American marathoner Ryan Hall announced Wednesday that he would not be contesting this year’s Chicago Marathon.  After hearing the news, it begged the question, what does the future hold for Ryan Hall?

My first thought after digesting the news was wondering if he could somehow have a rapid improvement in his training that would get him fit enough to run the New York City Marathon on November 7.  For a runner as good as Hall, a few days off can cure many ills and could have given him the break necessarily to get things back on track to peak a month later than scheduled.  These hopes were soon dashed as Hall announced on his blog that he would be taking a prolonged break from running and would not be racing until 2011.

After producing an American record half marathon in January 2007, the Big Bear, Calif. native produced as spectacular of a first three races as a marathoner can have.  He ran the fastest American debut at the 2007 London Marathon in 2:08:24, then won the U.S. Olympic Trials on the rolling terrain of the Central Park course in 2:09:02.  Hall then proceeded to threaten the American record the next year in London, coming in 5th in 2:06:17, the fastest time ever run by an American-born athlete.