HALL GOES FOR BROKE, RUNS BRILLIANT LONDON MARATHON, By David Monti

There's always a point in a marathon race when a top contender has to decide whether or not to go with a major move.  For Ryan Hall that moment came just as soon as the starter's horn sounded at today's 28th Flora London Marathon.  The 25-year-old who trains in the thin air of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., had to decide whether he could hang on to an opening pace well below the world record, or face running the streets of London alone.  There was really no choice.

"We knew we were committed because there was no 'B' group which was a good option," explained Hall's coach Terrence Mahon.

So Hall joined the likes of two-time London champion Martin Lel, the world half-marathon record holder Samuel Wanjiru, and last year's runner-up Abderrahim Goumri and five other contenders on a 2:02 marathon pace.

"It was really challenging both mentally and physically," said Hall after the race.  "It wasn't like were clicking off 4:45 after 4:45.  It would be like low 4:40 than 4:50.  It's more like the uneven pacing made it more challenging for me.  I'm very much a rhythm runner.  I like to find my groove and go with it."

Hall, dressed in a royal blue singlet and dark sunglasses, stayed to the rear of the group as the miles ticked by.  They passed through ten miles in 47:12, still well below world record pace, and hit the halfway mark in an eye-popping time of 1:02:12, well below the 1:02:30 to 1:02:45 the race organizers had asked of the pacemakers.

"I knew the half was going to be fast," said Hall.  "I saw our half split and I was, like, whoa!"

Remarkably, the lead group stuck together through the 14th mile when 2004 ING New York City Marathon champion Hendrick Ramaala finally fell back.  Hall felt the pace sag to 4:55 in the 16th mile, and he suggested to the remaining pacemaker, Dieudonné Disi of Rwanda, that he pick it up a little.

At one point I went up to the rabbit and said, let's keep it rolling," Hall recalled.  "We slowed down to a 4:55 mile.  It seemed like Ramaala and some of the other guys were struggling a little bit so I wanted to keep it going.  That was totally classic, because I told him to pick it up and I got dropped when they ran 4:30-something."

For nearly four miles, Hall was running alone and had to rethink the race.  "I didn't know that they were going to come back when they pulled away.  They made a pretty hard move.  Honestly, I just couldn't go with it."

But Hall showed the kind of maturity most marathoners don't acquire until much later in their careers.  He said that he vowed not to drop out, even though that emotion hit him at least once.

"I think I was more impressed with his ability to think through the course," said Coach Mahon.  "He was making those mental calculations and staying in the game, starting to troubleshoot.  That's the sign of a mature athlete."

By the 21st mile, Hall was back up with the leaders.  "They weren't pulling away from me anymore," he < href=> said.  "We started to hit the wind and the rain and stuff, and I said I need to catch them."  He added: "I've totally eliminated the idea of dropping out of races, because when you give yourself that option it's all you can think about."

It was raining heavily now and the cold was bone-chilling.  Although the pace fell off a bit to 4:50 to 4:55 per mile - a 2:05:30 predicted finish time - Hall was eventually dropped for good when Wanjiru surged in the 23rd mile.  Again, he recalibrated his effort.

"You've come this far, we're going to the finish and we're giving it everything we've got," Hall told himself.  "I didn't come this far to bag the last couple of miles."

As Lel and Wanjiru were battling it out up ahead for the win, Hall was close with another top Kenyan, Emmanuel Mutai.  Battling all the way to the line, Mutai was able to beat Hall by only two seconds.  Hall's finish time of 2:06:17 was the third fastest ever recorded by an American, placing him behind only the former world record holder, Khalid Khannouchi, on the USA all-time list.

Nonetheless, Hall thinks he has more to give and can still run faster.  "I wanted to break 2:06," he said.  "I was looking at my watch thinking it's going to be close.  Then I saw like a 5:10 mile and I said, 'oh.'"

Hall plans to recover aggressively from this race, before beginning his Beijing preparations, taking extra good care of his body and "not staying up late and stuff."  He plans to go to Boston next weekend to cheer his teammate, Deena Kastor, at the USA Marathon Team Trials - Women's Marathon.  His Team Running USA in Mammoth Lakes really is a team.

"I'm really looking forward to that," said Hall.  "Seeing my teammates run and seeing my first Boston, live.  I'm excited to watch that."