It was a crazy idea.
The 14-year-old was riding down the mountain on his way to a basketball game. The view overlooked Big Bear Lake, the prominent feature in his hometown of Big Bear, Calif., and a new thought struck him.
It’d be cool to run around the lake.
That’d be 15 miles, a long distance even for a young athlete who played baseball, basketball and football. But the idea stuck. The next weekend, Ryan Hall laced up his basketball shoes and jogged around Big Bear Lake with his dad. They had to stop a few times, but they made it all the way.
“It was really hard,” Ryan says. “But I got a little glimpse of what the Lord had for me and how the Lord created me and one of the gifts that He’s given me. It was at that point I became really excited about pursuing the gift God had given me.”
Life on the Run
That decision changed Ryan’s life. Today, the 25-year-old heads to Beijing as the second fastest American marathoner of all time—even though he had never run a marathon until last year. His Olympic qualifying victory last November shattered the Olympic trials record by one minute 17 seconds.
But back in middle school, running took Ryan down a difficult but faith-building road.
“When God gave me the vision [to run] and I started pursuing that, I lost all of my friends,” Ryan says. “It really changed the trajectory of my life, because I was kinda headed down the cool-kid party scene where a lot of kids went on to be partyers and get into some pretty bad stuff.”
With little or no running community in his town, Ryan was no longer playing sports or doing activities with his former friends.
“It was hard for me to make friends,” he says. “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.”
Running also led Ryan to his wife, Sara, who hopes to medal in the Olympic 1,500 meters. (See “Sara Hall Goes for Goals.”)
Connection
Ryan’s favorite part about running is doing what he believes God created him to do.
“I think when any of us finds what God created us to do, it’s an amazing feeling,” he says. “There’s a connection there. Running is my way to really worship the Lord.”
Ryan’s chances at gold in Beijing are strong, but he’s focusing on more than a medal.
“In high school we developed the mantra to do the training and leave the rest up to the Lord,” Ryan says. “So my aspirations are just to praise God out there with every step in training and 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.” 
Ryan grew up reading Breakaway. Read more from his interview.
