In January of this year, I ran the Houston Half Marathon. After completing the race, I met up with friends who were out on the course watching and they mentioned that the lead runner who passed them out on the course was all alone, American, and absolutely flying.
That runner turned out to be Ryan Hall, who went on to break the American Record in the half marathon that morning while becoming the first American to break the "Hour" in the half marry with a 59:43. If you've got 15 minutes, this video is a can't miss.
That was Ryan's first half marathon. He went on to run the London Marathon in the Spring (His first full marathon) finishing 7th in a very deep field with a 2:08.24, the fastest debut marathon for an American breaking a record held by Alberto Salazar and Alan Culpepper.
Last weekend, Ryan Hall won the Men's US Olympic Trials with a 2:09.02 out pacing Dathan Ritzenheim and Brian Sell by 2:05 and 2:37 respectively. A very convincing win.
The connection I made with Ryan being out on the same course in Houston with him (though over an hour behind) this past January and the excitement he generated by coming out of nowhere to bring American distance running back on the map will forever earn him a spot in my heart and mind as I am now a loyal follower and fan of his.
Transpose this excitement with the news that Ryan Shay, who trained with Meb Keflezighi and Ryan up in Mammoth Lakes with coach Bob Larsen for a time, passed away during his attempts to reach his Olympic dream this past Saturday, and you can quickly become overwhelmed with confusion and mixed emotions. Though I have not seen results of the autopsy, news that he was diagnosed with an enlarged heart at a young age and other heart conditions in his family lead me to believe that there may be a correlation.
I could write about how we should all be grateful for our health or to visit our physicians regularly to ensure all is well, but at this point it all seems to be trivial or cliche.
We all know why we do it. I look at people doing Ironmans, Ultra Marathons, those attempting to summit Everest, or even something as simple as swimming so hard you puke or faint the moment you stand upright after climbing out of the pool. I get it, and I would never question someone who aspired to push their body to the limit. In fact, I find it more frustrating listening to the lay person talk about how stupid or dangerous it all is. In my mind, not knowing whether or not you can or can't, and not knowing approximately where your limit is is not living.
1 comment:
Good post, buddy. I felt really saddened by the new about Ryan Shay, but I'm still going to keep pushing myself to the limits and finding out how far and fast I can go. To me, that's what endurance sports are all about.
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