I just came home from the gym which means I am “clocked out” for the day.  Although I still need to make dinner, I can’t help but get my blog out on the computer.  With the marathon quickly approaching, I guess I was feeling a little sentimental as I went for my second run through the meadow Andrew and I got married in and through a grove of changing Aspen trees.  The leaves on the wind sounded like rushing water and their color was magnificent in yellows and oranges.  On the run I reflected on this morning’s tempo run.  It was my fastest 10 mile tempo in about four years which, given my leap of fitness every week, has me excited and confident for the Chicago marathon just two weeks away.  I was excited during this tempo because I dug down for something greater when I needed to.  This run was important and I gave myself a little pep talk half-way through the workout.  I needed to find some form of strength right then or I would not have the tools to persevere during the marathon.  Although I was beginning to fatigue, I knew there was something greater inside of me.  Andrew was shouting encouragement from the van.  My teammates Mike McKeeman and Josh Cox had shorter tempos runs because of their half-marathon races in Philadelphia last week.  That is where my answer came.  Although it was going to be my strongest tempo in some years, Mike and Josh jumped out of the team van and ran my last mile with me.  They pushed me.  Hard.  I have never been able to close a run with my fastest mile but my teammates brought the best out of me.  They were the strength I was searching for.  I have always been grateful for my teammates, but this morning moved me.  Literally and figuratively.  This morning will be imbedded in my mind when the going gets tough in Chicago.  At the 20-mile mark, I expect to pull out the image of Mike and Josh and let them help me the last 6.2 miles of the race.  There is strength in numbers and there is nothing like a team when you are trying to accomplish a difficult task. 

Because I race only six times a year I am always excited for race week when it finally rolls around.  I was particularly pumped about racing the ING Philadelphia Distance run because I had heard so much about the event from my teammate Deena Kastor, who had set the American Record at the event a few years back.  She always talked about the city, course, and event as if it was the perfect environment for supernatural running.

Even though I have had mixed results in my races leading up to marathons I couldn’t help but dream about hitting one of those special days when I feel like I’m floating on heaven's clouds.  I was secretly hoping to run faster than I had ever run before.  So I ran my last interval workout on Tuesday of 8 by 1000 meters with high aspirations for Sunday's race.

Traveling from Mammoth is a bit of a journey when the daily winter flights are not in operation.  It requires a three-hour drive to Reno, staying over in a hotel, and then working out before catching an early flight to the east coast the next day.  It was fun to travel again, especially since I was traveling with my wife, my buddy Josh, and my massage therapist Leigh.  Traveling with friends makes the trip so much better.

The first thing I did in Philly was go for a half hour shake-out jog, which I highly recommend after a long day of travel.  Honestly, often times it is the last thing I feel like doing but it is a great way for my body to adjust to the time change and flush all the junk out of my legs rather than sleeping with it and feeling twice as bad in the morning.  After about 15 minutes of my legs flushing themselves out I began to feel really good.  Before hitting the sack I got a massage from Leigh and indulged in a Philly cheese steak.

Friday was a social day filled with expo appearances and meeting other runners.  Even though I am usually the one up with the mic giving advice to other runners I often feel that I learn more from them as they learn from me.  The day ended with a special dinner for the meet organizers, sponsors and athletes at a Museum.

Saturday was pretty low key.  I try and schedule as little as possible the day before the race, just a massage, run, nap, and lots of preparing my spirit to run.  My wife had to leave for her race in Providence at about noon but luckily I had my teammates Mike and Josh Cox to keep me company and keep my mind off the race.  One of my old coaches gave me a great piece of advice that I still implement to this day.  He told me to think about the race a lot in my months and weeks of training leading up to the race but then the last couple of days not to think about it at all until I start warming up.  A lot of waisted energy can be lost in those final days worrying, contemplating, and thinking about the race so I find it is better to do all the thinking well in advance and then show up and live it out on the race weekend.  Easier said than done I admit, but something for us to strive after.

When I woke up on Sunday morning I went straight to my knees.  There is no better place to be on race morning than praying.  I don’t pray for victory but I do pray for a supernatural experience of God as I run.  I pray to experience heaven on earth.  I have had a few times when I feel like I have experienced it and that was enough for me to keep asking God to experience it over and over again.  Its addicting.  After saying my morning prayers I had my bagel with almond butter and Cytomax gel and walked over to the window to check the weather, which was perfect.

