KIMbia Athletics

Turning in an impressive, historic performance in just her second-ever marathon, Shalane Flanagan punched her ticket for the London Games by winning the US Olympic Trials. Her time of 2:25:38 slashed just over three minutes from her previous personal best, set a Trials record, and is the 6th-fastest performance by an American woman, all-time. And as the #3 US performer ever, she now trails only Deena Drossin-Kastor and Joan Benoit-Samuelsson — each of whom won an Olympic medal at the distance.

After biding her time for the first two hours of running, Flanagan made a late break and won by seventeen seconds over Boston Marathon runner-up Desiree Davila; new teammate Kara Goucher became Shalane’s Olympic teammate, as well, thanks to her third-place finish. “I tried to view it as a track race for the last mile,” Flanagan said after the race. “I didn’t really enjoy that last mile. It felt really long.” Read the full article

There’s nothing better than surveying the previous fifty-two weeks of your life and realizing how fun and gratifying they were. Here’s a look back at just a handful of the memories we at KIMbia Athletics will take away from 2011. If you had your own memory from the year that included us or our athletes, please share it below!

10. Tim Nelson Steps Down and Beats Top-Flight 3000m Field in Seattle
Who doesn’t love a good underdog story? Nelly shocked American running fans when he dispatched middle-distance specialists German Fernandez, Alan Webb, and World Championship bronze-medalist-to-be Matt Centrowitz in a 3000m far below his comfort zone distances… and with a blistering kick, to boot. Read the full article

Simon Bairu and Shalane Flanagan notched victories in their final tune-ups before January’s Olympic qualifying attempts in Houston, each reaching the tape first at the Latin Music Miami Beach Half Marathon. Coming into the day under heavy training loads — a calculation intended by coach Jerry Schumacher to simulate running hard in the second half of January’s 26.2-mile efforts — Flanagan came in just below her prescribed goal, hitting 1:09:58, while Bairu clocked 1:05:38, just ahead of teammate Brent Vaughn and his 1:05:41. Tim Nelson took 3rd in 1:07:44.

Flanagan was fourth to the line, overall, beating all other entrants except for her male teammates. Her performance was just 81 seconds off of her personal best, set last year in Philadelphia.

Shalane Flanagan was all business at Sunday’s Rock ‘N Roll San Antonio Half Marathon, taking home the victory as part of her preparation for the upcoming Olympic Marathon Trials. With a goal of cracking 1:12:00, Flanagan cruised to a big win and an even faster time than expected, posting a 1:10:49 — just about two-minutes slower than her PB of 68:37, even while running a largely solo effort with her weekly mileage up in triple-digits. The time gave her a margin of over two minutes over top American marathoner Tera Moody — surely a dark horse candidate at January’s Olympic Trials after taking 5th in 2008 — who placed second in 1:13:23.

Meanwhile, Flanagan’s Oregon Track Club teammates Simon Bairu, Tim Nelson, and Brent Vaughn competed on the men’s side where they were credited with the same time of 1:05:25, crossing the line bunched in third through fifth positions. (Vaughn was given third place in the official results.)

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With January’s Olympic Marathon Trials keeping most elite American distance runners off of fall marathon starting-lines, the New York Road Runners injected some domestic star-power into the New York City Marathon weekend with a new professional 5k road event. Called the Dash to the Finish, Britain’s Chris Thompson of the Oregon Track Club took home top honors, while Andrew Bumbalough placed fifth in 13:59, six seconds back. With a course that went past New York City landmarks throughout Midtown — including the crossroads of the world, Times Square — the event was approached by Bumbalough and teammates Matt Tegenkamp, Evan Jager and Lopez Lomong, as a fun way to check their fitness and stay excited about their running, as they continued the thankless job of packing in the miles, back home. Tegenkamp took 7th in 14:02 with Lomong 8th and Jager 10th.

Each of the athletes will be buckling down in off-season base-building mode for the coming months, with no immediate plans for indoor competitions on the books.