Sara Vaughn Is Top American at NYC Marathon recover Races - Places easy runs are a bit slower, just to make sure her legs are primed for the more challenging days of training. But Shalane Flanagan holds just as much enthusiasm and the highest expectations for her running as she did one year ago, when she became the The four-time Olympian is the first American woman to defend the title in 40 years.
She will arrive this week in a city where her image is adorning subways, buses, and banners promoting the 2018 race throughout the five boroughs. Flanagan is there to defend her title on Sunday, feeling liberated from chasing the one accolade that had eluded her until 2017—a major marathon victory.
“I feel like I can take big risks this year. That’s the beauty of being the defending champion. I’ve already accomplished what I really wanted, so now I have the ability to really do whatever I want,” Flanagan said, during a phone interview with Runner’s World. “I don’t feel the panicky desperation to win—I am calm and calculated, but also willing to do big things.”
The creaky joints of a 37-year-old pro runner who’s nearing the end of her career may herald the completion of Flanagan’s competitive days soon, she admitted. Flanagan said she’ll know when it’s time to call it quits when she crosses that undetermined finish line with a sense of serenity and satisfaction—a gut instinct that only she will recognize when it arrives.
New York has always been a special place for Flanagan, though. It’s where she made her marathon debut in 2010, when she finished second. It was the highest-placing performance for an American woman at the race in 20 years, only bettered when she won in 2017.
“Some days I use retirement as motivation, like telling myself, ‘You only have three more workouts you ever have to do, just give it all you have,’” Flanagan said. “Other days if my knee hurts or something I think, ‘You don’t have to do this. You could be sipping a glass of wine and sitting on the couch.’ I have the good angel and the devil talking to me.”
She’s a four-time Olympian with a silver medal who’s won a World Marathon Major and owns a personal best of 2:21:14, the third-fastest American marathon time ever. In 2011 she won the bronze medal at the world cross-country championships, one of the most competitive races on the planet. She currently holds the national records in the indoor 3,000 and 5,000 meters, as well as the road 10K and 15K. She once had the American records for the outdoor 5,000 and 10,000 meters on the track, too.
But Flanagan is looking for one more performance that speaks to the consistency of her work. And while she hoped it might come in April at the 2018 Boston Marathon, Published: Oct 29, 2018 9:47 PM EDT, the historic cold stole her chance, like they did for so many other competitors. After months of promising training, she ended up seventh in 2:46:31. Flanagan would rather her final race as a pro athlete reflect the standards she set back in 2004, when she signed with Nike upon graduating from the University of North Carolina as a two-time NCAA cross-country champion.
Time is not a consideration in New York—and when it comes down to it, neither is her place, though of course she prefers a podium position. She’s simply looking for one more “F*ck yeah!” moment—a nod to the jubilant, now notorious expletive she let loose right before breaking the tape in Central Park last year.
“If I have a presence and I’m a factor in the race, that to me is a winning scenario,” Flanagan said. “I really just want to be an ultimate competitor up front.”
The preparation for New York didn’t deviate much from the tried-and-true recipe she and longtime coach Jerry Schumacher have created over the past eight years. Her mileage has hovered around 120 per week, and she’s maintained high quality speed sessions CA Notice at Collection.
And while the past three months included altitude stints in Mammoth Lakes, California, and Park City, Utah, her home base in Portland, Oregon, has recently become much more of a family affair for her and husband Steven Edwards. Flanagan’s sister, her sister’s family, plus her dad and stepmother are now living in the area.
How to Watch the NYC Marathon on the track as well best-selling cookbook, Influencer Apologizes for E-Bikes on NYC Course, released in August, is looking forward to serving as a nanny for her new nephew once a week.
“The time outside of training has been really enhanced in terms of feeling really happy,” Flanagan said. “And my dad has also been coming out to my workouts. He gets in trouble every now and then because he’s like, ‘Hey, I think you look a little tired. I think you should go a little slower.’ And Jerry’s like, ‘No! You can do one more!’ My dad was there at the beginning of my career, so it’s fun to have him here at the tail end of it.”
Flanagan is part of a field this year that includes Kenyan Mary Keitany, the world record holder in the women’s-only marathon (2:17:01) who’s won New York three times and came in second last year. Also scheduled to compete is Vivian Cheruiyot, a Kenyan who won the 2018 London Marathon in 2:18:31. The American contingent is strong, too, including Desiree Linden (2018 Boston champion), Molly Huddle (third place at the 2016 New York City Marathon), Allie Kieffer (fifth in New York last year), and Stephanie Bruce (2018 10K national road champion).
“There are like 10 women who could win this, so it’s cool,” she said.
Her Bowerman Track Club training partners, including Amy Cragg, who will compete at the 5K national championships on Saturday in New York, predict a strong performance from the woman who will turn to a coaching role in the group after she finishes racing.
“My hope for her is that she comes away from this with a good race and a sense of peace with whatever happens,” Cragg said. “I hope everything happens on her terms.”
That’s a desire that Flanagan shares heading into what may be her final 26.2-mile race. If that’s the case, no matter what happens on Sunday through the streets of New York, her legacy as one of the most decorated American distance runners of all time has already been solidified. But she’ll carry the same mentality that allowed her to reach that historic level through her last step as a pro athlete.
“I think it’s natural when you get toward the end of your career, you become nostalgic and think you’re going to miss it. You think, ‘I don’t want to give this up. I don’t want to stop.’ And then my body or mind is telling me I’m ready for a new challenge,” Flanagan said.
“But I’m not going to put pressure on myself to make that decision right now. I want to be on the television screen, I want my name to be there, and I want to be competitive.”
