2013 Boston Marathon & B.A.A. 5k/Invitational Road MileApr 13, 2013 by David Monti
Shalane Flanagan Back Home for Race of her Dreams in Boston
Shalane Flanagan Back Home for Race of her Dreams in Boston
FOR FLANAGAN, BOSTON IN THE RACE OF HER DREAMS
By David Monti
(c) 2013 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.
BOSTON (12-Apr) -- Growing up in Marblehead, Mass., about 20 miles (32 km) north of here, Shalane Flanagan saw herself running, and winning, the Boston Marathon. Different scenarios ran through her head, especially how she would react if she actually broke the tape on Boylston Street.
"It's funny. In any sport, someone winning NBA championship they visualize what they do," Flanagan told reporters here this morning at a press gathering. "Will it be a fist pump? What would they do? I've been thinking, if I were to win what would I do? You don't know until you're in that moment."
Flanagan, 31, is America's best hope for the first home country victory here in 28 years. Only she, and Nike teammate Kara Goucher, remain in the race of the six 2012 USA Olympic Marathon team athletes organizers recruited for the race (the other four withdrew with injury or illness). She has two individual medals from global championships --a bronze at 10,000m from the 2008 Beijing Olympics and another bronze from the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country championships-- and is the USA record holder for both 5000m (14:44.80) and 10,000m (30:22.22). She's no pretender.
But, her marathon experience is limited, although her results have been good. In her debut in New York in 2010 she finished second in 2:28:40, a performance which was so taxing she went down on all fours in exhaustion just after she finished. More than a year later, she won the 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon in Houston unpressed in 2:25:38. At the London Olympics in heavy rain, she finished 10th in 2:25:51. She said today that she is finally getting used to the idea of being a marathoner.
"You know, I feel just as intimidated," she said, comparing how she feels now to when she debuted in New York. "The distance is really scary, but I do feel like I have a little more confidence. I was definitely thinking to myself, do I really belong here (in) my first marathon? Now I feel like I belong here. I feel like this is where I'm meant to be."
Flanagan credits her training group and support team, led by coach Jerry Schumacher, for getting her and Goucher ready for Monday's race fresh and injury-free, while the other four USA Olympians couldn't get to the starting line. She explained that the running a spring marathon in a post-Olympic year was particularly challenging.
"There's been an attrition rate with this marathon," she observed. "I think post-Olympic year, it's just tough. People just pour everything they have into their preparation. We just feel so grateful that we're going to be on the starting line. It just goes to show that somehow we keep each other healthy, and patch it together here and there. We have a good team."
Flanagan says that she doesn't want to over-think Monday's race, but she has a simple strategy: hold back through the downhill sections in the first two-thirds of the course, then be ready for mortal combat in the final third.
"I've prepared myself to be pretty relaxed through 16 miles and then you start hitting the hills," she said. "So, I'm just trying to mentally prepare to conserve as much energy and emotion through 16 miles, and then knowing that I'm going to have to die a 1000 deaths in the last 10 miles, and give everything I have."
To help keep herself loose and her mind uncluttered, she hasn't solicited advice about the race from too many people, relying on Goucher --who finished third in 2009 and fifth in 2011-- her father, and her coach, who has run some sections of the course. However, she couldn't help but overhear what some recreational runners were saying to each other on her flight here from Portland, Ore.
"You know, I've been trying to stay away from too much advice," she said. She continued: "I was even listening to people on my plane coming here, their advice. I was, like, eavesdropping. It was really funny to hear some people who were, like, 'you've got to hug this turn by the firehouse; this is so tight, people are going to be touching you!' So, it was just fun to hear. More than anything, people were just saying that's a really exciting atmosphere."
How exciting it will be for Flanagan will ultimately depend on how she finishes. She'll decide.
"I've been trying to let this be an authentic experience for me, and let me form my own opinions," she concluded. She added: "I'm trying to decide myself for myself what it's going to be like."
More from Shalane talking about coming off of a traumatizing marathon experience at the London Olympics.
By David Monti
(c) 2013 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.
BOSTON (12-Apr) -- Growing up in Marblehead, Mass., about 20 miles (32 km) north of here, Shalane Flanagan saw herself running, and winning, the Boston Marathon. Different scenarios ran through her head, especially how she would react if she actually broke the tape on Boylston Street.
"It's funny. In any sport, someone winning NBA championship they visualize what they do," Flanagan told reporters here this morning at a press gathering. "Will it be a fist pump? What would they do? I've been thinking, if I were to win what would I do? You don't know until you're in that moment."
Flanagan, 31, is America's best hope for the first home country victory here in 28 years. Only she, and Nike teammate Kara Goucher, remain in the race of the six 2012 USA Olympic Marathon team athletes organizers recruited for the race (the other four withdrew with injury or illness). She has two individual medals from global championships --a bronze at 10,000m from the 2008 Beijing Olympics and another bronze from the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country championships-- and is the USA record holder for both 5000m (14:44.80) and 10,000m (30:22.22). She's no pretender.
But, her marathon experience is limited, although her results have been good. In her debut in New York in 2010 she finished second in 2:28:40, a performance which was so taxing she went down on all fours in exhaustion just after she finished. More than a year later, she won the 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon in Houston unpressed in 2:25:38. At the London Olympics in heavy rain, she finished 10th in 2:25:51. She said today that she is finally getting used to the idea of being a marathoner.
"You know, I feel just as intimidated," she said, comparing how she feels now to when she debuted in New York. "The distance is really scary, but I do feel like I have a little more confidence. I was definitely thinking to myself, do I really belong here (in) my first marathon? Now I feel like I belong here. I feel like this is where I'm meant to be."
Flanagan credits her training group and support team, led by coach Jerry Schumacher, for getting her and Goucher ready for Monday's race fresh and injury-free, while the other four USA Olympians couldn't get to the starting line. She explained that the running a spring marathon in a post-Olympic year was particularly challenging.
"There's been an attrition rate with this marathon," she observed. "I think post-Olympic year, it's just tough. People just pour everything they have into their preparation. We just feel so grateful that we're going to be on the starting line. It just goes to show that somehow we keep each other healthy, and patch it together here and there. We have a good team."
Flanagan says that she doesn't want to over-think Monday's race, but she has a simple strategy: hold back through the downhill sections in the first two-thirds of the course, then be ready for mortal combat in the final third.
"I've prepared myself to be pretty relaxed through 16 miles and then you start hitting the hills," she said. "So, I'm just trying to mentally prepare to conserve as much energy and emotion through 16 miles, and then knowing that I'm going to have to die a 1000 deaths in the last 10 miles, and give everything I have."
To help keep herself loose and her mind uncluttered, she hasn't solicited advice about the race from too many people, relying on Goucher --who finished third in 2009 and fifth in 2011-- her father, and her coach, who has run some sections of the course. However, she couldn't help but overhear what some recreational runners were saying to each other on her flight here from Portland, Ore.
"You know, I've been trying to stay away from too much advice," she said. She continued: "I was even listening to people on my plane coming here, their advice. I was, like, eavesdropping. It was really funny to hear some people who were, like, 'you've got to hug this turn by the firehouse; this is so tight, people are going to be touching you!' So, it was just fun to hear. More than anything, people were just saying that's a really exciting atmosphere."
How exciting it will be for Flanagan will ultimately depend on how she finishes. She'll decide.
"I've been trying to let this be an authentic experience for me, and let me form my own opinions," she concluded. She added: "I'm trying to decide myself for myself what it's going to be like."
More from Shalane talking about coming off of a traumatizing marathon experience at the London Olympics.