The Marathon

Tonight was the men's marathon of the 2008 Olympics. I was ready for Ryan Hall to put on an amazing show for the US and surprise a few of the world's best runners by taking a medal in the race. Hall demonstrated some amazing ability in his marathon debut's and at the US Trials. He is an amazing follower of Christ and an excellent runner. So I was pumped that the States might actually get a medal in the marathon. But things didn't seem right soon after the start. Hall was 1 minute back as soon as the leaders took off. He didn't have the usual stride that he does when he is running his best. He soon dropped to 3 minutes back before the half. The leaders just kept raising the level of intensity throughout the race and Hall could not keep up. He eventually finished 11th behind fellow a fellow American teammate. Both ran right around the previous Olympic marathon record but the winner from Kenya destroyed the old one. So I was a little bummed that Hall didn't run as fast as we thought he would. But he is young and has a good many years of great training ahead of him so there is plenty to look forward to.