MARBLEHEAD – Shalane Flanagan, an Olympian, elite marathoner and national record-holder, knew just what to do after finishing a hometown road race in which she was the guest of honor on Saturday.Coming off a 26:55 finish in the inaugural Back the Track 5K in Marblehead to raise funds to refurbish the track at Hopkins Field, Flanagan took up a position at the finish line, congratulating her fellow runners as they went the distance, giving high-fives and posing for photos.?It?s going great,” Flanagan said. “So many people are out. I?m so proud of the community. It was phenomenal.”The race drew 868 runners, including Flanagan, a Marblehead High School graduate who won an Olympic bronze medal in the 10,000 meters at Beijing in 2008 in a U.S.-record 30:22.22. Flanagan has placed in the top 10 at the Boston Marathon the past two years. This year, at Berlin, she set the second-fastest marathon time ever by an American woman, 2:21.14.Flanagan wore No. 1 on Saturday and ran with a GoPro camera that she said was “very unintrusive.” She ran to support the Back the Track project by the Marblehead All-Sports Foundation. She had also signed bibs at the race packet pickup at Palmer?s Restaurant on Friday.Caleb Evanter of Dorchester won the race in 15:58. Christian Blondin of Ipswich finished second in 16:14. Rick Brandt of Salem placed third in 16:20. Meagan Nedlo of Salem was the top female finisher (18:04, 18th).Flanagan?s father, Steve Flanagan, a co-director of the race, said that Back the Track is “the next project in a series.”?I was interested in raising funds for the track,” he said. “I talked to Shalane about a road race. It was based on her schedule, to build awareness for the fundraiser.”He said that for a lot of towns private funds fulfill a need to improve tracks and turf fields, “rather than increase taxes.”The Marblehead All-Sports Foundation had a goal of $575,000 for a new track complex.On Saturday, the field also included Joan Benoit Samuelson, a three-time Boston Marathon winner who captured Olympic gold in the marathon at Los Angeles in 1984; New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg; and Boston Athletic Association executive director Tom Grilk of Lynnfield.Grilk and Flanagan shared a hug afterward and joined a group photo. Flanagan has said she plans to run the Boston Marathon again next year.?She will be carrying the good wishes of an entire city and state with her,” Grilk said. “We hope it carries her to a first-place finish. It would be uplifting, like Meb (Keflezighi, the 2014 men?s winner and the first American man to win Boston since 1983).”One of the Back the Track participants reflected on Flanagan?s roots in Marblehead.?When she was 6 or 7, she was on the swim team at the Y,” said Marblehead High swimming coach Susan Guertin, who ran pushing her 18-month-old grandson Elliott in a baby carriage. “She started as a swimmer and became a fabulous runner.”Guertin coached Flanagan in her freshman year of high school before she switched to track.?Her dad always said that she?s a breaststroker and her upper-body strength is what made her a very strong runner, because of swimming,” Guertin said.Some runners on Saturday were completing their third charity race in three days in the inaugural Thanksgiving Triad: the Wild Turkey 5-Mile Race in Salem on Thanksgiving, the Gabe?s Run 5K Trail Race in Hamilton on Friday and the Back the Track 5K. Runners got a medal for finishing all three.Mike Fitzgerald of Lynn was among those who received a medal, as well as his running partner, Kelly Morris of Marblehead.?It felt good,” said Fitzgerald, a veteran runner and race photographer in Greater Lynn. “Kelly beat me (Saturday). She killed me.”He added, “I talked to Shalane (Friday) night and met her today. It was an honor to meet her.”Flanagan was similarly delighted to be back in her hometown.?I mean, it?s the best,” she said. “It doesn?t get any better than this.”