Irvine, Calif. (April 9, 2010) – ASICS elite Olympic marathoners Ryan Hall and Deena Kastor have announced the fall stops on their 2010 World Marathon Majors circuit. Hall will run the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 10, 2010, and Kastor will run the ING New York City Marathon on November 7, 2010. Hall and Kastor will each run two of the five World Marathon Majors (Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York) this year. Hall will also run the Boston Marathon on April 19, and Kastor will run the Virgin London Marathon on April 25.

This will be Hall’s first effort at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Known for its flat, fast course, he will attempt to lower the 2:05:38 American record set by Khalid Khannouchi in 2002. Hall currently holds the record for the fastest Olympic Men’s Marathon Trial (2:09:02) in 2008 and the second-fastest marathon time ever by an American (2:06.17) with his fifth place finish at the 2008 London Marathon. For this year’s Bank of America Chicago Marathon, Hall will also expand his Hall Steps Foundation running team to 100 runners. The team will run to raise funds for the non-profit organization he co-founded with his wife with the goal of ending poverty.

This will be 2004 Olympic marathon bronze medalist Kastor’s fourth appearance at the ING New York City Marathon. Considered one of the United States’ top female long distance runners of the past decade, she competed at her first ING New York City Marathon in 2001 where she set the then American debut record of 2:26:58. She set a personal best and a new American record winning the 2006 Flora London Marathon in 2:19:36, and hopes to continue her success. In its 41 years, the ING New York City Marathon continues to be the leader among marathons around the world.

Fans can learn more and follow blogs from both Hall and Kastor.

Last week was a good week.  In terms of training it was the most defining week of my buildup for The ING NYC Marathon.  Coming off a very difficult Sunday marathon simulation I was expecting to feel a little sluggish with only one day rest before my 1000 meter repeat session on Tuesday.  It was one of those good surprises when I got part way into my workout and realized there was a freshness to my legs that hadn’t been there since I began my heavy marathon training.  I knew the rest of the week was going to be special, and it had to be, since I had my hardest runs I would be doing leading up to NYC on Friday and Sunday.
 
As we were finishing our repeats on Tuesday it began to snow, and snow, and snow.  We ended up getting so much snow that the ski resort reported a 30” dump and that they had enough to open a month earlier than expected.  On Tuesday night I went over to my training partners house, Josh Cox, for a pre-birthday healthy homemade pizza dinner.  Driving home I felt lucky to be in my four-wheel drive equipped Titan because there was no way I was getting home any other way. 
 
I turned 27 years old on Wednesday.  Birthdays have definitely changed over the years and especially since I began marathoning.  I used to have stay up all-night parties with my buddies in grade school.  Now I am eating Splenda pumpkin pie, which is really good, and enjoying low-key moments with teammates and friends.  This year Sara wanted to throw a big party for me but when I am in the middle of heavy training it is hard to find extra energy for even fun things like parties. 
 
Friday was my biggest workout of the week, an 18-mile tempo run.  I had already done an 18-mile tempo two weeks prior and it had gone well but with how good my body was feeling I knew I could run much faster this time around.  Luckily the snow had subsided and it was almost a no-shirt day (a runners way of relating temperature).  I ended up running two minutes faster than I had previously run.  When I finished that run I knew, with all certainty that I was ready.  It was not that I didn’t know before but there are those moments when you no longer have to talk yourself into the fact that you are ready you just know because the evidence is undeniable.
 
I was expecting to feel pretty trashed on Saturday but I was surprised, once again, when I felt unusually bouncy on my training runs.  Another good sign.  Running good workouts is important but how you come off them is almost equally important.  In training, no single run should ever be looked at in isolation.  It’s about the whole block of training.  This is why some people can hop in someone else’s workout, run it and apparently be in the same shape but then finish minutes behind on race day.  It isn’t totally about what has been done on just one day, it is about what has been done over the weeks and months leading up to the event.  Coming off the workout well is just as important as doing the workout.  Here is how I come off workouts well.
 
The first thing I do after a workout is eat.  Recovery begins with nutrition.  I have Cytomax protein and a banana right away, and then I go home and stretch and eat lunch soon thereafter.  After lunch I go straight into a 90-minute massage.  I know massage might not be accessible to everyone, which is why when I don’t have access to a massage I use various balls, rollers, Normatec MVP, etc to workout any knots or tight spots I may have acquired from the workout.  After the massage I go straight into my Icool for an ice bath.  After relaxing for a couple of hours, it is time to go to the gym for some light leg weights (quad extensions, pulley exercises, etc…the key here is to strengthen the muscles that tend to be weak on you specifically), a kick in the pool for hydro-therapy and a brief (10 minutes tops, followed by lots of water) stretch in the hot tub.  These are the keys I have found helpful in coming off workouts well but you are going to have to experiment to find what works well for you.
 
Sunday marked two weeks till race day.  It was my last long run.  I ran 2 ½ hours and covered well over 20 miles feeling very controlled the whole way.  It is at about two weeks before the race that I make sure to really monitor my effort level.  I still do some hard running but there are no tests until the marathon.  I did my usual recovery routine in the afternoon and finished the day with a night service at church.
 