It really was the perfect day to run.  I will never forget being on the starting line and looking back at the thousands of runners about to embark on the 13.1 mile journey with me.  It is a very special time of unity that I think everyone should experience at some point in there life.  When the gun fired and we got under way I went out at a pace that I knew I could manage for the distance.  I was hoping to look down and see a fast split at the mile mark, in hopes of making for a special day, but seeing a 4:40 for the first mile I knew that it was unlikely.  I went to the front and pushed a little harder hoping that maybe I just needed to run a little harder to get better warmed up, but again I saw the split of 4:40.  At that point I knew that a personal best would have to wait for another day.  Sometimes things don’t click perfectly and you have to set new goals within the race.  So rather than bagging the race as a complete loss I came up with a new goal of forgetting about the time and practice trying to win the race.

By mile 8 there was four of us remaining.  I decided to test out how everyone was feeling, myself included, by throwing in a little surge.  I was trying to find a way to wake myself up from the monotonous rhythm we had established.  The pace felt comfortable, almost like marathon pace, but whenever I tried to pick up the intensity just a little bit, the effort would go up exponentially.  This is often the case when I am racing while in the middle of marathon training.  Since I wasn’t feeling that I could maintain a faster pace I tucked back in the pack and waited.

With a couple of miles left to go I committed that I would make a hard move with a mile remaining and run as hard as I could for the last mile.  Committing to a plan can be a good thing because it makes you surge whether you feel like it or not.  It often times feels like it is impossible to go any faster but if you can find some trigger to change gears you often feel better when you pick it up.  This is one of the advantages of running a course that has some down hills that  naturally trigger a change in gears.

I put my head down and ran my heart out that last mile.  I had no idea how the other guys where feeling and honestly I wasn’t thinking about that.  I wasn’t thinking about trying to win or anything like that, I was just thinking about running as hard as I could.  What resulted was a 4:27 last mile and walking a way with a victory.  It was very special to win in front of the crowd in Philly.  They were very enthusiastic and loud the last 100 meters.  It felt great to get across the line.  Mission accomplished!

Looking to show the running community that he is ready for a magical run at the upcoming ING New York City Marathon, Ryan Hall's performance today at the ING Philadelphia Distance Run (1/2 Marathon) indicates that his training is on the right track.  Hall pulled away from the lead pack of 4 athletes after dropping a 4:27 mile between miles 12 and 13 running unchallenged to the finish line.  He crossed the finish line with an official time of 1:01:52.  His time was slower than his 1/2 Marathon AR set in Houston (2007) but was a result of slow race tactics by the lead pack until Hall ran away with a little over a mile to go in the race.

You can view the replay of the race at http://elite.competitor.com/webcast/pdr/index.html

 Another great week of workouts under my belt and another week closer to the Bank of America Chicago Marathon.  With the announcement of more elite runners joining the starting line, I get more excited for the race.  I love the thrill of competition so much that I tried to break away from Andrew, who was  riding the bike, during a 12 mile tempo run this week…what was I thinking?  In my pursuit, I ran my fastest 12 mile tempo run, so I guess it worked out even though I couldn’t shake him going up the last hill.  As I think of the marathon coming up and the 45,000 people I’ll be sharing the starting line with, I can’t help but think that the October 11 race day may be a little extra special for all of us.  Why? Because the 2016 Olympic bid will be announced 9 days prior.  On October 2, the International Olympic Committee will announce which city will host the 2016 Games.  If Chicago wins the bid, there will be extra electricity in the air.  Besides fully supporting Chicago’s bid, I think the timing of the announcement will elevate this year’s Bank of America Chicago Marathon.  Chicago and its people are great hosts to the world I learned when reading Devil in the White City.  The city pulled together for a great World’s Fair, and being a sport fanatical town seems a perfect host for the 2016 Games.  I have always loved running and racing in Chicago because of the sport-friendly fans that line the lake front.  Whenever I run there, I always receive encouragement from runners and cyclists getting in their morning workouts.  Now, we wait to hear if this great city will be hosting the world in the Olympic Games.  There will be quite a celebration on Marathon weekend if that is the case.  I’ll toast to that!

Ryan Hall's September 2009 Playlist that helps motivate and inspire his training prior to The ING New York City Marathon.

Deena Kastor's September 2009 Playlist that helps motivate and inspire her training prior to the Chicago Marathon.

