Track and Field Blogs - Ryan Hall

This past Tuesday I returned to Mammoth Lakes to put in my last hard month of altitude training after spending a week in Eugene to watch Sara compete in the Olympic Track and Field Trials. Watching the trials was one of the most emotional week-long experiences of my life. Watching some of my teammates and friends qualify for the Olympics kept me up late at night as a result of my excitement for them. However, my heart broke with my wife and some of my other teammates who failed to qualify. I could feel their pain as my own. I know all too well what it feels like to dream big, invest everything, and come up short. It is a risk we all take as athletes and when it all comes crashing down there is really very little one can say in the face of shattered dreams.

When I was a senior in high school I had a huge dream to run a sub-four minute mile. I can remember very clearly my last crack at it. It was a warm summer day at the Maine Distance Festival in 2001. I was finishing off a volatile spring track season in which one week I would be running 4:15 all out and the next I would run an easy 4:04. I went on to run 3:42 for 1500M a week after my state meet, which was converted to a 4 flat mile. I was right on the edge of accomplishing my dream. However, it was not to be. No matter how bad I wanted it, no matter how hard I trained, no matter how much those around me invested in my dream, I couldn't make it happen. After the race I remember slowly jogging to a deserted grass field and collapsing in failure. It hurts to go all out in something. Sure you have no regrets but caring deeply is what makes it hurt all the more.

Before hoping on the airplane back to California I was burning some time in a bookstore and stumbled across a book called "Shattered Dreams." I thought to myself that the title pretty much summed up how I was feeling and I bought it. I still have the book on my shelf today. I look back at it sometimes and remember what the basic message was in the pages beyond the title. Basically it said that God lets some of our dreams shatter so that we can realize bigger dreams. As a kid in high school it didn't make perfect since to me at the time. What could be bigger than breaking four minutes for the mile while in high school? But today I realize what the author was getting at. In this world we tend to dream of big performances. Maybe it is setting a world record or getting a medal in the Olympic Games. However, having some of these dreams shatter might teach us that there are things that are more important to strive after than records and medals. Nothing made this point sink in more than this past Olympic Marathon Trials in New York when I lost and friend and training partner in Ryan Shay. His tragic loss reminded us that we need to celebrate life not only when things go well but just because we are alive. Truly life is a gift and I am sure that if Ryan were to come back and share something with us he would want us to not take one day for granite, no matter how the running is going.

Perhaps we shouldn't be watching TV dreaming of what we can achieve in athletics, but rather what kind of fulfilling lives could we live if we prioritized what really matters. So what really matters? Well, I realize that I am only 25 years old but I have had a lot of dreams come crashing down on me. I had been told that if I believe and work with a passionate focus towards my goals than they would come true. However, like I said, sometimes no matter how hard you try you just come up short. Some of the goals we have may not even be possible for everyone to accomplish. For example, I know that every guy on the starting line of the Olympic Marathon on August 24th will have dreamt of winning the gold medal, but only one can win. What I have realized through many shattered dreams that I experienced is that it is not about the medals or the records it is about the condition of our heart on a daily basis. Having a heart that is at peace is far more precious than gold. I know that my heart should be set on making the most of everyday. I am excited about things like the Olympics that is a huge honor for me to partake in and is a huge opportunity to shine to the world. I am tremendously excited about the idea of running into that stadium first, hearing the roar of the crowd, and standing on the podium as they play America's national anthem. However, if I don't come into that stadium first and my dreams don't come true I know that it is still possible for me to accomplish my bigger dream. My bigger dream is the dream that the author of "Shattered Dreams" was eluding to. It was the dream that I couldn't see as I cried in disappointment after my last high school race. I have learned that my bigger dream, even bigger than winning a gold medal, is to praise God with every step. No matter what. Win, lose, DNF, no one, not even my own physical body can keep me from accomplishing my goal. It is a goal that frees me to run. When I run with a heart full of praise, released from the burderns of having to perform, I feel like I am soaring.

Part II

So the rice husk shoes finally arrived last week. I read about the shoes in a "Running Times" article and contacted Asics immediately to see what the deal was behind the shoes that had produced so many Olympic Marathon medals. It turns out that these special shoes, which are produced in Japan, are designed with rice husk in the sole in order to better grip the road and to repel the heat from the hot black pavement. They were designed after taking an extensive look at the coarse we will face in Beijing.

When I first took them out of the blue shoe bag my first thought was, "wow, these little incredibly simple." They almost look like some of the old school marathon shoes that are now coming back into style as retro shoes. However, the more I examined them the more I thought these shoes are what elite athletes are constantly scowling the specialty running shoe stores, internet, or paying ridiculously high prices on ebay for. The beauty is in there apparent simplicity. They have a very light and breathable white upper that contribute to the extreme lightness of the shoe but will also allow for breath ability and dissipation of the water (in the same way a steeple spike is designed) that I will constantly dosing myself with throughout the race. No excessive stylish plastic to add any additional weight, just the bare minimum. Then there is the sole of the shoe. That's were it starts getting more complex than the spotted chartreuse orange speckled foam lets on. The material, embedded with rice husks, is very light and spongy. What I like about the sole, even more than the rice husk technology, is the responsiveness of the shoe. What do I mean by responsiveness? I mean that when you drive your foot down on the pavement the shoe makes your foot want to pop back up off the road quicker than it normally does. Basically, I am referring to spring-like sensation. These shoes are more responsive than any shoes I have worn. How do I know? I took them on there first test drive during an interval workout in Big Bear. Now, I had just returned from a week of emotional exhaustion and travel from Eugene and was expecting to have to re-adjust to altitude during my first interval workout back at 7,000ft. I was surprised when I began my first repeat and saw 4:38 for my first mile of the repeat. It was the easiest 4:38 I had run all season. My legs felt like they were popping off the road and yet still had the support of a marathon shoe that would get me through a little over two hours of running.

I had high expectations for this shoe and with all the hype around them I thought they could do nothing but fail. I was wrong. I am certain these magical shoes will be what Asics Japan calls my sword on August 24th. Having a pair of shoes tailor made not only for the marathon, but also for the coarse we will be running, gives me even more confidence that anything is possible. Now all I need is big eyes on the starting line.