Ryan Hall: Why I'm Not Going to Africa

Well, life is always exciting as a professional athlete. I've learned it is nearly impossible to plan anything.  Sara and I were very excited to head to Kenya this month, but a cranky quad had different plans for us. While my tired quad only needed a little bit of time to get back to normal, it came at the perfect time to prevent us from proceeding with our trip, as staying close to our ace therapist, John Ball, became a bigger priority than a trip to Kenya. I was really bummed to miss a trip to Kenya prior to the Boston Marathon, but it will only make me that much more excited to visit before a fall marathon.

With the change in plans comes some good: I am really excited to return to sea level after a hard training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona, since the beginning of January. We are really excited to be heading back to Redding, California, to continue training for Boston.  I tend to thrive when at home, so I am confident that being at home will allow me to get into my groove and with just under 8 weeks to go, the hardest work is still yet to be done. I'm looking forward to the challenging days ahead.  Happy training!

—Ryan Hall, Record-breaking marathoner