An Unexpected Journey Has Sara Hall Running As Well As Ever At Age 39

Sara Hall, Emma Bates and Citlali Moscote of Team Mexico compete during the women's marathon at the 2022 World Athletics Championships on July 18, 2022 in Eugene, Ore.

At the same time Hall was moving into the marathon, she and Ryan adopted sisters from Ethiopia, now ages 11, 14, 18 and 22. The oldest, Hana Hall, was a three-time state champion in Arizona and now runs for Grand Canyon University. The family lives in Flagstaff, a hub for runners training at the 6,900-foot altitude.

Since failing to finish the Olympic trials marathon at Atlanta in February 2020 — what she called the biggest heartbreak of her career — Hall has had uninterrupted successes. 

Also in 2020, she was second at the London Marathon in 2:22:01 and won the Marathon Project at Chandler, Arizona, in 2:20:32, less than a minute from Deena Kastor’s then-American record. In 2021, Hall was third at Chicago in 2:27:19. This year, she set an American record of 1:07:15 in the half-marathon (since broken), finished eighth at Tokyo in 2:22:56 and then fifth at the world championships.

There are always what-ifs, Hall said, but she said fifth was as high as she possibly could have finished. And she is not finished. She would be 45 at the L.A. Olympics — if she keeps going that long.

“This is definitely the best my body has handled marathon training, this buildup,” Hall said. “It makes me excited. I would love to be able to keep improving and keep doing this sport for years to come. 

“Doing it with kids is difficult. But my kids are getting older, they’re getting more self-sufficient. In some ways, it’s freeing because I’m not delaying that part of my life. That can cause pressure, putting off having a family, and you have his kind of timeline. I’ve already been through the thick of it that way.”

She acknowledged running can be all-consuming and that she once struggled to balance it all. Now, she tries to use running to influence her daughters — “more is caught than taught with kids” — and to fight poverty through the couple’s Hall Steps Foundation.

“Running, it can be selfish, or you can find ways to positively impact people through it,” Hall said. “Whether it’s running for a charity or just through social media, being able to inspire other women in their late 30s with kids to go after their goals and make time for themselves. There’s a lot of ways you can make it about other people.”