Today I woke up and had that unusual pop in my legs once again.  I was thinking about how I only had a couple weeks left to enjoy the fitness that I have gained over the last four months, and then it will be time to stop running and let my body recover.  People are always surprised when I tell them I let myself get out of shape over a two-week complete no-run recovery period after all my marathons.  I have come to see it as a very necessary part of marathon training.  I have tried only taking a modified break and found that I came back in very good shape but then as I began my training my body goes stale, begins to breakdown in the form of injuries, and I see very little improvement.  Recovery is a necessary part of the cycle of a marathon runner.  Plus, if you never let yourself get out of shape its harder to appreciate being in shape. 

Have you ever thought about what a difference a few seconds can make?  I have never been so thankful for a few extra seconds as I was this week while doing my last hard uphill run.  Last Thursday morning Sara and I had driven 15 minutes to what has become one of my favorite runs in preparation for the hills of The ING New York City Marathon. 

I locked my Titan and headed out for my typical 20-minute warm-up jog along this beautiful little single track that runs along Lower Rock Creek.  I came back and, uncharacteristically for me, hopped right in the truck to drive the 2.5 miles up the road where I would start my climb.  I usually take a few minutes to stretch before getting in the car but today for some reason I didn’t feel the need.  I pulled onto the highway about 200 meters in front of a sport utility vehicle and we started to drive up to the base of the climb.

As we were driving I glanced back in my rear view mirror and what I saw was like something out of a movie.  The car, for no apparent reason, swerved into the far right hand shoulder and then headed all the way back across the four lane highway into the left hand shoulder where it rolled in a cloud of dust and came to a stop.  My heart missed a couple of beats and didn’t know what to do.  My mind flashed back to a psychology class I had taken at Stanford where we learned about how when emergencies happen in public places, where there are lots of people who could act, people usually didn’t because they all figured someone else would.  I was not going to be that person.  I pulled off on the shoulder and we immediately called 911 and talked to the dispatcher for a few minutes.  Before we got off the phone a fire truck that happened to be driving by was already on the scene with its lights on.  We figured at that point there was very little we could do by running back to the scene, as not only the fire truck was there but various cars had pulled over as well.

I was pretty shaken up as we continued on our way and Sara dropped me off to start my run.  My thoughts were with the person in that car and I was imaging what could have happened to us.  What went wrong with their car?  Did they make it?  What if I had jogged the warm-up 20 seconds slower and had been driving next to that car when it started swerving?  What if I had taken some more time to stretch?  That could have been us.  I started the climb with a very different perspective than I started the warm-up.  Running didn’t seem any less significant, it felt more precious.  Life felt more precious. 

Perspective is a huge part of running.  It’s the lens that we experience our running through.  My “lens” was very different for the uphill run than it typically is.  I welcomed the pain as I appreciated being alive to experience it.  I made the conscientious decision to take in every aspect of the run taking in the beauty of the scenery, despite the thinning air.  I paid extra attention to my senses.  I felt the cool breeze blow through my hair and the sweat dripping from my brow.  I could feel my heart pounding in my body and it never felt so good.  Sometimes it takes tragedy for us to realize what a gift it is to get to go out for a run.  Rolling out of bed on Thursday morning I wasn’t expecting to get much more than a good workout in but I got a brand new appreciation for life.

It served as a good reminder for me to really enjoy these last couple of weeks before the marathon.  I often get into countdown mode, thinking about how many more long tempos or long hard runs are left.  Thursday reminded me to take in every moment of every day.  After all, it’s the journey that makes the summit so special.  If someone took you to the summit of Everest in a helicopter you would appreciate being there, but if you just spent years of training and preparation and had just completed a long and treacherous journey to the top of Everest you would have a whole different sense of accomplishment when you summit.  I have spent the last 13 years of my life trying to make it to the summit of my career.  I haven’t been to the top yet, but it feels close.  But even if I get to the summit on November 1st, if I get there and haven’t enjoyed each step of the journey than I have lost.  Life is too precious to wish a moment away.

Ryan Hall's September 2009 Playlist that helps motivate and inspire his training prior to The ING New York City Marathon.

This week brought the first signs of fall and with it the excitement of increasing fitness as the ING NYC marathon draws near. For the first time this summer the shirt is staying on unless we are really running hard and I have already begun craving pumpkin lattes from Starbucks. There are many parts of fall that I enjoy, but the best part of fall is the feeling of being weeks away from top form.

Marathoning is much like cycling. I look up to Lance Armstrong as an athlete who has not only done what I would like to do the equivalent of in the running world, but also because he has used his physical feats to help others. I have read a couple books about Lance where they talk about the timing of peaking for the tour. It’s all about coming into peak form at precisely the right time to win the tour. I remember in a race leading up to one of the tours that Lance won he responded to a reporter's question about what was his goal for the competition and he replied, "to not get last."

