BOSTON ― When you’ve accomplished as much as Shalane Flanagan has, it can get hard to find challenges that get you out of bed in the morning. But thanks to the pandemic, the Marblehead native was able to find that challenge.
Monday, Flanagan completed an unprecedented feat of running two marathons in two days. She ran in the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, then hopped on a plane and flew to her home state, where she competed in the delayed Boston Marathon Monday morning.
Monday’s marathon was a special one as always for Flanagan, who reminisced that she used to watch her father run the race when she was a child.
“I grew up here; I’ve run the Boston Marathon five times,” said Flanagan, a graduate of Marblehead High. “But I have never loved it more than I did (Monday) morning. (Monday) was my best Boston, by far.
“I have to admit, I was a little nervous about how I was going to feel after racing in Chicago (Sunday),” said Flanagan. “I was in foreign territory and had no idea how my body was going to react. If we’re being honest, I was prepared to implode. But at mile 12, I looked over at my incredible running buddy Andrew Bumbalough and said ‘I think I feel better than I did yesterday, I think I’m having a good day.'”
Flanagan’s incredible weekend is only just a part of her larger goal ― running six marathons in a span of 42 days. Normally this wouldn’t even be possible, as all six of the World Marathon Majors ― Berlin, London, Chicago, Boston, Tokyo and New York ― are usually spread throughout the year. But with the pandemic moving things around, many runners needed to make decisions about which races they’d run and which ones they’d sit out.
But Flanagan wasn’t going to make that choice.
She got things started in Berlin on Sept. 26, then moved on to London on Oct. 3, with those events leading up to this past weekend.
But it’s not enough for Flanagan to just run in these marathons ― she also wants to put up good finishes. Her goal is to run each marathon in a time of three hours or less, which she has accomplished in each of the four marathons she’s run so far. She ran times of 2:38:32 (Berlin), 2:35:04 (London), 2:46:39 (Chicago) and 2:40:34 (Boston).
Flanagan retired from professional running in 2019 after an incredible career, which included four trips to the Olympics (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016) and a silver medal in the 10,000-meter in 2008. She holds national records in the 10,000- and 15,000-meter races, and she became the first American woman since 1977 to win the New York City Marathon when she took the crown in 2017.
She also had reconstructive surgery on both of her knees in 2019, making her return to competitive running all the more impressive.
As for what’s next for Flanagan there are still two more marathons left to complete ― the virtual version of the Tokyo Marathon in just six days and then the New York City Marathon on November 7th.
“Four down, two to go,” said Flanagan. “(Monday) gave me the confidence to know deeply and truly that I can accomplish this goal. My body is going to let me do something that’s never been done before, and it feels so good to have that realization at home. Six marathons in under three hours ― it feels so close I can taste it.”