Marielle Hall, one of the country’s top distance runners from 2016 until early 2020, has left the Nike-supported Bowerman Track Club in Portland, Oregon. She made the announcement via Instagram on September 12.
Hall, 29, told Runner’s World on September 14 that she’s moving to Providence, Rhode Island, and will be coached by Kurt Benninger, Molly Huddle’s husband. Benninger trains a number of Saucony-sponsored athletes, including 4:01 1500-meter runner Helen Schlactenhaufen. (Benninger also plays a significant role in his wife’s training, at times pacing her in workouts, although Huddle’s coach is Ray Treacy.)
Hall, who joined Bowerman in 2018 and remains under contract with Nike, said she decided to leave Bowerman because the training, under coaches Jerry Schumacher and Shalane Flanagan, was no longer effective for her.
“If you’re in something that’s so obviously not working, the options are few—you give up or try something different,” Hall said.
From 2016, when she made the Olympic team, to March 2020, when she won the U.S. 15K national championship at the Gate River Run 15K, Hall was one of the most consistent performers in the U.S. At the 2019 IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar, she finished eighth and was the top American in the 10,000 meters in 31:05. She is currently eighth on the American all-time list.
But in the following two years, she struggled to regain that form. After finishing third in the 10,000 meters at the 2016 Olympic Trials to make the team for Rio, she was 36th at the Trials in June, in 34:35, more than three minutes behind the top three finishers.
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Hall said her recent struggles were due to overtraining and low iron levels. “You have a few workouts, a few days, a race where things are okay, and then it just dips, very much a roller coaster,” she said. “I think I just was in a place where if you’re overtraining, if you’re not recovering properly, you’re not absorbing any training. The body is not in a place to be able to do anything with that work.”
Bowerman runners training under Schumacher spend long stretches of time at altitude, race infrequently, and do long, grueling workouts. Hall blamed herself for not being able to communicate effectively with Schumacher and Flanagan that the training wasn’t working for her.
“It did kind of feel like they weren’t quite sure how to help,” Hall said. “There’s not really plan B for people. There’s plan A. There are not many ways they were offering as alternatives to what the program was. That makes it difficult for anyone.
“The train is always a good analogy,” she continued. “It really doesn’t stop. You’re able to achieve these high peaks and incredible things. Sometimes people get left behind. I think you have to understand that aspect of training. It’s an intense, rigorous environment. I understood that but also know that it doesn’t have to be that way for me personally. There are other ways to train and exist within the sport.”
Hall pointed out that the Bowerman team finished the summer with two Olympic medals (Courtney Frerichs took silver in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and later set an American record, and Mo Ahmed won silver in the men’s 5,000 meters) and other top finishes at the Games, such as Grant Fisher’s fifth place in the 10,000 meters and Gabriela DeBues-Stafford was fifth in the 1500 meters.
“It’s obviously a system that’s great for development and for athletes,” she said. “It wasn’t for me.”
Hall said that the failed drug test of Bowerman athlete Shelby Houlihan didn’t play a role in her departure. Houlihan maintains she ate a tainted pork burrito from a food truck the night before she tested positive for nandrolone in December 2020; the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected that defense.
“I’m just trying to be supportive of Shelby as a person, and understand that this is an extremely difficult time,” Hall said.
Although some turnover is normal and expected from various training groups at the end of an Olympic year, the Bowerman Track Club has seen a number of departures in the months before and after the Houlihan news broke.
Amy Cragg, suffering from fatigue, moved to North Carolina in the fall of 2020 and retired officially from running in 2021. Andrew Bumbalough retired at the end of 2020. Kate Grace, still with Nike, decided to leave Bowerman and train instead with steeplechaser Emma Coburn’s group in Boulder, Colorado.
Colleen Quigley left in early 2021 when she couldn’t agree to terms with Nike on a new contract. When Ryan Hill’s contract ended, he signed with Hoka and trained with NAZ Elite. Gwen Jorgensen announced she was leaving in July. Runner’s World learned from a source that Sinclaire Johnson will be leaving the group, although she is still listed among the team’s 20 pro runners.
Hall, who has written two moving pieces for Runner’s World about being a Black distance runner in America, said she took a break after the Olympic Trials and is currently running about 50 miles per week as she builds back up. She has put her possessions into storage in Portland and plans to stay in short-term rentals in Providence for the next few months.
She expects to log many miles with Huddle, who is training for next month’s Boston Marathon. Hall said she hopes to race again on the roads, in cross country, or in some early indoor track races before the end of the year.
Sarah Lorge Butler is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World since 2005. She is the author of two popular fitness books, Run Your Butt Off! and Walk Your Butt Off!
