Road Rage: Ryan Hall is ready to #OwnChicago, but can he Stop Mosop?

Can Ryan Hall stop Moses Mosop?

Ryan Hall will have his hands full this weekend, but he couldn't be happier. The self-imposed pressure that seemed more evident a year ago, seems to be gone. He ran Boston in 2:04:58 and in turn considers himself a 2:04 marathoner. He is. No one seems to question his coaching decision anymore as well. And even though he took some heat when signing on for Chicago, his two biggest competitors at the trials will have tougher hills to climb (pun intended), than he does. The projected runner-up, Dathan Ritzenhein, hasn't raced in year and continues to battle injury, while Meb Keflezighi will be suiting up a month from now in New York. Judging by his interview with Flotrack, Hall is feeling pretty confident about his chances making the team and competing in London. Another thing Hall touched on during the Flotrack interview was Let's Run's offer to donate $5000 to his Steps Foundation if he goes under 2:05. Although he'd love to break that magical 2:05 mark, I am sure he'd be happy enough breaking Khalid Khannouchi's American Record of 2:05:38, a former World Record, that was set April 14, 2002 at the London Marathon.

Ryan Hall, sex symbol?
(copyright ESPN The Magazine)

Hall will have his hands full with one of the men that beat him on his incredible run last year in Boston; the Renato Canova-coached, Moses Mosop. Boston was Mosop's debut (2:03:06) and he looked equally, if not better, during the 30k World Record that he ran on the track in Eugene this Summer. Doug Binder and Jim McDannald (of Track Focus) watched in awe as Mosop got faster and faster the entire race and dropped a 63-second 400 on lap 45 (of 75). If Hall can follow Mosop, and the weather agrees, the American record should be in jeopardy, but beating Mosop will take a career effort (and some luck).

Also of note on the Men's side is a strong contingent of Ethiopians, led by Bazu Worku and Bekana Daba, as well as an equally strong group of Kenyans (Evans Cheruyiot, Wesley Korir, Bernard Kipyego, Joshua Chelanga). Brazil's Marilson Dos Santos and Japan's Atsushi Sato round out the contenders. On the Women's side, the favorite will be Russia's Liliya Shobukhova, with three others coming in with PR's under 2:25.

Full elite startlist is available here.

Of local note, Raleigh and The Athlete Foot Racing's Joe Moore will be taking aim at the 2:19:00 Olympic Trials standard. Good luck Joe!

Watch the Chicago Marathon live Sunday at NBCChicago.com from you computer or your smartphone (I like this trend).

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Hobby Jogging: 2000 Miles for 2010 (and some highlights)

After taking a 2 week break after the Dash for Cash to heal up from a bunch of nagging injuries, I was itching to get back on the roads and trails to get that last 65 miles to hit 2000 for the year. 2009 was my first year back to training with consistency and I hit 1411.5, so 2000 was a pretty big jump. After getting a solid week of training in this past week (51.5 miles), I was sitting just 14 miles shy of the mark after my Christmas run. Charlotte got dumped on with snow Christmas evening, making a Sunday long run nearly impossible. I took the rest, headed back to Greenville today (Monday) and set out for a 14-miler, only my third double digit run since Chicago. Snow was all over the place and I was forced into 10" of snow during one mile stretch of highway. Made it through and took a gel and a half a bottle of water at 8.5 before cruising the last 5.5 and rolling home in 6:41 for the last mile. I felt best on the last 20 minutes of the run. Hopefully a sign of good things to come. Now, onto 5 highlights from 2010...

Boston - This was a race I have watched since my teens and qualifying for it at NYC in 2009 was one of my biggest sporting thrills ever. Competing at Boston was everything I had hoped it could be. Felt great from the gun, went through the half in 1:22 and was on 2:48 pace through 30k. Didn't quite hold it, but still ran a 9 minute PR and had a blast. A trip and event to remember. Here's the full race report

Gate River Run - Luckily, this race fell over my spring break and a few good friends of mine live in Jacksonville. I was lucky enough to qualify for the top corral and it was cool warming up with the pros and having our own port-o-johns! It was a hot day and the race was tough, but coming down the Green Monster, I turned on the jets and ran from the 9 mile mark to the finish (600 meters) at 5:08 pace (and passed a ton of people); good enough to get me on the scoreboard for the USATF National 15k Championship. Here's that race report


