Tim Tebow might have met his match when it comes to evangelical Christians. Ryan Hall, America’s fastest marathon runner, doesn’t have the same platform as the Broncos quarterback, but he hasn’t been shy about expressing his faith.
Hall is applying Biblical principles to his training.
In the past year, he parted ways with his coach Terrence Mahon and moved away from his high-altitude training base in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. He has taken a bizarre approach without a coach and is often running one workout a day, whereas most elite marathoners run at least twice.
Hall’s new faith-based strategy came into question when he finished second behind 36-year-old Meb Keflezighi in the Olympic marathon trials in Houston. His time of 2:09.30 was slower than his winning trials time (2:09.02) in 2008.
After placing 10th in the Beijing Olympics, Hall seemed to be hitting his stride, finishing fourth in the Boston Marathon at 2:04:58, the fastest time ever by an American. Still, Hall has never won a marathon, and his time at Boston was well behind two Kenyans, one of many signs that American distance running still is lacking.
– Scott Gleeson
