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Chad Hall approximately 200 meters away from winning the 2006 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships.

Interviews with Chad Hall and Ryan Hall

Posted on December 12, 2006, Interview conducted December 9, 2006

Reported by Alison Wade

After his victory at the 2006 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships, we briefly caught up with Chad Hall, a senior at Big Bear High School in California. Hall won his first California state cross country title this fall, and finished a close second at the Foot Locker West Regional before his victory in San Diego. His older brother, Ryan Hall, was a Foot Locker Finalist in 2000, when he finished third at nationals behind Dathan Ritzenhein and Alan Webb. Ryan went on to become an NCAA 5,000m champion in 2005, and is currently a professional runner sponsored by Asics. Ryan's wife, Sara Hall (formerly Bei), the 2000 Foot Locker Cross Country Champion, was also beaming from the sidelines as Chad ran to victory.

Chad Hall fittingly won his Foot Locker Cross Country title wearing a pair of Ryan's old spikes. ("I always hand my extra stuff down to him," says Ryan.) We talked to both Ryan and Chad Hall after the race, between their television interviews and family photos.

Chad Hall

On his strategy after Steve Murdock caught up to him at the top of the hill, late in the race:
I knew I had a little more left. At that point, I decided not to push it anymore, I just wanted to hang on to him, because I knew I wasn't just going to be able to keep running away from him. He was pushing harder than I was, so he was leading and I just tried to stay with him.

On accomplishing something that his brother Ryan hasn't:
It doesn't really make that much of a difference to me. If Ryan had won it, I'd be just as happy to win it too.

On the secrets to the Hall family's running success:
I think the fact that my dad's the coach helps a lot, and my mom cooks all of our meals, so we always eat pretty well.

On his weekly mileage:
I do up around 90 during the summer. I probably got down to just under 70 this week.

On the support of the elite runners who he knows:
It's pretty cool. It's definitely nice to have them, and get advice before the race. [At this point, Chad laughs as he hears Ryan telling announcer Tracy Sundlun over the loudspeaker that "Murdock made [Chad] pray a lot."

Ryan Hall

On his impressions of the race:
It was really exciting. He looking comfortable until he started going up the hill and [Steve Murdock] was starting to catch up. Going down the hill, it looked like [Murdock] might run away from him, so I really hand it to him. If I had been in that same situation, I don't know if I would have come back on him. [Chad] came back on [Murdock] and finished strong. It was exciting.

On Chad having his older brother as a role model and learning from Ryan's experiences:
The biggest thing I hope he takes away is just the way he thinks about certain times and results. Like [he realizes that] it's not a big deal to run 9:00 for the two mile, it's not a big deal to run 4:10 for a mile. Hopefully he sees me breaking these barriers and says, 'Hey, my older brother can do this, I'm doing the same thing he's doing, why can't I do it?' That's what I hope he takes away from this.

On Chad's breakthrough:
It's just so awesome because coming into this year, he hadn't even won a state title in cross. We were waiting for this to happen and to finally have it happen in his senior year is a big deal.