Shalane Flanagan improves to 2:35:04

That will hurt her in the next races.

Very impressive. If she is able to continue at such a high level next weekend then I will say she needs to reconsider retirement and run a spring ‘Thon at full race effort.

With a back to back next weekend i'd be very surprised if she takes either at sub 2:45

This was a gutsy race and she felt it today. No doubt if she was racing just one she'd be knocking it out of the park but the fatigue may get her. Or she's invincible we'll see.

im sure she can still fight to be a 2:25 runner on a fast course, but that's not competitive at this point and maybe not good enough for her. So she is doing this type of gimmick, which is probably more appealing than going the ultra route.

But you know, you do enough races at these kind of paces and you get competitive with yourself. Maybe she will gear up to see just how fast she can go.

I think that's what keeps most of us in it. Clearly she still loves running, even if she doesn't have a chance to be the best anymore.

cruising usa wrote:

With a back to back next weekend i'd be very surprised if she takes either at sub 2:45

This was a gutsy race and she felt it today. No doubt if she was racing just one she'd be knocking it out of the park but the fatigue may get her. Or she's invincible we'll see.

She might not even get her sub 3 hours in. Which was the overall goal for her marathon series.

Along with seeing she was capable of running faster, and the conditions in London being a bit better than Berlin, she's hitting the PEDs hard and was able to bounce back strong.

Great job, though, and it'll be interesting to see how she handles back to back marathons when she does Chicago and Boston next week. I could see her running Chicago more conservatively, knowing she has to fly to Boston and do it again the next day. And how does she run Boston one day after another marathon? Does coming down from Heartbreak Hill break her legs into a dozen pieces? Can the dope get her back into shape and keep her upright? Will be very interesting to see.

multiday running expert wrote:

cruising usa wrote:

With a back to back next weekend i'd be very surprised if she takes either at sub 2:45

This was a gutsy race and she felt it today. No doubt if she was racing just one she'd be knocking it out of the park but the fatigue may get her. Or she's invincible we'll see.

She might not even get her sub 3 hours in. Which was the overall goal for her marathon series.

I think she can get a sub 3 any day of the week if you have the lifetime training she does. If you're in her shape you can basically have a broken femur and run one.

I've run sub 3 with an actual torn hamstring myself. Also ran one off a full stomach just after lunch for fun one day. a 6:52 pace isn't that hard.

These next 2 races will definitely be the hardest part of the challenge. Doesn't help that it will be warm days for both.

cruising usa wrote:

multiday running expert wrote:

She might not even get her sub 3 hours in. Which was the overall goal for her marathon series.

I think she can get a sub 3 any day of the week if you have the lifetime training she does. If you're in her shape you can basically have a broken femur and run one.

I've run sub 3 with an actual torn hamstring myself. Also ran one off a full stomach just after lunch for fun one day. a 6:52 pace isn't that hard.

These next 2 races will definitely be the hardest part of the challenge. Doesn't help that it will be warm days for both.

No, sorry. Clearly your hamstring was not torn. Do you mean strained or a partial tear? TOTALLY DIFFERENT.

This feels like a dumb stunt to distract from the Nike/Burrito Truck Club failures and the offal nandro scandal

more than 3 miles behind the winner and nearly, as much off her pb...is this really something amazing? "oh, but she raced last week with more races to come..oh, but she's retired...oh, but she's 40"...ok

Wonder if she had 2:27:47 in the back of her head. Surely she could take that down without racing the way she is. I mean she was pretty close to that pace through 30k, a week after Berlin. Super impressive. Hope she runs something in the spring.

Very impressive for Shalane after returning from retirement and post double knee surgeries. It's impressive knowing her main goal is to just finish.

Yea running a marathon on a femoral or torn hammy is easy as hell, obviously, especially if you’re over 40 years old.

Next week will be tough Marathons on back to Back Days, Good luck to her.

Am I the only one that thinks this is not a great idea?

She has had knee surgery and was given tissue from a donor (deceased). Seems foolish and disrespectful to the donor to possibly shred it with such a feat.

hobbyjogger1 wrote:

Very impressive for Shalane after returning from retirement and post double knee surgeries. It's impressive knowing her main goal is to just finish.

Anyone who knows Shalane knows her goal was never to just finish. She wants to run them all hard, scare the masters AR. She just said sub 3 but we all knew she was going for blood. She knows she can’t win anymore but she can’t lose her competitive nature. I’ve heard she was training like a monster all summer, even in Tokyo. She’s not really retired, not even a bit.

not sure wrote:

more than 3 miles behind the winner and nearly, as much off her pb...is this really something amazing? "oh, but she raced last week with more races to come..oh, but she's retired...oh, but she's 40"...ok

Why slam her at all? Seriously? Yes, she is RETIRED as a serious professional runner, and she is 40 years old. I just don't understand why someone who reads and posts here on a RUNNING MESSAGE BOARD would decide to rip on her at all. Good freakin' grief dude, re-evaluate your life.

Lost all respect when she defended a doped they way she did.

Sinead Diver was 20 times more impressive.

this is the equivalent to Ryan Hall's deadlift mile.

a decent accomplishment if they can pull it off, but it's a long way from where they used to be.

Sorry, I just can't be impressed with it.