Shalane Flanagan ran 31:03 for 10K at the Tilburg Ladies Run in the Netherlands on Sunday to break the American road record. The previous record was 31:06, set by Lynn Jennings in Orlando, Florida, in 1990.
Flanagan finished second behind Genet Yanew of Ethiopia, who ran 30:58. Betsy Saina, whose 30:45 Tilburg victory in 2014 convinced Flanagan that the Dutch road course was suitable for a record chase, was a distant third in 32:21.
It was Jennings who had put the idea of chasing the 10K road record in Flanagan’s mind. In March 2013, Flanagan set the American 15K record of 47:03 at the Gate River Run in Jacksonville, Florida. Her unofficial 10K split was 31:08, two seconds off Jennings’ mark.
“I didn’t realize what the record was until Lynn wrote me an email and said, ‘Please set this record, I’ve had it for way too long,’” Flanagan told Runner’s World Newswire. “She’s been a mentor of mine and just a good friend. Often she sends me emails of encouragement.” Jennings and Flanagan both attended high school in Massachusetts. They are the only two American women to earn Olympic 10,000-meter medals; Jennings won the bronze in 1992 and Flanagan, in 2008, also got bronze.
“I thought, ‘Yeah, I’ve got to get a 10K on the road,’” said Flanagan. But the record attempt in Tilburg was a relatively spontaneous decision. Flanagan returned home to Oregon after finishing sixth in the IAAF World Championships 10,000 in Beijing on August 24, having had no luck in finding a 5,000 on the track in Europe.
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Flanagan said that the 10,000 in Beijing was “very slow and strategic” and not a genuine chance to show her fitness. “I wanted to have one more good hard effort,” she said.
Flanagan’s coach, Jerry Schumacher, still in China, called and told her he had a race in mind for her, the 10K in Tilburg. “I just quickly changed gears,” she said.
Flanagan said she felt “kind of flat” after her world championships race, which included the excitement of seeing her training partner Emily Infeld be the surprise bronze medalist. “I didn’t feel so good in some of my workouts between the two races,” she said, though she “started to come around and feel better” before race day in Tilburg.
In Tilburg, Flanagan’s primary goal was the American record. “I didn’t want to overcommit and blow up and run 33:00 if I wasn’t having a good day,” she said.
It was a two-woman race by the 4K mark, with Saina already well behind. On the narrow course along a bike path, with fans close to the runners, Flanagan ran the second half of the race between five and eight seconds behind Yanew. Clocks on the course showed her progress at every kilometer. ”I definitely had to squeeze it down the last K to get the record. I was hovering right at it,” Flanagan said.
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Flanagan now holds six American records: indoor 3,000 meters (8:33.25), indoor 5,000 meters (14:47.62), 10,000 meters (30:22.22), 10K road (31:03), 15 road (47:03) and women-only marathon (2:25:38).
If Flanagan races again this month, it will be at the USA 5K in Providence, Rhode Island, on September 20. “I’ll take the next few days and see how I recover,” Flanagan said. “I’ll make sure I’m not trying to force anything.”
The new American 10K record holder has sent an email to Jennings, again thanking her for encouragement.
“Emily [Infeld] or Molly [Huddle], down the road will break it,” she said of her 31:03 standard, “but it’s definitely a personal meaningful one for me just because of my relationship with Lynn.”
