Ryan Hall is reviving American distance running. Last November, he qualified for the U.S. Olympic marathon team by winning the Olympic trials with a record time of 2:09:02. And get this—he’d never run a marathon until April 2007! Now he’s a favorite for gold in Beijing.
The 25-year-old has been running middle and long distances since he was a teen. You read about him in the August 2008 print edition of Breakaway. Now check out more from our interview with Ryan.
Breakaway: So you grew up reading Breakaway, right?
Ryan Hall: My older brothers got it before I got it, so I remember seeing it since I was a tiny kid. We always had Focus on the Family magazine lying around and Breakaway. (My sister read Brio.) I always loved [Breakaway], especially the features on athletes and stuff like that because I was really into athletics.
Tell me more about your teen years.
I grew up the middle of five kids in a Christian home. Big Bear, Calif., is kind of a small town, and I was just doing the normal thing, involved in athletics. I was always outside doing stuff, so my mom’s way of getting me to read was Breakaway magazine.
The Lord really grabbed hold of me when He gave me the vision to run. I was playing baseball, basketball and football. I was kind of in with the cool crowd, and that’s what all the cool kids were doing up in Big Bear. There weren’t any running teams or cross country teams or anything like that. So when I started pursuing [running] I lost all of my friends.
It really changed the trajectory of my life forever, because I was kind of headed down the cool-kid party scene. I was in middle school when God gave me the vision to start running, but I was definitely starting to go in that direction where a lot of kids went on to be partiers and to get into some pretty bad stuff.
One day we were driving down the mountain for a basketball game and God gave me a vision to try and run around our hometown—15 miles around the lake. The next weekend my dad and I jogged around the lake and decided that I was going to start training seriously and pursue the running thing.
Like I said, I lost all my friends, and it was at that point I had to make Jesus my best friend. I’m a pretty quiet guy. When I started running, I wasn’t around kids. I wasn’t doing athletics with kids, so it was hard for me to make friends. I remember being like, All right, I need to make Jesus my best friend because it was a void I needed to fill. It was at that point my relationship with the Lord really started to grow, and it’s been growing ever since.
Did you think, Wow, I can make a career out of running? Or did you just start running because that was the next step?
I always felt like God had a real big purpose behind my running ever since that [first] moment. I always felt like He gave me the ability to run at a world-class level, so it wasn’t about me. The gift isn’t about just me enjoying it and becoming really good and famous and all these things. I really feel it’s about impacting other people.
It’s neat now that as I’m getting older, I’m starting to see how I can use the gift to help other people. [My wife Sara and I] have recently partnered with World Vision, and we’re trying to raise funds for these kids in Africa who need clean water and food. And I have been trying to share my story a lot, because I think there are a lot of kids out there like me who need to be careful about the decisions they’re making at 14 and 15 years old. Those decisions, in the same way they changed the trajectory of my life, can change the trajectory of their lives, so I have a heart for the youth as well.
So how does your World Vision connection work?
We’re basically spokespersons for Team World Vision. In a lot of major marathons, they have people raise money and run on behalf of a child in Africa. For example, in Chicago last year they had about 500 people run the Chicago marathon. Each one raised funds. Then Team World Vision tries to pick up sponsorships of children, so our job is to get involved with that. We’re going to start doing videos on the Internet. People can sponsor a child on our behalf.
Also we try and use our influence to help get spots in major marathons. It’s especially difficult to get spots in races in New York, so we try to help get those extra spots so people can raise funds.
It’s kind of just taking off right now, and we’re still trying to figure out how we can help more. But we’re planning on going to the Chicago marathon this year and talking to the people who are running for Team World Vision and also planning a trip to Africa—just trying to use our influence to get people excited about raising money and running marathons.
Why do you love running?
The biggest thing is just doing what God created me to do. I think when any of us finds what God created us to do, it’s an amazing feeling. There’s a connection there. It becomes an act of worship. Running is my way to really worship the Lord.
Running is a neat thing because you go through a lot of highs and lows. The journey is tough. There’s always an opportunity to praise Him with every step, whether it’s good or bad. I’ve learned so much through my running, and the Lord’s shaped me so much through my running. It’s definitely been a tough road. But I love the fact that I get to go out there and worship Him with my body every day.
So when you’re out there running, what’s actively going through your mind?
Sometimes I feel the connection with the Lord more than others. But whether I feel it or not, it’s knowing that I’m doing what God created me to do that allows me to be in that state of worship. I listen to praise music sometimes when I’m running, and that helps me to get in that state of mind. Just looking up in the sky and being thankful that I’m able to do what I do and have a healthy body.
You can think about a lot during the course of marathon training when you’re out there for two, two-and-a-half hours a day. I’m not going to lie. Sometimes I’m not thinking about anything, or I’m just thinking about my form or something.
How has running influenced your spiritual life or taught you spiritual lessons?
There’s been a ton of them. I think one thing that’s neat about running is it kind of gets you away from the hectic pace and the distractions of the world, and it gets you out into God’s creation. I enjoy being out in the forest. Sometimes I have a lot on my mind, and it’s great to be out there—just me and the Lord—to work through some of those issues that I might be dealing with on a daily basis. I think that’s something kids might have a hard time doing today, just spending time with the Lord in prayer. Running’s a nice time for me to get away and process and meditate on God’s Word.
One thing about running is that it’s challenging to keep pure motives. It’s a more goal-oriented sport than most because at the end of every mile you look down at your watch and it tells you how fast you just ran. It’s all about time and place and records, and it’s very tangible. It’s been a challenge for me to try and keep my heart pure and just do it unto the Lord with my whole heart and not worry about times and records. The Lord is continuing to shape me.
What are your hopes and aspirations for the Beijing Olympics?
I’ve always felt like nothing’s impossible with the Lord. I believe that if the Lord wills, I could win the Olympic marathon. But I’m trying just to focus on having my heart in the right spot and being content with whatever the Lord has for me on the day. I know that I’m going to do my best to praise God every day of practice.
In high school we developed the mantra to do the training and leave the rest up to the Lord. As hard as we train for these things, it’s difficult to control how everyone else is going to run and how you’re going to feel on the day. There are so many variables in athletics that it can be a very disappointing thing if you don’t have a great day out there.
So my aspirations are just to praise God with every step in training and then in the race itself. I believe the Lord can do something amazing, but I want to have my heart in a place where I’m content with whatever the outcome will be. 
