Ryan Hall to Run Boston Marathon: Check this out!

November 19, 2008
FEATURE NEWS: At Last, Good Economic News--Ryan Hall Has A New Job, Will Race Boston Marathon
By Amby Burfoot

Photo By Victah Sailer

The John Hancock Financial company, principal sponsor of the Boston Marathon, yesterday announced that Ryan Hall will be running next April's Boston Marathon. Hall will attempt to become the first American male to win Boston since Greg Meyer in 1983. (The last American female winner was Lisa Rainsberger in 1985.)

In these days and weeks of gloomy economic news, it's nice to hear that someone's got a decent-paying new job. How decent? Only the Hancock, Hall and a few of his best friends know for sure. But we decided to ask a select circle of running insiders how much they believe Hall will be receiving as a Boston appearance fee.

So we sent out an email to: race directors, elite athlete coordinators, elite marathoners, top agents, and informed running journalists. We asked them what they thought about Hall's new job. Many noted that athlete contracts contain several key clauses offering payment based on: appearance, place, and time, to note the most obvious three.

Estimates of Hall's appearance fee ranged from $100,000 to $500,000, with the majority falling between $100,000 and $200,000. However, the one big pop at $500,000 raised the average of all estimates we received to $202,000.

At any rate, we're pretty sure the payment is enough to keep Hall off the assembly lines in Detroit. And on the hills of Mammoth Lakes and Big Bear Lake, CA, where he does his best work.

Estimates were provided by: Deena Kastor, Jim Ferstle, Luis Posso/Derek Froude, Peter Gambaccini, Jim Gerweck, Bob Gordon, Don Kardong, Merhawi Keflezighi, Dan Lilot, Greg Meyer, Brendan Reilly, Dathan Ritzenhein, Bill Rodgers, Victor Sailer, Matt Taylor

Deena Kastor and some inspiration from a voluntary amputee

As you may or may not know, Deena Kastor broke her foot while running the Olympic Marathon in Beijing. Here's the care she has received:

rest
BONE-UP calcium supplement
magnets
acupuncture
a spiritual bone healer
physical therapy on my muscles to negate atrophy
bone marrow soup
a DEXA-scan to benchmark my bone density
ice baths
and visualization

Tom White's left leg was so badly injured in an accident that after several years of worsening pain he voluntarily had it amputated in late-2007. He ran the 2008 NYC Marathon in 4 hours and 40 minutes. Incredible.

interesting thread on balancing work and running...

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2742112

Pre-op appointment and surgery

I had a pre-op appointment with my surgeon on Tuesday. I will have a surgery on 12/1 at Y-NHH to remove the temporary hardware from a surgery in January. I will receive a general anesthetic. Immediately after the surgery, I will be able to bear only partial weight on my left foot. Approximately two weeks later, on 12/16, I will have the suture(s) removed. Then, I'm free.

At my appointment, I learned that the x-rays of my left foot showed good bone and perfect alignment, suggesting that the spring ligament has completely healed. An ultrasound confirmed this. We could actually see one of the sutures that was used to bring the tear together. Kind of cool.

As a final note, I'm grateful to have found such a supportive surgeon. Dr. Reach is not happy unless I am happy. If I want to run marathons, he wants me to run marathons and will help me achieve that goal. If I want to hang up my running shoes and become a great swimmer, he will help me do this.

that sucks...

Dynamic Stretching

Good article in the nytimes about stretching:

www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sports/playmagazine/112pewarm.html?em

NYC Marathon

I love watching marathons.

I went out on a limb and picked Kara Goucher to win today, but you just can't beat Paula Radcliffe. She's insane. First of all, she's the best ever--4 of 5 top marathon times ever. Secondly, she had a longer build-up and is much more experienced than Goucher.

1. Radcliffe (2:23:55) -- 8th win in 10 marathons
2. Petrova (2:25:43) -- fastest ever for a 40-year old woman
3. Goucher (2:25:52) -- fastest ever debut for an American woman

For the men, I picked Abderrahim Goumri to win today. No dice.

1. Gomes dos Santos (2:08:43)
2. Goumri (2:09:07)
3. Rono (2:11:22)

Thanksgiving Morning

My brother and I are registered for the Manchester Road Race. Can't wait. This will be my third road race since returning to running in May.

8/10: Torrington Road Race; Distance: 5 miles; Pace: 8:52

10/5: Highland Lake; Distance: 10K; Pace: 8:25

My goal for the MRR is a sub-8-minute pace.

Predictions for New York City Marathon, Sunday, November 2

The lovely Kara Goucher* for the women; Abderrahim Goumri for the men.

*Longest race: half-marathon; time: 1:06:57

Interesting Article

Here is a link to an article, "Are You Running Yourself to Death?," published in the latest issue of Men's Health. (You'd never find an article of this kind published in Runner's World, Running Times, or any of the other lesser known running periodicals.) The author is a marathoner himself, so I can't hate on his article too much, but, frankly, I'm not particularly fond of it. It excites the reader into thinking that the damage done to a runner's heart from running a marathon is somehow permanent, and that the only way to prevent a cardiac event during or after a marathon is to train at least 45 miles per week. As support for his article, the author cites the deaths of elite marathoner Ryan Shay and a recreational runner. First of all, Ryan Shay trained well over 100 miles per week, so the suggestion that a runner train at least 45 miles per week to prevent a cardiac event is anything but significant. Secondly, Ryan Shay had a congenital heart problem that was monitored periodically. His doctor even gave him the green light to train for and run the 2007 Olympic Trials. As to the recreational runner, as far as I recall, his autopsy was inconclusive. I'll research this...

UPDATE: The recreational runner who died during 2007's Chicago Marathon also had a congenital heart problem. His autopsy showed that he had a mitral valve prolapse. My understanding of this heart problem is that one of the valves of the heart fails to completely close, thereby allowing a backflow of blood into the heart, which, apparently, can carry a high risk of complications.

The lesson: GET AN ANNUAL PHYSICAL. I last had a physical in November of 2006 and was diagnosed with a heart murmur. A heart murmur is not a disease; it's just a fancy name for an abornmal sound emitting from the heart. My mother was diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse at a very young age, so I had reason to worry. I immediately had an echocardiogram--an ultrasound of the heart--different from an electrocardiogram, which isn't as effective as the former in diagnosing heart defects. Luckily, my echocardiogram came back negative, so it's unclear what exactly caused the heart murmur that my doctor heard. My next physical is on October 31st. Get one.

MRR

Anybody up for what is rumored to be the greatest road race in CT? www.manchesterroadrace.com

Balancing Running and Life

Now that I'm working a lot more than I ever have before (and want to be), I'm finding it hard to get runs in between work and other things. Especially now that it is getting dark earlier every day. I'm dreading turning the clocks back. This weekend I went backpacking in VT and missed my long run on Sunday, which bothered me as I thought I'd be too tired and not have time to get it in today. However, I got it in and felt quite good. For previous marathons I followed my training schedule every day, but I think I'm going to give myself some more flexibility and see how it goes.

Much appreciation for Geoff who found time to train for the Hartford Marathon and just had a baby in January! Sounds like mommy Em is already back to running too! (Is Sierra going to be a runner or a lacrosse player?)