Flanagan talks of happy homecoming

Before she became a world-class runner, Marblehead native Shalane Flanagan spent a lot of time pounding her hometown?s track. The miles she logged there helped launch her running career, which includes an Olympic bronze medal in the 2008 10,000-meter race, during which she set an American record of 30 minutes, 22.22 seconds, breaking her own record by 12 seconds.In April Flanagan set a course record for American women in the Boston Marathon, at 2:22:02, good for seventh place. This weekend, she will be back home in Marblehead, lending her support to efforts to repair the track complex at Hopkins Field.She will run in the ?Back the Track? race, a five-kilometer run and walk Saturday morning at 9 at the Marblehead Community Center. She has been “integral part of helping organize it and promote it,” she said.Flanagan plans to run the race, and will sign bibs from 5-7 p.m. on Friday at Palmers Restaurant in Marblehead. Race proceeds will benefit the refurbishment of the track, which has a special memory for Flanagan — the site of her first track race.?Obviously, it?s always a memorable event,” she said of her first race. “(I remember) training with the Marblehead High School team on that track, a lot of cool, blustery spring days, And going to watch football games. It?s just a great community area. I have a lot of positive memories.?(But,) the old track is not in great shape at all. It?s really run down. When I was in high school, it was in rough shape.”Patches on the track have worn down and the equipment shed is leaky. She estimates a new track will cost $575,000.?I was doing fundraising on my own but I felt like, what an awesome way for a community event,” she said. “A road race on Thanksgiving weekend. Everyone loves a good turkey trot. The idea was Thanksgiving weekend, a lot of people will be back in town. I?ll be running with a lot of people in Marblehead.”She will also be filming herself running, with a GoPro camera attached. It will be a first for her. But the virtual race will allow others to experience what it?s like to run like an Olympian.?I?m excited to share my love of running with the community I grew up in,” she said.Flanagan?s father, Steve Flanagan, is part of a committee on fundraising and generating ideas for a new track.?He and I were talking and I said, ?What can I do??” Shalane Flanagan said. “What I know best is obviously running. ? He and I brainstormed coming up with a road race.”Flanagan added two successful marathon finishes to her resume this year. At Boston, she set a personal record with a pace of 3:30 per mile, the fastest American woman ever on the course. At Berlin in September, she set another PR and became the second-fastest American ever to run a marathon.Earlier this fall, Rita Jeptoo of Kenya, the two-time defending Boston champion and three-time winner overall, tested positive for a banned substance.?I have thought about that race,” Flanagan said of this year?s Boston Marathon. “Everyone in the field was cheated that day. It was unfair. It was a little bit tainted. It changes the whole dynamic of the race, the unfairness of sports. Sometimes people don?t play by the rules and moments are stolen.”Asked if she plans to run Boston next year, Flanagan replied:?I certainly hope so.”Flanagan is also planning a return to the Olympics. In her most recent Games, in London in 2012, she placed 10th in the marathon. The United States marathon trials will take place Feb. 13, 2016, in Los Angeles, a day before the LA Marathon — in advance of the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.?Everything is good,” she said. “I?m getting back in shape. I had a nice break after Berlin.”Now it?s time for a homecoming.This is Flanagan?s first return to Marblehead since the Boston Marathon. She expects to arrive from her home in Oregon on Wednesday, and will celebrate Thanksgiving in Marblehead, returning home late Saturday night after the fundraiser race.?(Thanksgiving) will be a really busy weekend with fun obligations,”