Marblehead's Shalane Flanagan Completes Marathon Quest In NYC

MARBLEHEAD, MA — Shalane Flanagan completed her remarkable personal challenge at the scene of perhaps her greatest professional achievement on Sunday.

The 40-year-old Marblehead High alumna, who won a silver medal in the 2008 Summer Games and the 2017 New York City Marathon, finished the NYC Marathon in 2 hours, 33 minutes, 32 seconds to cap her quest to run six of the world's major marathons in just six weeks.

Having also already run Berlin on Sept. 26 and London on Oct. 3, Flanagan then ran both Chicago and Boston in the same weekend in October. She went on to run Tokyo on Oct. 17 before running New York City on Sunday.

Her NYC time was the fastest she ran any of the six marathons.

"From the moment I landed the emotional overload I have felt from being back in this beautiful city has been nothing short of overwhelming," she posted on her Instagram account before Sunday's race. "I've only been here 24 hours, but New York has always had my heart."

Flanagan said she came out of her 2019 retirement from competitive distance running and chose to run the six marathons in six weeks in an effort to take something back "coming off a year and a half where so much was taken from the world (amid the coronavirus health crisis)."

"Knowing what this city has been through the past two years, plus knowing that this is the end of this incredible adventure, I can't help my eyes from watering or my heart from swelling, thinking about how much this weekend means to me," she said on the eve of the final race.

Her win in NYC in 2017 made her the first U.S. woman to win the New York Marathon in 40 years.

"In 2017, my life changed when I took that right turn into Central Park — but even that doesn't compare to (Friday) night, when I got to bring my son, Jack, to see that same finish line," she wrote. "Talk about a tearjerker."

Earlier in October, Flanagan called her Boston Marathon run "my best Boston, by far" after she ran her hometown course in 2:40.34 just one day after running 26.2 miles in Chicago in 2:46.39.

She said at the time finishing Boston — amid the frequent cheers of 'Go, Marblehead!' —convinced her she could complete the unprecedented six-marathon mission.

"The epic, blood-curdling screams (especially from the BC and Wellesley crews) — the day was just everything," she said. "Running down Boylston meant more today than it ever has before.

"(Boston) gave me the confidence to know deeply and truly that I can accomplish this goal. My body is going to let me do something that's never been done before."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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