Olympian Ryan Hall Completed an Unreal 'Chop Wood, Carry Water' Feat of Strength
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Before he retired in 2016, former pro runner and Olympian Ryan Hall set records for the fastest marathon (2:04:58) and half marathon (59:43) for a U.S. man. Since then, he's shifted his fitness journey to focus on strength. But he's not content to merely max out his big lifts. The former runner is also using his hard-earned muscles for more involved challenges—with a larger mission driving his physical endeavors.
Hall recently shared a 'Feat of Strength' with sponsor Ten Thousand which he called Chop Wood, Carry Water. He based the challenge on a proverb: "Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water," and from his memories of hauling fire wood with his brothers at Big Bear Lake in California.
The idea was to split one cord of wood (a unit of measurement for wood stacked 4 feet high, 4 feet wide, and 8 feet long), then continue the physical feat by running 6.3 miles down into the Grand Canyon, then carrying two large jugs of water (weighing 62 pounds each) in each hand back up the same path (climbing 5,000 feet).
Hall was inspired to take on the feat following his time training in Kenya and Ethiopia from 2010 to 2016, citing the need for clean drinking water for the people in the region. (Ryan and his wife subsequently started a charity, the STEPS Foundation, to help care for millions of orphaned children in Ethiopia, and set up a Go Fund Me campaign for his efforts.)
Hall began to prep for the feat by performing farmer's carries holding water jugs for 20 minutes every other day. “It’s just twenty minutes a day. I tell myself, I can do anything for twenty minutes, if it’s just twenty minutes, I have no reason to skip it. Those twenty minutes add up,” he shared. He also had a few trees die on his property, so he chose to split and haul the lumber himself to help prep for the challenge.
On the day of the challenge, Hall was out and ready to chop wood at 6:30 a.m. Just under two hours later, at 8:28, he was finished. But that was just the opening round. He and his team then drove to the Grand Canyon to start the 6.3 mile run down to the Colorado River at 1:55 p.m. He hit the water at 3:42 p.m. Hall filled the jugs and hauled them back up the South Kaibab Trail out of the Grand Canyon. The sun set, and he finished in the dark at 9:48 p.m.
"This was certainly the hardest physical challenge I've ever done (including my best marathons)," he wrote in an Instagram post highlighting the challenge.
"In this challenge I was in an anaerobic state for hours and hours which was foreign for me (typical interval sessions during my pro running days were 30-45 minutes)," he continued. "There were certainly many moments of doubt that I wasn't sure I would make it, but coming back to the present and focusing on the next carry, time and time again, eventually led me to the rim."
Hall was supported by his entire team and brother Chad, who he relied on as his body was wrecked.
“Words cannot describe the suffering I experienced on the water jug haul back to the rim of the canyon as muscle after muscle gave out and my lungs struggled to gain the necessary oxygen to sufficiently oxygenate my muscles,” Hall told Ten Thousand.
Ultimately, he finished the feat as darkness fell, completely spent, but grateful.
"I have rarely felt as loved and supported as I did during this challenge, which was the highlight for me," he wrote on Instagram.
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