A Brief Reminder of How Fast Shalane Flanagan Is

The U.S. Olympic Track and Field trials were held a week or so ago, and UNC alumnus, bronze medalist, and American-record holder in the 10K participated. She finished third with a time of 31:59:69, good enough to make the team, but not a dominant performance. Until you consider the following things:

• Shalane Flanagan will not be participating in the 10K in London, as she already qualified for the marathon by running a 2:25:38 to win the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in Houston back in January. It was her second marathon ever, by the way.
• She had, in fact, run a marathon for training the Monday before her trials.
• During the 10K trials, her teammate Lisa Uhl had her shoe come untied in the first three laps. She told Flanagan, who responded that she should stop and tie it. Meanwhile, Flanagan would "try to slow the tempo of the pace so that Uhl would have a little bit easier time catching up."

Uhl did catch up from about a 75 meter deficit to take fourth in the trials. As Flanagan will not be participating and the 2nd-place finisher had not run the A qualifying standard, she will be going to London. And when you head out for your next run, remember that Shalane Flanagan sandbagged her way to a sub-32 minute 10K.

She won't be the only UNC alum in London either, as former teammate Alice Schmidt came in third in the 800 meter to qualify for the Games as well.