulson]

"There's no such thing as someone coming back..." Exactly. In the Olympics, there are ALWAYS three in the top group who do not die. So you have to be in the top group. You cannot run conservatively. Remember Alberto Salazar in LA? He ran conservatively in the heat and finished conservatively...well back. Joan Benoit went out fast and never looked back and won gold. Ryan should have watched those two races before Beijing. There is no "hoping the crowd will come back" in the Olympics. No matter what the weather is.

[dom]

Its easy to judge when the race is over. If he had clung on to them, he may have bombed and finish furthur back or worse not even finish the race. Then ppl would be critizing him for not conserving over the early miles. Spain's Jose Martinez clung with the lead pack until 15km when he dropped back. He ended up in 16th place.
One must not forget Wanjiru is based in Japan, so he has lots more experience in the heat and humidty than many of the competitors there. He also ran a 26:49 10km as an 18 yr old and is the Half marathon WR holder. So u gotta admit Hall is facing very stiff competiton with many guys in the field with sub 13- 5k timings.

[Dan M.]

Ryan Hall did a great job! If they had the same group run again I doubt it would end the same way. Some days you have it and other days you don't. Some day Ryan will show all the doubters he is a champion. I believe he will win gold in London next time. This guy is a stud. He and Ritz are the real deal. Actually all three U.S. runners did well. (Brian Sell had foot issues before the race otherwise he would've finished higher.) Great marathoners are made over time. I guarantee you the Kenyians are starting to look over their shoulders, because they know the Americans are coming. My personal belief is Ryan should not have run in London since it was too close to the Olympics. Obviously he and his coach felt differently. The guy who finished second is incredible. I knew he would probably hold up in the heat and humidity based on his performance last year in Chicago.