Just one day after winning the masters division at the Boston Marathon, Sara Hall join the MTA Podcast to reflect on one of the toughest races of her career, the launch of her new memoir For the Love of the Grind, and the lessons she’s learned through more than two decades of elite running.
At 43, Hall continues to redefine longevity in marathon running. In this conversation, she opens up about battling injury and anxiety, navigating the super shoe era, balancing motherhood and professional racing, and why she still loves pushing her limits after all these years. From trail running dreams to “mirror goals” to the role faith has played in her career, Hall shares an honest look at the mindset that has carried her through the highs and lows of life as a professional athlete.
Where did the book title come from?
Sara: For the Love of the Grind was from one of my Instagram posts that my agent was like, ‘I feel like this is the perfect title.’ And it’s been fun because everyone says that’s the perfect title for you. And I think that’s what’s kept me in the sport so long — just the love of the process, the love of pushing myself both in training and races.
The book’s really about longevity and kind of all the physical things, mental things, emotional things that I had to learn to get to this place of still being able to do the sport at this level at 43.
When did you realize you loved the grind of running?
Sara Hall:. It was really running that I feel like I just found my fire as a kid. My parents let me venture across the street in Santa Rosa where I grew up into the state park, where I got to explore the trails. And I just wanted to run the same loop faster every day.
Then cross-country practice started and we did hill sprints, and I loved the feeling of doing hill sprints. I wanted to set the school record for that. I think I just found I loved exploring my limits. Just as I was exploring my surroundings at the time, I loved getting to explore my physical limits.”
How did you develop a healthier identity outside of performance?
Sara: It was really through my faith, honestly. I didn’t realize at the time that I was putting my identity in success and really depending on that for my self-worth and love and belonging.
At a young age when I started getting criticism online anonymously, anytime I failed, I made that connection that if I fail in running, I can lose what every teenage girl wants, which is love and belonging from people.
It took a lot of failure for the unconditional love of God to actually be integrated in my heart and to really experience it. And yeah, it changed everything honestly. I started being able to take risks again in racing, and it really rekindled my love of running.
Your physical therapist JB is a recurring figure in the book. How important was that work to your longevity?
Sara Hall:. This book’s about longevity and he’s been a big part of my longevity as an athlete. It’s a big part of the physical and mental training — dealing with the pain. It’s extremely painful.
I really talk in the book about how I rebuilt and what specifically I did because I want to share that with other people. You think you just moved a certain way for 30 years and there’s no way around it, but actually you can make changes. Running feels so smooth and so good now even at 43.
You’ve switched to a 9-day training cycle as a masters runner. Why?
Sara Hall: Giving myself two days of recovery in between hard workouts instead of just one has given my body a little more time to get ready neurologically to go hard again. I found that once I rebuilt my body, it was handling it from an injury standpoint, but there’d be times I just lacked power. I feel like it’s been working well so far.
You’ve raced a huge number of marathons recently. Why keep doing so many?
Sara Hall: Just for the love of the grind mainly. I really love racing.
I don’t know if you know Yuki Kawauchi, the two-time Boston Marathon champion, but he used to race marathons like every weekend. And I was like, ‘Oh man, I’m so jealous of his race schedule. I think I’m getting closer to being able to just do whichever races sound fun to me.
How did your connection to Ethiopia begin?
Sara Hall: We already had a connection to Ethiopia through running. I’d traveled to Ethiopia before we even started the adoption process and just fell in love with the culture. They’re one of the only countries never to be colonized, so they retained their original language, culture, written language, their own calendar, everything. And then of course the running part makes it so fun.
What are “mirror goals”?
Sara Hall: In high school I used to write my goals and put them on the wall. One year I wrote four-time state champion and Foot Locker champion, and even though I lost my league meet and sectional meet, I never took those goals off the wall. In the end, they were like the only two goals I achieved that year. It really showed me the power of visualization and just making your goals visible and refusing to throw in the towel even if it looks unlikely.
Listen to our podcast interview here!
