We might never know why Ryan Hall decided to drop out of the LA marathon.

Will he ever finish another marathon?

Will he ever come close to his American Record?

The last few years, Ryan has been under attack by almost everyone.  Since he performance of 2:04.58 in Boston, he has dropped out of several races, or finished disappointed.   He hasn’t had a great distance race (for him, it’s all relative) since his performance at Boston.

To preface this post, Ryan Hall is one of my favorite elite runners.  I also am not (or never will be) an athlete of that caliber.  I don’t rely on running as a source of income and I’m grateful for that.  It would be a very hard job, career and I applaud elite runners who make it work.

For the majority of racers, we don’t rely on running for paychecks.  If we have a bad race we complain for a while then move on.  We don’t worry our sponsors will drop us or that we will be on a strict budget (due to lack of income) for a while.  We have a bad race and move on.

Was it smart of him to drop out of this marathon?  Should he have just “gutted it out”?  Possibly finishing above 2:20 or even 2:30? 

Ryan Hall has dropped out of several marathons he started since Boston:

In 2012, he DNFed at the London Olympics.

In 2013, he ran no marathons.  He was scheduled to run both Boston and NYCM.

In 2014, he ran a 2:17 at Boston and placed 20th. 

In 2015, he DNFed the LA marathon.

For elite athlete distance runners, it is often smarter to withdraw from a race early.  This allows the body to recover faster and prepare for another marathon sooner.  When an elite athlete knows they are extremely off pace, they withdraw…recover and begin preparing for a race sooner.  I think this is wise and tactical.  Why finish a race they know is not going to get them where they need too? They can recover and live to race another day…sooner.

My question is Ryan has not done this.  He dropped out of one race and doesn’t start another.  He hasn’t saved himself for another great race because he hasn’t run another one. 

Another point to consider is that it was hot at the LA marathon.  When you prepare for a race, train well, appropriately taper and do everything right training wise…it stinks to have the weather not cooperate.  Am I saying this is the reason he dropped out?  No…lots of runners finished the race that day…including his wife.

In my nonelite opinion, Hall needs to take more time and get back to shorter distances. Like a newer runner just work on shorter races for a while before getting back into the marathon.

That being said I’m not elite, not a coach and haven’t had any marathon races I’m particularly proud of.  This is just my opinion…

Ryan Hall said “You can only have one best day of your life”…maybe he has peaked at Boston a few years ago and we are all having a hard time accepting this.

Question for you: What do you think about Hall?