Running Couple Ryan and Sara Hall Headline L.A. Marathon

Published by Universal Sports on March 9, 2015

On March 15, the ASICS L.A. Marathon will host 20,000 runners who will make their way from Dodger Stadium to the Santa Monica Pier. But, this year’s marathon will do more than that.

As preparation for 2016, when the L.A. Marathon will also serve as the Olympic Trials for Rio, this year’s event has been designated as the USA Track & Field Marathon Championships. The Americans in the field will battle not just for that title, but also for $150,000 in prize money. Another $110,000 is being doled out to the elite field at large, which includes a number of international stars.

The biggest stars from the U.S. are arguably two-time Olympian Ryan Hall and his wife, Sara, who will make her marathon debut in Los Angeles. Ryan ran the fastest American marathon time (2:04:58) at the 2011 Boston Marathon and finished second at the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials, but has been plagued by injuries since then. Sara won the 2012 U.S. Cross-Country Championships and took gold at the 2011 Pan American Games in the steeplechase.