No and yes.
Hall faded in the final three miles to finish seventh in two hours, eight minutes and 24 seconds, less then one minute behind the winner, Martin Lel of Kenya. But his time comfortably eclipsed the American marathon debut record of 2:09:41 by Alan Culpepper and Alberto Salazar.
"It was hard to know if I was going to break that record, the paces were so sporadic and kind of all over the place," Hall said by phone from London. "It would have been fun to go under 2:08. I'm just pleased with how I ran the race. I feel like I gave myself a shot to win and establish myself as a world-class marathoner."
Hall, 24, said he was surprised to hold the lead as long as he did. "I just wanted to go the lead to tease the race a bit and engage in the race," he said. "I wasn't intending to lead that long. But no one wanted it. It was fun."
Leg fatigue prevented Hall from maintaining his lead to the finish. "At 22, I just felt like I wanted to get to the next mile," he said. "The last two or 3K felt really long. My legs were just tired. I wish I could have gone with them. It wasn't quite in the cards. I learned a lot out there. The biggest thing was just how to spend my energy. I wish I hadn't been leading. I could have been tucked in and thinking about the last two miles, thinking about the last push. Once you're in the lead and guys go by you, it's hard to respond."
Hall's time in the also caught his agent, Ray Flynn, a former world-class distance runner, off guard. "It was pretty incredible for a kid at this age," Flynn said. "We did not think he would be in the position of being in the lead when you have Olympic champions and world record holders in the race. It was a tall order."
Hall will ease back on his training during the next months before he begins preparation for November's 2008 U.S. Olympic qualifying race in New York. His coach, Terrence Mahon, said Hall will not run for one or two weeks and will then swim and bike for at least another two weeks before he returns to running.
Hall said his next competition might be the U.S. national outdoor championships in June.
Two other prominent U.S. runners failed to finish the race. A blister forced Meb Keflezighi, who won a silver medal in the marathon at the 2004 Olympics, to drop out at near the 16th mile. The blister appeared in the same part of the foot as one that appeared following a race in early March.
Khalid Khannouchi, a former marathon world record holder and the 2002 London Marathon champion, also dropped out of the race. A series of injuries has slowed Khannouchi over the past few years.
2 comments:
Just saw the report. Amazing race you ran last Monday. Really impressed at your ability to retain your fitness after Austin. That is a killer time. And it sounds like you enjoyed it , even though you pushed it. I am jealous. So, what's next? I'm enjoying my time off... contemplating if I can elevate my training to a very low-3 hr performance in Chicago. Enjoy your rest. Congrats!
Your time was impressive given the long break you took for the ITB injury and all the traveling you were doing. Great job!
As for me, I'm going to take some time off to recharge. It's been a long push since late November. I think I'm going to take a crack at breaking 3 hrs as well. I was thinking of Chicago, but darn it... I can't believe it's capped out already!
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