I don’t know how many of you keep up with long-distance running, but there’s a guy named Ryan Hall who is running the men’s marathon in the olympics for the USA as I’m typing.  He currently holds the North American record for the half marathon when he ran a 59:43 half in Houston, TX on January 14, 2007.  He also has a PR of 2:06:17 for the full marathon when he ran in London in 2008 (that’s 4:49/mile!!!).  Needless to say this guy is an amazing athlete.  But that’s not my favorite part about him.

Justin was looking up videos of Ryan Hall a couple of months ago after he saw him in Boston at the Boston Marathon, and he came across this video.

http://www.thefinalsprint.com/2007/10/video-of-ryan-hall-training-run-on-godtubecom/

Apparently he is a very outspoken Christ-follower and he’s been using his success as a runner to share his faith and the story/hope of Christ with everyone who will listen.  It’s pretty amazing to see someone as successful and popular as he is publicly acknowledging the power of Christ in his life. I think it can get hard for all of us to solely give glory to God when we are really good at something, and it takes a truly grounded person in the Word to do that.  So, I was just really encouraged to hear that one of the runners I really look up to as an athlete is also someone I can look up to as a brother in Christ.

Anyways, he is running in the Olympic Marathon right now and I think everyone should turn there and cheer him on.  Go USA!!