This week brought the first signs of fall and with it the excitement of increasing fitness as the ING NYC marathon draws near. For the first time this summer the shirt is staying on unless we are really running hard and I have already begun craving pumpkin lattes from Starbucks. There are many parts of fall that I enjoy, but the best part of fall is the feeling of being weeks away from top form.

Marathoning is much like cycling. I look up to Lance Armstrong as an athlete who has not only done what I would like to do the equivalent of in the running world, but also because he has used his physical feats to help others. I have read a couple books about Lance where they talk about the timing of peaking for the tour. It’s all about coming into peak form at precisely the right time to win the tour. I remember in a race leading up to one of the tours that Lance won he responded to a reporter's question about what was his goal for the competition and he replied, "to not get last."

It's really hard to go into buildup races for the marathon not in peak form but I know that if I really want the best shot to win NYC this fall I have to be so focused on that goal that I am willing to suffer in the races leading up to the competition. It is a bit ironic that I am writing this less than a week out from my last race, The Philadelphia Distance Classic, before NYC. It is not like I am not going to try and run fast at Philly or that I am expecting to get destroyed (I always go to the line with the expectation that something special could happen), but my point is that focus on the big goal and sacrifice is part of the price of being great.

It’s been a fairly typical week for me: intervals on Tuesday, Tempo run on Thursday and 20 miles hard on Sunday. However, last week was a significant week in that it marked the end of the initial buildup cycle for the marathon. From the time I arrived in Mammoth in the beginning of July till now it has all been about getting a good base level of fitness. Now it is time to go get one last indicator of where I am at before the real work begins. Along with the change of weather this week marks the winds of change in my training fast approaching.

On Sunday I race in Philly, then take a train to New York City where my wife and I will spend the next week. Not only am I looking forward to a week out of altitude to recover and gear up for the intense training awaiting me, but I am also looking forward to announcing some very exciting news that Wednesday. Additionally, I will get to preview the ING New York City Marathon course, which will give me some good images to visualize. On Saturday I will get to watch Sara compete in the 5th Ave mile and then we’ll catch an evening flight back to Reno that same day.

Monday the storm hits. If I am going to win the ING NYC marathon it will be as a result of what is done in those last 4 weeks of hard training before backing off for the race. An exciting season is on the way.

Where's mama bear?

Only one month to go and I am excited about how my training is progressing. This week I "nailed" three key workouts in a 22 mile long run, 6 X mile repeat, and an 8 mile tempo run. Each of these workouts was superior to anything I've done this season. More than ever, I appreciate the flow of a good streak when it comes. They say things come in threes, but I'm hoping that my groove continues. My main focus on this marathon buildup has been on rest and recovery. I am eating well, sleeping hard and icing in the creek to aid in recovery. All of it seems to be paying off as my mileage continues to climb and my workouts get better. I am currently reading Born to Run (thanks to Santa Monica High School Cross Country team) and it is feeding me with the simple joys of running. I normally don't read about running since most of my day is consumed in it anyway, but this book has been a witty and motivating force of words. The book is filled with great quotes and I've been dog-earing the pages when a great saying comes up. On our chalkboard right now is a saying from the Tarahumara runners: When you run on the earth and run with the earth, you can run forever. As I buzzed through the trees and over trails yesterday, I repeated this during the course of my 90 minute run and it made the run go by so quickly. The saying is perfect when you're an endurance runner and your office is an immense forest.

Yesterday our team had an easy run up at the lakes basin. As we were leaving we saw two baby cubs. It just so happens that ASICS was in town visiting and photographer John Barnhart captured a great photo of the cubs playing. While he was inching closer to get his photo, I was on the lookout for bear number 3, Mama bear. She wasn't anywhere in sight. We enjoyed watching the cubs wrestle with each other before scampering off into the trees. I am ready to scamper off to bed, read a chapter of Born to Run and rest up for tomorrow's training session.

Deena's husband, Andrew Kastor passing water off during her long run yesterday.

Deena taking an ice bath in the river...looks like her husband could only get his toes in

All week we have been forced to take our runs up the mountain to avoid the smoke that has settled here from both the Southern California and Yosemite fires.  The smoke finally gave us a reprieve this morning for our 12 mile tempo run.  Although the visibility wasn’t as clear as our Mammoth days usually are, I didn’t smell smoke in the air when I woke.  We all had good workouts this morning and Ryan ran in some sweet custom-made ASICS shoes that seemed to work for him, but I’ll let him tell you about it.  The creek didn’t seem as cold this morning as we iced after the workout.  It may have been because Mike gave me an Atomic Fire Ball and who can focus on the cold creek water when there is a fire inside your mouth?