Get Your Rear in Gear 5k - This was my first competitive race back in 2009 and I almost won, just running out of real estate against a high school kid, running 19:29. This year I took it out conservatively and was mentally tough the whole race. I hammered the last downhill mile and finished 3rd in 17:29, my best 5k time since starting to compete again (and only 12 seconds off my lifetime road PR of 17:17 from the Stumptown 5k in 1996). Here's that race report

Lifestyles 5k - After battling a troubling hamstring for the last 23 miles of Chicago, I was eager to heal up and get back to it. I hopped in this race in Little Washington as a test/tempo to see where I was just 13 days later and was rewarded with my first road race win since 1991 (Eastover Fun Run)! Here's that race report

Falmouth Road Race - Probably the quintessential All-American Road Race. Although we stayed in probably the crappiest hotel that $150/night can get you and my girlfriend went to get Meb to autograph a poster for me that ended up being addressed (and personalized) to her (he's charming :), this was an awesome event. It included dueling with Joan Samuelson for about a mile and experiencing the Falmouth Cinema Pub, plus great weather and a very cool race. Here's that race report

Now we'll look towards 2011 and can't wait to up the miles a little more, run Raleigh's Second Empire Grand Prix and Boston again. If you are reading this (or following my twitter), you'll hear all about it!

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Hobby Jogging: 10/10/10 - Chicago, IL - Chicago Marathon

The Chicago Marathon has been very popular for its flat and fast route. It is also known for its very unpredictable weather. Last year it was 32 degrees at the start and 2 years ago it was over 80 by 11am. Fingers had been crossed for the cold, but we weren't so lucky. It was brutal!

Ever since Boston last year, I have been dealing with some hamstring issues. They would be ok for the first few miles of most runs, but would really bother me when I was running fast and racing. These issues had been plaguing me all season, but I kept running, stretching, getting massages and hoping for the best. After they bothered me a bunch during the Virginia Beach half, I thought of pulling the plug on Chicago, but I am glad I stuck it out and did it, as it was a tough mental challenge that I was happy to get through.

My teammate, John Simons, and I got out conservatively and went through the mile around 6:28. We picked it up slightly in mile 2 for a 6:18 or so. Mile 3 was more of the same around 6:20. At 5k, I felt a big pinch in my right hamstring. Hoping to run it out, I just kept trucking through a good second 5k to hit the 10k in a good, but conservative 39:40 or so. The pace didn't feel hard, I just had no pop in my stride because it hurt picking my right leg up. I continued to slow, but ran effectively through the half in 1:26:30 or so. This is when it got tough.

Chinatown

The second half of the race was outside the comfort of the shade of the buildings and the wind that whips between them. Crossing the bridge at the half I threw in a little surge just to see how my legs would react. It wasn't what I had hoped for. A quick half mile turned in to a slow second half before mile 14. The heat was beating down and I was limping around the south side of Chicago on a bum leg.

This was when I had to toughen up mentally. I knew that a PR was out the door. I knew that sub 3 was likely out the door as well as I had no action in my legs. I then knew a 2012 Boston Qualifier was on the line as Chicago qualifies for 2011 and 2012 because of where it falls in the calendar. With the pain I was in, the thought of doing another marathon to get me through 2012 was too painful to fathom. It was either make it through the last 11 or so at a decent enough clip to get me under 3:10:59 or try again later. I decided at this point to see what I was made of. When I made this decision, I could feel some strength in knowing I had an attainable goal out there that I could accomplish.

Erin, John and I

Now my splits from 30k to 40k are downright embarrassing, but the key was staying up, hydrating, not walking and getting to that next aid stop. It was a death march with a purpose! Luckily, when I hit 40k, my blistered feet and legs had gone numb and I just started moving faster. I was downright competitive in the last 1.6 miles or so and that felt good. I saw someone drop flat on the asphalt with 400 meters to go and I just put my head down, hammered up the last hill, then cruised in. Now my time was far from sexy or a PR (in 3:05:22), but I learned more about my pain threshold here than I did in New York last year or Boston in April.

Sometimes the will to keep going is just as important as the will to finish fast. Some dreams come true and some are nightmares, but the good part is that we get to wake up the next day and gain more fodder for these dreams. Looking forward, I can't wait to get this hamstring right and then run some shorter races. I didn't win the war, but I did win a battle. The marathon is a tough race and they all aren't going to be perfect. I just know next time, that if it gets tough again, I can handle it.

More info is available at: http://patprice.com/running/races/reports/20101010ChicagoMarathon.htm

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