In November, Sara Hall stood on the start line of the New York City Marathon calm, confident, and ready. She had trained for this. She had visualized it. She was ready to fight.
But just 17 miles into the race, that version of the plan unraveled.
“It was just a total disaster,” she shares. “I didn’t feel like myself at all… like I was revving the engine, but nothing was firing.”
She wasn’t out of breath. She wasn’t cramping. She simply had nothing. No power. No explanation.
At mile 17, she made a decision that still stings: she stepped off the course. For only the fourth time in her 30-year career, Sara DNF’d Did Not Finish.
But this wasn’t just a race. It was New York a stage she’d trained for months to be on. And in the days that followed, the doubt set in.
“I suck. Maybe I should retire. Maybe this is the end,” she remembers thinking.
Anyone would’ve understood if she decided to call it a season or even a career. But Sara Hall isn’t wired that way.
“Live to Fight Another Day”
In a moment of reflection, a coach offered her a new lens.
“He said, ‘If a baseball pitcher is having a bad day, you pull them. You don’t leave them out there. You live to fight another day.’”
Sara held on to that idea. Maybe the DNF wasn’t failure maybe it was strategy. A way to save what was left, to rebuild, and to try again.
That second chance came just weeks later at the California International Marathon (CIM) — a course Sara had run once before, back in 2017.
She entered quietly. Not with pressure. Not with revenge.
With freedom.
And with her daughters waiting at the finish line, part of a marathon relay team in the same part of Northern California where she grew up this wasn’t just another race. It was a return to joy.
The Comeback: 2:24 and a Masters Course Record
Sara Hall didn’t just finish the CIM Marathon.
She ran 2:24:36, breaking the CIM Masters course record by four minutes.
She ran faster at 40+ than she did in her so-called prime.
“I was running three minutes faster than in my early 30s. I hope that shows people your dreams don’t have an expiration date.”
There was no fanfare heading into this one. No redemption arc. No media hype.
Just resilience.
Just belief.
“Believing in yourself is a muscle,” she says. “And I’ve had to pick myself back up again and again. This race this one was about doing it for the love.”
Winning the Mental Race
The real victory wasn’t just in the time.
It was in how Sara battled the internal demons that come with a major race failure.
“The marathon is a long way to let negative thoughts creep in,” she says. “Especially when your last one ended the way mine did.”
But instead of spiraling, Sara stayed present. She leaned into the work she had done. She trusted the process. She remembered why she runs in the first place.
“So many of my best races have been Plan B races. This one included.”
She’s no longer running to prove herself not to anyone else. At this point in her career, she’s running with nothing to prove, and everything to give.
“If You Love the Process, You Win Every Time”
As she crossed the finish line at CIM daughters cheering, record broken, heart full Sara knew what this really meant.
“You win every time if you choose to show up, risk again, and love the process.”
That’s the message she wants every runner and every person to carry with them.
Setbacks happen. Doubt creeps in. Failures sting.
But if you keep showing up even quietly, without guarantees the story doesn’t end in the DNF. It starts there.
Watch the Full Video
add video link: She DNF’d NYC. Then Broke a Record Weeks Later.
Sara Hall’s comeback isn’t just about racing. It’s about resilience, reinvention, and choosing joy over doubt.
Whether you’re chasing a PR, rebuilding after injury, or wondering if your best days are behind you let this be your reminder:
"You’re not done yet."
