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.

Olympians Lisa Uhl and Diane Nukuri Johnson were left watching Delilah DiCrescenzo cross the finish line first at the 76-year-old Manchester Road Race on Thanksgiving morning.  As reported by Road Results Weekly, Delilah used her previous experience on the course to launch a perfectly-timed kick and earned a five-second margin of victory over Uhl. Runner-up in 2010, DiCrescenzo ran 16-seconds faster than that performance to notch Thursday’s thanks-meriting win.

The New York City-based athlete came to one of the most historic professional races in America after the NYRR Dash to the Finish 5k was washed out by Superstorm Sandy the day before the New York City Marathon. But DiCrescenzo looked none the worse for not racing in her hometown, and added her name to a Manchester winners-list that includes Worlds and Olympic silver medalist Sally Kipyego and Worlds and Olympic bronze medalist Shalane Flanagan, as well as other American superstars such as Deena Kastor and Lynn Jennings.

After using speed to defeat the 10,000m and marathon Olympians in Connecticut, Delilah now plans to spend the next few weeks working on her strength-based fitness.

It has been three years since Matt Tegenkamp went to the East Coast and brought home a national championship at the CVS Downtown 5k. But on Monday, the two-time Olympian looked as good on the roads as ever, winning a second US road title at the New Haven 20k — in a championship-record time, no less.

After moving from 5k to 10k on the track, Tegenkamp got his first taste of longer road running in impressive fashion, clocking 58:30 to take down the old USATF record. In his wake was runner-up Luke Puskedra, who ran a sterling 61-minute half-marathon earlier this year, suggesting that Tegenkamp’s future in the half will be one to watch.

Three other KIMbia men took to the streets on Labor Day, as well: Sean Quigley, now based in Colorado, placed 6th in 1:00:02, with Brent Vaughn in 9th and Tim Nelson — fresh off his wedding — placing 11th.