Shalane Flanagan retired from professional running in 2019. But she barely slowed down, even after two knee surgeries that kept her from running for a full year. Flanagan became a head coach of Nike’s Bowerman Track Club, adopted her son, Jack, and released a third cookbook, “Rise and Run,” with her best friend, Elyse Kopecky. And then in September, she announced, in a post that began, “Dear running, it’s me again, and I have fallen back in love with you,” that she would run all six world marathon majors (Berlin, London, Tokyo, Chicago, Boston, and New York) in 42 days. For fun. And we all fell back in love with Shalane.
- Lela Moore
Freelance writer and FanSided contributor
Why we needed this fandom this year
Flanagan’s fandom needed her feat this year because we runners are all feeling the feelings that come from not being able to run and to race during the pandemic. For fellow runner moms in their 40s like me, it’s refreshing to see someone like Flanagan, who took time off for motherhood, her health, and personal projects, to return to the sport in top form. Her goal was to run each of her six marathons in under three hours; she succeeded admirably, running all under 2:50, and all but two under 2:40. In her final race, the New York City Marathon, which she won in 2017, the first American to do so in 40 years, she dropped her best time of them all, a 2:33. At a time when we’re all slowly feeling out a return to group running and racing, Flanagan blew through that tape again and showed us how it’s done.
Best fan moment of the year
The iconic moment of Shalane fandom this year came from a post recapping her race in Berlin, where Flanagan admitted to being “absolutely terrible” at drinking from the little cups of water at fluid stations. “I wore more fluid than I drank,” she wrote, and in that moment, we knew: Former professional runners, they’re just like us. (I’ll also admit it was pretty funny to see Flanagan scoop up age-group awards in her races like a regular speedy plebe.)