With the Beijing Olympics headed our way, the Underground’s Bandwagon Jumping Committee is looking for ways to latch onto the IOC’s bazillion dollar marketing juggernaut, and frankly, I’ve think we’ve done it.
Meet Ryan Hall — the fastest American-born marathon runner ever. Not only was he the top finisher in the US Olympic Marathon Trials, he’s also a diehard fly fisherman.
That’s right, buddy boy; the Big Bear, CA-based Hall runs faster than your average bonefish for 26.2 miles, and still has energy left over to fly fish a little.
While I’m not a fan of fly fishing’s tendency to gush over celebrities who also happen to fly fish, but what the heck — we’re officially adopting him, which means the Undergrounders send him Powerful Underground Positive Vibes (and maybe drink the beer he can’t because he’s training), and claim partial credit when he scores heavy.
We get to cheer on a homeboy who’s making good, and suddenly, we’ve got a little skin in the Olympic games.
You can read all about him on Wikipedia, and he’s got a blog here. I’ll post updates, the first of which goes right here: a week ago he placed 5th in the ultra-competitive London Marathon with a time of 2:06.17 — fastest time ever by an American-born runner.
See you at the opening ceremonies, Tom Chandler.
p.s. — here’s Hall winning the US Olympic Trials in New York (listen to the crowds):
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi,
Just found your blog through a blog reader on the Ryan Hall site I created:
http://www.squidoo.com/ryan_hall
It’s a one-stop shop to learn everything there is to know about Ryan Hall…and yes, there’s much more there than in Wikipedia! Think of it as Wikipedia 2.0.
Anyway, what’s your source for identifying Ryan as a fly-fisherman? That’s a great bit of trivia I’d never heard!
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Bryan: Thanks for the lens reference. My source on the fly fishing front was (I think) an interview with Ryan in the March Track & Field News (yes, I’m a track geek).
Also saw it referenced somewhere else, but can’t recall where.
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