Most fans of running know the story of Shalane Flanagan‘s lineage. As Amby Burfoot wrote in 2008, “She sure as hell did a fine job selecting her parents.

Her mother, Cheryl Treworgy, was the first woman to break 2:50 in the marathon. The first. Ever. Her father, Steve Flanagan, was a 1:50.8 half-miler, a 4:07 miler, a three-time member of the U.S. World Cross Country team, and a 2:18 marathoner.

And then there’s this tantalizing little tidbit. Read the full article

It’s one week to Boston. But Shalane Flanagan‘s journey stretches far back, well beyond the start of her most recent build up. In the coming days, take a trip and trace the long and winding path that led Shalane from Marblehead, MA to the starting line in Boston.

It was a small personal best. But by running 68:32 on Sunday’s Rock ‘n Roll Half in New Orleans, Shalane Flanagan moved into the #3 spot on the US all-time performer list, ahead of the legendary Joan Benoit Samuelsson. Shaving five seconds off a previous lifetime best of 68:37, the Massachusetts-native leap-frogged her fellow New England star in Samuelsson, and showed very good fitness for the Boston Marathon on April 15th.

Shalane finished as runner-up in the race to two-time Olympic gold medalist Meseret Defar, beating teammate (and US #2) Kara Goucher and Olympian Helen Clitheroe to do so. Flanagan now owns three of the top 10 American performances all-time — despite never training specifically for a race at the 13.1-mile distance.

As a running fan posted to Twitter on Saturday, the only inevitabilities in life seem to be death, taxes, and Shalane Flanagan winning the US Cross Country Championships. In the St. Louis-hosted 2013 edition of the race, Flanagan felt some pressure from Kim Conley, but the Jerry Schumacher-coached athlete still managed to open a sizeable margin of victory to capture her sixth US Cross Country title. Meanwhile, with the top six finishers in the men’s and women’s races earning berths to represent America at the World Championships, every entrant from the Schumacher training group placed in the top four of their respective races.

Lining up alongside Shalane, Emily Infeld took fourth in her first-ever competition as a pro athlete, defeating such accomplished athletes as Sara Hall, Magdalena Lewy-Boulet, Neely Spence, and Alissa McKaig. Just six seconds ahead of the fast-finishing Georgetown graduate was all-time great Deena Kastor. Mirroring Infeld on the men’s side was Elliott Heath — also in fourth, also in his debut. In what was arguably the fastest collection of track 10,000m runners ever assembled for this race, Read the full article

With five athletes competing, it was a busy ten days of Olympic athletics competition for Team KIMbia. After a total of eight performances (counting all prelims and finals), Evan Jager came away with the highest finish in his first-ever Olympic Games, finishing sixth in the Men’s Steeplechase, just four seconds out of medal position. The 23-year-old came home in 8:23 .87 having led several of the slow early laps and indicated he learned a lot from the experience of being in a tactical race that closes at sub-60 pace.

Shalane Flanagan took tenth in the marathon after reaching as high as fifth place with just four kilometers to go. Trying to stay within striking distance of a six-woman breakaway near the 25k mark, Shalane eventually paid a heavy for her medal-or-bust mentality, as major cramping caused her to struggle home the final few miles. Shalane and coach Jerry Schumacher were understandably disappointed, what with Flanagan entering the race as a Beijing bronze medalist, but neither expressed any regrets about running aggressively. Likewise, Lopez Lomong was also tenth in his event, the 5000m final. Lomong, a poster-boy for P&G and Visa during the Games, finished less than six seconds from the bronze. Read the full article