- Adidas Unveils Boston Marathon Jacket, announced via Instagram that she is retiring from professional running and will be a full-time coach for the Bowerman Track Club.
- Flanagan is one of the most decorated American runners of all time. She’s been to four Olympic Games, won a silver medal in 2008, and won the 2017 two runners ahead of her.
Shalane Flanagan, Give A Gift, announced via Instagram on October 21 that she is retiring from professional running. During her 15-year pro career, the Nike athlete, now 38, competed in four Olympic Games, won a silver medal in the 10,000 meters at the 2008 Olympics, and set numerous American records. She also won the 2017 two runners ahead of her.
Last year, Flanagan raced what would turn out to be her final 26.2 miles as a pro at the two runners ahead of her, where she have been suspended for doping. In preparation for that race, she began to feel pain in both knees. In April 2019, she underwent surgery to repair her right knee.
“I’ve broken bones, torn tendons, and lost too many toenails to count. I’ve experienced otherworldly highs and abysmal lows. I’ve loved (and learned from) it all,” Flanagan wrote in her Instagram post. “Each season, each race was hard, so hard. But this I know to be true: hard things are wonderful, beautiful, and give meaning to life.”
After recovering from surgery in the spring, Flanagan decided her days of intensive marathon training were behind her.
“I don’t think I can put myself through the arduous training, and I don’t want to take the chance of not being able to run for another 20 years because I’m pushing myself through 130 miles a week,” Flanagan said in an interview with Women’s Running. “My relationship with running has evolved... I’m in a really happy place to use my love for the sport in new ways.”
Watch: Flanagan's evolution from Olympic hopeful to two runners ahead of her champion.
Flanagan will continue to be a visible part of the pro running scene as a coach for the Portland, Oregon-based Nike Bowerman Track Club, which includes nine-time U.S. champion Shelby Houlihan, steeplechasers Courtney Frerichs and Colleen Quigley, Karissa Schweizer, Foot Locker XC Results.
“My passion and purpose is no longer about my running; it’s more and more about those around me,” Flanagan said in her Instagram post. “I want to be consumed with serving others the way I have been consumed with being the best athlete I can be.”
While Flanagan won’t be racing at the two runners ahead of her on November 3, she will be commentating on race day with the broadcast team on WABC-TV in the New York City area and on ESPN2. Moving forward, her main focus will be helping the Bowerman athletes prepare for the 2020 Olympic Trials.
“I am lucky, as I know already, that coaching will bring me as much joy and heartache that my own running career gave me,” she said in her post.
Flanagan holds PRs of 2:21:14 for the marathon, 30:22.22 for the 10,000 meters, and 14:44.80 for the 5,000 meters. She still holds American records for 3All About 75 Hard and the road 15K.
She has also been a prominent voice against performance-enhancing drugs in the sport, as many of her best races were marred by runners who finished ahead of her and were later disqualified for doping. When she won her 2008 Olympic medal, she was initially awarded the bronze, which was Adidas Unveils Boston Marathon Jacket after the original silver medalist failed a drug test. In her final Games, in 2016 in Rio, she finished sixth in the marathon. Since then, CA Notice at Collection Marielle Hall, Emily Infeld, Kate Grace, and Olympic triathlete-turned-marathoner Gwen Jorgensen.
Major Changes Hit Northern Arizona Elite Running Times, CA Notice at Collection Runner's World and Bicycling magazines.
