Marathoner Ryan Hall On What to Expect At This Year's Boston Marathon

It’s marathon time in Boston again, and Monday’s weather does not look at all like it's going to cooperate, with rain and cold temperatures in the forecast. That forecast is sort of a repeat of last year, when the weather played a part in some rather unexpected outcomes.

Ryan Hall ran the fastest marathon ever by an American in the 2011 Boston Marathon. He spoke with WGBH All Things Considered anchor Barbara Howard about running Boston and beyond. This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Barbara Howard: So at last year's marathon in the cold and the rain, we saw an American, Desiree Linden, win the women's race. And a Japanese runner, Yuki Kawauchi, won the men's race. Neither of those two runners were favorites to win, yet they came out on top. This time, it may be that the weather does it again. What do you think?

Ryan Hall: I've run the Boston marathon four times, and I always tell people I've never had it be the same weather two years in a row. So I'm hoping it's not going to be the same as last year. But you know, at least if it is, it's something that a lot of these runners have been through already and this is a repeat of that. So they'll be able to mentally handle it much better probably than they did last year.

Howard: Well the Japanese runner who won last year, Yuki Kawauchi, had an interesting story, because he kind of trains for this kind of weather. He trains in the worst possible weather in the hopes of hitting a marathon like this, and that some of the elite runners won't show up or won't do well in this kind of weather. And that gives him the edge. What do you know about that?

Hall: I mean, a lot of it comes down to what did you grow up in. So a guy like Yuki is in Japan, and it's cold in Japan, they get snow, so he's used to running in these kind of conditions. Whereas you get a guy from Kenya, Ethiopia, they've never even seen this snow before maybe, and then they're here running and trying to battle it out. Also too, body composition comes into play a lot. African guys tend to be a lot lighter than, say, Japanese or American runners. And so they tend to struggle with the cold a little bit more, just because there's less there.

Howard: So for some, it gives them an edge. In others, it's not good at all.

Hall: Yeah, yeah. I mean, as you know, most elites, they kind of hope that the weather's going to be kind of nasty, because it will kind of take a lot of the Kenyans and Ethiopians out of the picture.

Howard: And then there's Desiree Linden. Last year, she actually stopped early in the race to wait for a friend as she used the bathroom, I understand. Yet she won. How did that happen?

Hall: I think that is actually something that's really powerful, and I actually talk about this in my book, "Run the Mile You're In," that's going to be coming out, about how oftentimes you can push yourself through pain the best when you're thinking about other people and trying to help other people. And I think that was a perfect picture of that happening. The thing is, when you think about yourself, you turn inward. So whatever you're feeling just gets manifested even more and more. So if you're feeling any kind of pain and you start focusing on it, it's just going to increase and increase — at least your awareness of it will. Whereas if you're thinking about someone else and trying to help them, all of a sudden, your thoughts are going towards something else and it’s not focused on the pain, it doesn't hurt as bad, and you can push yourself even harder.

Howard: Well you yourself, you're not going to be running this time, right?

Hall: I'm not. My wife is running for the first time.

Howard: Why aren’t you running?

Hall: I retired from professional running about three and a half years ago. So now I'm coaching other pro athletes and coaching athletes online, as well.

Howard: And your wife, too?

Hall: Yeah, I coach my wife.

Howard: How do you think she's going to do?

Hall: That's always a tough question to answer, because we don't get the privilege of seeing other people training. So how she's going to stack up compared to other runners, I have no idea. I know she's in the best shape she's ever been in in her life, and she definitely has outside chance of stealing the show and winning this thing.

Howard: What's her bib number, what should we be watching for?

Hall: I don't know. But it does say Hall on her bib. So if you see a Hall running by in some Asics shoes, cheer extra loud for her.

Howard: What about the people on the sidelines? With 90 percent chance of rain on Monday, it's going to be a thinner crowd. I mean, how much do you depend on the Boston spirit to get you through?

Hall: It's what Boston is known for, it's why this was my favorite marathon out of all the marathons I ever ran, because the energy on the course just carries you from the start in Hopkinton all the way to the finish line. I'll never forget going through the Scream Tunnel — obviously everyone knows about that — but then also going past Boston College, and those guys, I think they've been hitting the beers already in the morning, they’re loud and it's exciting to run past those guys. But the whole way the energy is is just crazy. I always tell people to use all the energy from the sideline, because it is so helpful to be able to piggyback off someone else's energy when you feel your own energy really waning.

Howard: So you're hoping that crowds turn out despite the weather?

Hall: Yeah, I think Boston has some hardy fans. I think they're going be out there. They're used to enduring some snow at the Patriots games and some cold days at Fenway. So I think they're going to show up.

Howard: That's runner Ryan Hall. In 2011, he ran the fastest marathon ever by an American, and it happened right here in Boston, at the Boston Marathon. He finished with a time of 2:04:58, coming in fourth overall. Hall has a new book coming out next week called "Run the Mile You're In."