It has been two months since Shalane Flanagan won the bronze medal in the women’s 10,000 meter run at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Now that Flanagan is in a break from training, she spent some time with her husband’s family in southeast Kansas.
Flanagan is married to Steve Edwards, who was born in Topeka. His mother lived in Uniontown but his aunt, Joyce Tassi, lives in Arma.
For Flanagan, it was her first trip to southeast Kansas.
“I had heard a lot of stories about the area since I knew Steve,” Flanagan said. “It is nice to put places with those stories that I had heard ... I love it.”
Flanagan, 27, was born in Boulder, Colo. and currently lives in North Carolina with Edwards.
She has competed in two Olympic games, getting her first medal Aug. 15 in the women’s 10,000 meters in Beijing.
“It was actually my third time to run the 10,000,” Flanagan said. “I think, for me, it is kind of a natural calling. If I were to choose an event, it probably would not have been the 10,000 meters ... I wish I was a 400-meter runner.”
In high school, Flanagan was a three-time All-State performer in cross country, which led her to the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where she won national cross country titles in 2002 and 2003.
That led her to her first Olympic games in Athens in 2004.
“I thought that I was a little more of a spectator in Athens,” Flanagan said. “I came from running for North Carolina in the ACC to go to the big stage in the Olympics and it was a big jump for me in just one year.”
She finished 31st in the 5,000-meter run in Athens and it left a desire for more for Flanagan.
“Sitting in the stadium and watching people fulfill their dreams I knew that I wanted to give myself four years to do that,” Flanagan said. “I may not have been ready in four years but, I was very motivated to at least be striving to run my best race there.”
Over the course of the next four years, Flanagan trained relentlessly, running 80-90 miles per week and 4-5 hours per day on the sport.
“It is a full-time job,” Flanagan said. “You obviously can’t run all that time but there are other things involved with training because anyone can kick open a door and start running but, it is all the little things. I do a lot of drills, core work, lifting, ice and things like that.
“There is a lot of sacrifice but, obviously, it is worth it when you can compete on the big stage.”
Thoughts of running the 10,000 was not in her mind until just before the Olympic trials.
“I was preparing for the whole Olympic year and I sat down with my coach and we thought that if I did some longer distance training and running, it would better prepare me for the 5,000,” Flanagan said. “We thought that it would set me up nicely for peaking at the right time.
“I hadn’t really considered running the 10,000 until I ran it for the first time,” she said. “That was the fast race and I got the fastest time in the world, which I took into the Olympics, so we thought that it would be a good idea for me to run it.”
That led her back to the Olympics in 2008 and to Beijing.
During the first two weeks of the Olympics, Flanagan spent most of her time training outside of the Chinese capital.
“It was kind of good to be out of all the commotion,” Flanagan said. “It is kind of like a big Super Bowl party and it was nice to be away from all that.”
Closer to race time, Flanagan came down with a case of food poisoning, but she was determined after coming into the race with the No. 1 time in the 10,000 meters in the world.
“I recovered just in time and, prior to coming in, I had very high expectations coming in with the No. 1 time in the world,” Flanagan said. “But, it was a championship race and those are not usually fast races and it leaves a lot of runners still in it.”
But she knew that the competition would still be there because of the level of competition.
“Going into the race, I thought that it was anyone’s day and I had worked hard and just reminded myself of all the little things I did to prepare,” Flanagan said. “But, everything has to come together in one day.”
Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba won the title with a time of 29 minutes, 45.66, which set a new Olympic record. Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey finished second in 29:56.34 with Flanagan taking third in 30:22.22.
“Fortunately, it was a fast race and that played to my strengths,” Flanagan said. “But, in the end, I still had to go out and run my own race.”
Fellow American Kara Goucher finished 10th overall with a time of 30:55.16.
“Everyone in sports thinks about that pinnacle moment and for me, that was the Olympics,” Flanagan said. “It was definitely surreal and it was fantastic.”
At the age of 27, Flanagan already has her sights set on London in 2012.
“With distance running, you get better with age, and I have started to hit my prime,” Flanagan said.
During the off-season, Flanagan runs for Nike, which allows her to train full-time and prepare for the 2012 Olympics.
“I think it is a pretty great lifestyle and it allows us to travel everywhere,” Flanagan said. “It is not a lifestyle that I want to keep doing forever but, overall, it is pretty good.”
As for her plans regarding coming back to southeast Kansas?
“Oh yeah,” Flanagan said.
Matthew Clark can be reached at matthew.clark@morningsun.net or at 620-231-2600, Ext. 140.
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