Earlier in the week Ryan and Sara Hall had a house warming party.  Their new place is great and who needs a television when you have huge windows with bats flying around outside!  We were entertained after dinner by moths outside attracted to the lights coming from the house.  It was scary even with a thick pane of glass between us, but we were all glued to the windows.  The bats, in their clumsy flight, flew by the windows and scooped up the moths one by one.   It was fascinating.  And how can I forget the bear I saw a few days ago.  I was taking Aspen, my chocolate lab, up to the lakes above our house when a bear peaked out from the bushes.  He didn’t even reveal his whole self, just his big knobby head.  When he saw Aspen, he retreated back into the shrubs.  Aspen was too obsessed sniffing around to notice, but it never gets old seeing the wildlife here.

Just as the previous week, my mid-day is filled with a lengthy nap.  I’m not too productive from noon to 3.  With my marathon training at its peak, I am sleeping a lot more to balance out the workload.  Last week was my first week over 100 miles since I broke my foot last summer.  I was pretty psyched to know I can handle the workload again.  The next couple weeks will be full of marathon specific tempo runs and long runs.  I’m off to the gym for lifting followed by a second run.

When I was first starting out as a runner 13 years ago, I wondered what it would be like to be a professional runner. At that point in my career I was only running 5 miles a day and had a hard time comprehending what a pro runner does all day. If I could have only foreseen into the future to yesterday I would understand that it is more than a full time job, it is a lifestyle.

My alarm clock sounded at 6:45 am. This would give me just enough time to get dressed, have breakfast, make my pre-long run cup of coffee, make my bottles for the 20 mile run I would be logging, pray, and read my Bible. At 7:40 am I was in my Nissan Titan pulling out of the driveway, headed to my full-time massage therapist house to get a pre-run flush. My mini-massage went till 8:15. I spent the next 10 minutes doing a daily dynamic flexibility routine, then off to practice.

After some small talk with the team, we headed up to 9,000ft to run around a couple of lakes in our backyard, Mammoth Lakes. From 9-10:55 I ran my progressive long run, in which the goal is to pick up the pace every 5k throughout the run. It was a beautiful day to run. I couldn’t ask for a more scenic and inspiring place to train.

Over the next half hour I stretched out my tired legs and refueled with my typical post-run Cytomax shake. Then it was back into the truck to drive down into town and get some more fuel, in the way of Mexican food (carne asada torta), for a quick lunch and shower. At 12:30 my daily 90-minute massage began, followed by 15 minutes of icing in the cold creek. I ran a couple of errands over the next half hour and headed home to grab a quick snack (yeah, I eat all the time), this time a salad and cup of cereal with a couple of spoonfuls of Muscle Milk Cake Batter.

By this time it was 3:30 and I was heading to the gym to hit the pool for 15 minutes of light kicking. I try and get in the pool for hydrotherapy after hard long runs and hard tempo runs. It does a great job of loosening the legs up. By the time I got back from the gym it was 4:15 and the physical part of my day was complete. Now I just had to catch up on dishes, cleaning the kitchen, and helping with dinner before our dinner guest arrived at 5:15.

Walking into The Lighthouse Church at 7:00 pm, I told Sara I was going to need a wheelchair to get into church. The coffee was well out of my system by now and I was finally feeling the fatigue from the run, not so much in my legs as I had done plenty to get my legs recovered from the effort (massage, ice bath, kicking in the pool).  It was more of a total body fatigue that usually puts me to bed early. However, as I stood in church worshipping God I could feel my spirit being restored and my body being replenished. It was amazing. All of the sudden I didn’t feel that bad anymore and I felt a new motivation and drive for the coming hard week of training that I certainly did not walk in with.

Running is more than a job, it is a lifestyle. I have to be conscientious of what I put in my body, when I get up in the morning and when I go to bed. I have to train not only my body on the runs, I also have to spend a lot of time recovering from them. But I can’t just train my body.  I have to train my body, mind, and spirit.    Professional running isn’t for everyone, but it is for me. I absolutely love it. Sure it makes for some busy days but when I am feeling overly busy I just remind myself that I am busy with running in the forest, taking naps, and getting massages. Life is good!