Boston Is A Special Marathon For Ryan Hall

He says he’s going to go out hard from the very beginning.

Even though he zoomed to the finish with his arms spread out like an airplane at last year’s Boston Marathon, Ryan Hall still managed to set the new American course record there (2:08:41). And even more significant, perhaps, was the fact that he was just 2:49 away from winning the race. Still, Hall managed to finish fourth.

This year, Hall returns to the famous race. ESPN.com caught up with him on Wednesday to pick his brain about his chances there.

Hall says he’s humbled by the Boston Marathon and that he “feels like it’s such an historic race. So when I’m out there on the starting line, I feel like I’m participating in history. And as an American, there are very few things as American as the Boston Marathon on Patriots Day.”

He went on to share a bit of his plan come race day, which is to run hard the whole way. “My strategy is always to try to get as much out of my body as I possibly can,” he said. “I’m going to be running hard the entire way, whereas you might see some people looking around during the first half of the race or jogging those opening miles.”

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