March 4, 2008

Welcome to the official blog of top U.S. distance runner Ryan Hall as he begins his quest for Olympic gold! Check back every other Friday for Ryan’s latest entry. To be completely honest, I was bummed after XC Nationals. I was in good shape and ready to go, or so I thought. My expectations were high and I was hoping to kick off 2008 with a bang, so I was naturally a little bent when things didn’t turn out how I had hoped. Finishing fifth wasn’t a terrible performance and my hat goes off to Dathan and the rest of the guys on the team (I am sure we will all be proud of how they represent the US at Worlds), but it just wasn’t building the momentum I was looking for heading into London. Afterwards, there were lots of reasons, of which I constantly kept reminding myself, for why I didn’t perform well, but that didn’t keep me from getting a little bummed. Even so, I welcome these humbling experiences because they get me fired up. I had humbling experiences that preceded all of my best races.