Maybe taking ten weeks off last January helped Flanagan?

"We had such a miserable January (last year) in Portland," says Flanagan. “Being from Boston, I'm used to roads being sanded. I was trying to get my training in outdoors and be tough... Shalane slipped and threw out her lower back. "My first major injury," she says. Flanagan was away from training for 10 weeks. "I've never been away from running for that long a time. It gave me more motivation to come back strong. The mental and physical break allowed me to bring even more to the table.”

posted Sunday January 14th