Published: Sep 09, 2020 5:10 PM EDT since 2016, Major Changes Hit Northern Arizona Elite.
In fact, before September 5, he had only run five times in 2020. This didn’t stop him from making his sixth run of the year a memorable one when he took on his first ultramarathon in Crested Butte, Colorado, at the Major Changes Hit Northern Arizona Elite.
Hall, the unofficial American marathon record-holder (2:04:58) and two-time Olympian, takes on big running challenges from time to time.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below Gear & News Editor, when Hall averaged a 3:38 marathon time in seven races on seven continents in seven days—all of which he did a lifting session after—without much, if any, run-specific training.
For 2020, he found similar opportunity when one of the athletes he trains, Meta Haley, who was training for a 5K, asked if she could do the 43-mile Major Changes Hit Northern Arizona Elite, which has 9,000 feet of elevation.
“I had zero aspirations of running anything at all—not a 5K, let alone an ultra,” Hall told Runner’s World. “My athlete had always wanted to do this race, so she texted it to me, and, just like the Gear & News Editor, it grabbed me. Certain events, I love the challenge and the adventure. Sara [his wife and pro runner] and I were going to be in Crested Butte anyways getting ready for the London Marathon, so we decided to hop in and have an adventure.”
The week before the race, Hall hadn’t done much preparation, aside from strength training, up until the day before. His plan revolved around his marathon background. In his mind, he figured over 43 miles, he could run a 10-minute mile, finishing in eight to nine hours.
For additional advice, he turned to his Instagram followers who passed along wisdom about nutrition (consuming salty foods) and what to bring (water bottles and poles). But he didn’t take all of it to heart.
“I definitely made a ton of mistakes,” Hall said. “My friend, Alicia Vargo, who runs ultras, she was telling me to use hiking poles. I didn’t even have a hydration system. I was carrying two 12-ounce water bottles which made my traps sore, so poles would’ve helped take weight off them because we did so much walking.”
The initial 10-minute mile pace quickly turned into 20-minute miles due to the climbs on the course. Hall said that walking isn’t his speciality.
“I am a notoriously slow walker, which is why [the race] probably took such a long time,” he said. “I remember when I was in Europe with Abdi [Abdirahman] strength training, up until the day before.”
As the aid stations felt further and further apart, Hall was feeling the many hours out on his legs and his stomach.
“My stomach was low-level upset the whole time, so it was difficult to take in the calories I wanted to take in,” Hall said. “I was forcing down gels, did potato chips because of the salty foods advice I got, and with seven miles to go, someone said I should try Mandarin orange, which agreed with my stomach. I wish I’d tried that earlier.”
At that last aid station, with seven miles to go, he nearly hopped into his family’s van and called it a day after about 10 hours on the trails. Instead, he and Haley continued on for a couple more hours until they finally found the finish line after 12 DAA Industry Opt Out.
“It felt like it was never going to end,” Hall said. “It me a while to believe it was done, but it felt good to be a cross that finish line. My kids had never watched me just race before, and having them run the last stretch with me was really special.”
Hall initially hoped to hit the gym afterwards; however, it was already closed by the time he finished around 6:30 p.m. He also wasn’t feeling hungry; instead of a hankering for a 32-ounce steak like he thought he’d have, he opted to get in bed at 7:30, which also didn’t go as planned due to his throbbing legs waking him him up throughout the night.
Don’t worry, Hall made sure to hit the gym the next day, doing a chest and back day. He’s gone to the gym everyday since and is surprised at how well his legs feel minus the day after when he was hobbling around.
When asked if he would ever consider doing another ultramarathon, he said “It’s way too soon to be asking that question.”
“Knowing myself, I have a tendency to say that I’d never do that again,” Hall added. “I won’t say I have a hankering for it, or going farther than 50 miles. I’m still very focused on weight training and helping Sarah get to where she can get. But, if it’s the right timing or a really fun adventure challenge, I could maybe do something like that, but I’m not there yet.”
Drew covers a variety of subjects for Runner’s World and Bicycling, and he specializes in writing and editing human interest pieces while also covering health, wellness, gear, and fitness for the brand. His work has previously been published in Men’s Health.