It's really hard to go into buildup races for the marathon not in peak form but I know that if I really want the best shot to win NYC this fall I have to be so focused on that goal that I am willing to suffer in the races leading up to the competition. It is a bit ironic that I am writing this less than a week out from my last race, The Philadelphia Distance Classic, before NYC. It is not like I am not going to try and run fast at Philly or that I am expecting to get destroyed (I always go to the line with the expectation that something special could happen), but my point is that focus on the big goal and sacrifice is part of the price of being great.

It’s been a fairly typical week for me: intervals on Tuesday, Tempo run on Thursday and 20 miles hard on Sunday. However, last week was a significant week in that it marked the end of the initial buildup cycle for the marathon. From the time I arrived in Mammoth in the beginning of July till now it has all been about getting a good base level of fitness. Now it is time to go get one last indicator of where I am at before the real work begins. Along with the change of weather this week marks the winds of change in my training fast approaching.

On Sunday I race in Philly, then take a train to New York City where my wife and I will spend the next week. Not only am I looking forward to a week out of altitude to recover and gear up for the intense training awaiting me, but I am also looking forward to announcing some very exciting news that Wednesday. Additionally, I will get to preview the ING New York City Marathon course, which will give me some good images to visualize. On Saturday I will get to watch Sara compete in the 5th Ave mile and then we’ll catch an evening flight back to Reno that same day.

Monday the storm hits. If I am going to win the ING NYC marathon it will be as a result of what is done in those last 4 weeks of hard training before backing off for the race. An exciting season is on the way.

This week I have experienced the power of touch.  On Sunday, a full-time massage therapist that Sara and I have hired for the ten weeks leading up to the ING NYC marathon arrived in town.  I was really excited to have her join us in Mammoth because she had been a big help in working on me a lot leading up to the 2008 London Marathon where I set my personal best of 2:06:17.  I remember in the build-up, how amazed I was after hammering a 23 mile long run and walk out of the massage feeling like I could go run some more.  The next day I would be surprised by the lightness in my legs.

Leah, our massage therapist, joined us and started working right away.  The first couple of days I could tell that my legs were starting to feel better.  Then last night before the tempo run today I was walking around thinking to myself that I don’t think my legs have ever felt this good.  But I wasn’t sure if it would pan out into a good workout the next day.  As it turned out I had one of the best tempo runs I have ever had in Mammoth.  It was amazing.

Leah’s work has made me believe all the more that there is power in physical touch.  I believe our bodies were made to respond to it.  I am really excited to have Leah’s healing hands with me on my journey to the finish in Central Park.  I know that I still have to put in a lot of hard work on my end but I am growing in my assurance that if I am going to win in New York it is not just going to be as result of my hard work and my sacrifice, it is going to be the result of people like my family that helped us move in to our new place last week, and my wife who decided to stay home and not go to Europe this summer to support me, and my teammates and friends support and encouragement along the way.  If I win, it will be because I am a part of a great team of people that are sacrificing and working hard towards one goal, some with their heads, some with their hearts, and some with their hands.

One of the things that I love about running and life is entering the great unknown. I have thought about when I am done running professionally, how much I am going to miss the thrill and nerves of the starting line. Even though I don’t particularly enjoy the nerves at the moment, it is at these times that I feel truly alive.

I have been thinking about this because I am pretty unsure of my fitness level heading into the NYC half marathon. While it has already been nearly four months since Boston, I still feel like I could use more time to prepare for my first race of the fall. I guess it is a good sign to feel this way because I will still have plenty of time before the ING NYC Marathon and need to feel like there are gains to be made.

The first month after Boston I basically took down time. Two weeks of no running or cross training followed by two weeks of running every other day with biking on the off days. Then a couple weeks of running with strides and pacing Sara on the track and slowly getting into workouts.

It was hard to take the break after Boston. I was excited with the results and eager to train hard for the fall but I had learned that patience is a necessity for the marathoner, after cutting my break shorter than usual after London leading up to the Olympics. As a result I was pretty much flat and stale in my preparations. My body felt like it was rejecting any training I was doing compared to now when my body feels like a sponge absorbing every workout, getting faster and faster with every week.

After Track and Field Nationals in late June, Sara and I headed back home to the thin air of Mammoth and back to intense training. Training has been going as well as I could hope since being home, but I haven’t done many of the key workouts that give me the feedback of my half marathon fitness. Instead of doing the usual 10-12 mile tempo runs that I use as gauges I have been doing 9-mile uphill runs climbing from 7,000ft to 10,000ft. Those runs are hard, but the reward is huge. Not only physically, but also there is the best pie place in the world at “Pie In The Sky Café” that we have made the post-workout indulgence.

Heading into NYC I am running into the unknown. I will have to wait till the later stages of the race to find out what kind of shape I am in. Regardless of how the race plays out I will move forward with confidence that I am healthy and feeling good in my training. I guess you never know what is going to happen on any given day. I am always in search of that pearl, those really special days when everything clicks, and maybe I will find it on Sunday.