Jared Ward Takes Dead Aim on the 2016 Olympic Trials After U.S. Championship

Published by CoachAtwood.com on April 1, 2015

“If you practice as if you are competing, then you only have to compete like you practice.” – Jared Ward

It was supposed to be the Ryan Hall Show. 

For the entire month before the 2015 Asics Los Angeles Marathon, there had been posters, banners, interviews, newspaper and magazine articles, a Hollywood-style media campaign…all announcing Ryan Hall’s return to the marathon. L.A. was going to be his big comeback race, they said. After all, Hall, a two-time Olympian had a run a 59:43 minutes half-marathon at Houston a few years ago not to mention his astounding 2:04:58 at Boston in 2011 – the fastest American time ever recorded for 26.2 miles. 

However, BYU grad Jared Ward was coming off a pretty fast half-marathon in Houston himself. In January, he had run 61 minutes, finishing runner-up to Diego Estrada in the U.S. Champs – even beating last year’s Boston Marathon Champion Meb Keflezighi by almost a minute. 

But Jared Ward’s name was barely mentioned him in the L.A Marathon / U.S. Championship media blitz.

Still, Ward didn’t mind; he soaked up the anonymity and focused on his training that was going very, very well. At the start, he raced conservatively (67 minutes for the first half) and then, around that 13.1 mile mark Ward looked up and saw  something strange in front his eyes. An oasis perhaps? He rubbed his eyes again saw a slowing Ryan Hall right in front of him. Ward suddenly had a vision: he knew he was not only going to beat Ryan Hall today, but also win the U.S. Marathon Championship. 

“When we saw him (Hall) coming back, I think I felt a shot of adrenaline thinking I could be a national champion,” said Ward.