Shalane Flanagan broke the American record for 10,000 meters last week at the Stanford Invitational in her first race in the event.
Flanagan finished in 30 minutes, 34.49 seconds, nearly 17 seconds faster than Deena Kastor’s old record of 30:50.32 in 2002.
Her performance proves that she can not only run fast but far, too.
“I had set aside three goals entering the race,” Flanagan said Monday. “My coach [John Cook] going in said he thought I was in 30:30 shape. I thought for a debut, that’s a pretty big goal. I was more just trying to break 31 and if I felt good, get the record.
“The next goal was to chop off the record by a second if need be. Running 31:15 was my third goal. I just wanted to make sure I finished strong and didn’t walk in.”
Flanagan represented the United States in the 5,000 meters in the 2004 Olympics, but now the question is: Will she run the 5,000 or 10,000 or both.
“I really enjoy the 5K,” she said. “We’ll have to sit down and look at where my best chances to medal are. They are very different races. For me and my more speed-oriented training, it felt really nice until the last few laps when it was really uncomfortable.
“I just don’t know right now. I don’t know where I stack up against other people. Wherever I stand the best chance of medaling and representing my country well.”
She already has entered in the 5,000 in the Olympic team trials next month.
How does she stack up in the world? Her 30:34.49, achieved in nearly dead-even 5,000-meter splits, was the 37th fastest 10,000 ever. Only 22 other women have ever run faster.
Few women recently have run a faster 10,000 meters than Flanagan, including Paula Radcliffe who most likely will run only the marathon in the Olympics this year. In the 5,000 meters in the past few years, 12 women have run 5,000 meters faster than Flanagan’s American record 14:44.80 from April of last year.
It is safe to assume that Flanagan’s current 5,000 meter time could be faster than 14:44, but that doesn’t help to determine in which race she would be more competitive.
It depends quite a bit on who shows up at the Olympics, where I would bet on Flanagan to run her comfort race, the 5,000. In the 2004 Olympics, she was 11th in her semifinal heat and did not advance to the final, but the 26-year-old Flanagan is a much different runner today than she was four years ago, more fit and confident.
Fair trade? — Runner’s World magazine had an interesting question of the week recently: “What would you trade for a sub-3 hour marathon?”
“Marathoners nationwide are willing to give up ’American Idol,’ ’Lost,’ ’CSI: Miami’ and ’Dancing with the Stars’ during May Sweeps if only they could complete a sub-3 hour marathon,” according to the results of 2,395 responses.
What a sacrifice! Almost like giving up a kidney!
I would consider coming out of marathon retirement just to not have to watch any of those time-wasting shows.
Twenty-one percent said they would give up television for a month, all human contact for one week, 24 hours of their lifespan and their sense of smell for one year in exchange for a three-hour marathon. Fifty percent said they would give up just television for a full month.
Just giving up television for a month would go a long way toward having the time to train for a marathon. It might save some important brain cells, too.
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