LOS ANGELES - Ryan and Sara Hall have run countless races over their storied careers, but never the same 26.2-mile course. On Sunday the couple will tackle the L.A. Marathon together, the first for Sara and the first of 2015 for marathon veteran Ryan. 

 

“She’s done everything she needs to do to run a really good marathon so she just gets to enjoy the fruits of her labor now on Sunday,” Ryan Hall said. 

 

Ryan’s marathon experience extends for many years, beginning with a U.S. half-marathon record (59:43) from 2007 that still stands today. A two-time Olympian in the distance, Ryan finished 10th at the 2008 Olympic Marathon, third and fourth at the Boston Marathon in 2009 and 2010, but was forced to drop out of London 2012 because of a hamstring injury. Since running 2:04:58 - the fastest marathon ever run by an American - at the Boston Marathon in 2011, Ryan has struggled to return to form, but has pulled from his own experience to assist Sara with her training.

 

“She’s in really good shape,” Ryan Hall said smiling during the press conference Friday. “I got to figure out how to beat Sara, that’s at the top of my agenda.” 

 

After putting in 115-mile weeks while living in the Ethiopian Highlands outside Addis Ababa, Sara’s training benefits will finally come to fruition on the starting line at Dodger Stadium. 

 

“I feel like it’s been a long time coming since I was going to run one in the fall and it got cut short and so now I finally get to do it and just get there,” Sara Hall said. 

 

Her plan to run her first marathon came to a halt last August when her appendix burst, which took a large chunk of training time away from marathon preparation. Since recovering, Sara surprised herself with a 1:13:38 for 11th at the 2014 U.S. Half Marathon Championships and most recently a huge personal best of 1:10:50 for fourth at the 2015 U.S. Half Marathon Championships in Jan. 

 

“I was shocked that once I started training I was setting some PR’s in the shorter races, so I just tried to keep the momentum going,” Sara Hall said, who in the past few years also posted a win at the 2012 U.S. Cross Country Championships and runner-up finishes at the U.S. 10-mile championships, U.S. 10k Championships, and the U.S. 7-mile Championships. 

 

The Halls will also extend their marathon experience with a community of others as part of the Hall Steps Foundation competition, where runners from around the world can use their miles to raise money for clean water projects in Ethiopian communities.

 

“I’ve always thought I’d live in Africa and do development work so just being there and being in another culture is a part of me that sometimes with this career, is something I don’t get to be as much a part of so yeah it’s been fun,” Sara Hall recalled on her experience living in the Ethiopian Highlands. 

 

“We’re excited to give back to an area that means a lot to us,” she said.

 

As California natives and Stanford graduates, both Ryan and Sara’s families will be in attendance Sunday morning, cheering on the couple who will will tackle a new challenge together along with 26,000 competitors. 

 

“He’s [Ryan] been great about encouraging me to just be present in the moment and in the mile you’re in….I definitely wouldn’t be here without his help,” Sara Hall said.