Activating Ryan Hall

The 24-year-old Stanford grad ran the fastest debut marathon ever by an American in London: 2:08:24. Kenya's Martin Lel won the London Marathon in 2:07:41. Hall ran a 59:43 to set an American record at the Aramco Houston Half-Marathon in January.

Ryan's "Marathon Diary" blog entry: "I knew that I could run 2:08, and even faster, but it was even more special to have been leading the London Marathon in what the press was calling possibly the greatest marathon field ever assembled. I had taken my swing."