Shalane Grace Flanagan (born July 8, 1981) is an American long-distance runner, coach, Olympic medalist and New York City Marathon champion.

[4][5] Flanagan is married to Steven Ashley Edwards,[6] a former track and field star at the University of North Carolina.

While training for the Rio Olympics, one of her teammates from Bowerman Track Club Team emailed asking to find a foster home during their senior year of high school.

Her father, Steve Flanagan, was also a U.S. World Cross Country Champion participant and marathon runner (PR 2:18).

[8] In the fall of 2009, Flanagan volunteered as an assistant coach for the cross country team at her alma mater, the University of North Carolina.

[9] In the fall of 2013, Flanagan volunteered as an assistant coach for the women cross country team at Portland State University.

[10] On August 6, 2016, Flanagan and longtime college friend Elyse Kopecky published their first cookbook Run Fast.Eat Slow.

Flanagan and Kopecky met in 2000 as teammates of the cross country team while attending the University of North Carolina.

[11] In 2013, Flanagan and Kopecky reunited in Portland where they came up with Run Fast Eat slow to prove that food could be both nourishing and delicious.

They toured together in Oregon, San Francisco and New York City, where their events included running, inspirational talks and a chance to meet and get to know the authors better.

Due to Flanagan's New York City Marathon Training and the birth of Kopecky's baby, they had to limit the number of stops on their book tour.

The fan feedback was that they wanted Flanagan and Kopecky to write a second cookbook which would be best suited for people with busy lifestyles.

On January 24, 2023 Flanagan announced on Instagram that she and her husband adopted a baby girl, Grace Morgan Edwards.

[14] As a student at Marblehead High School in Massachusetts, Flanagan's accomplishments included three-time All-State cross country performances,[15][16][17] a first-place All-State outdoor track finish in the mile in 4:52.38[18] and the two-mile in 10:24.21[19] (state meet record still stands as of 2017[20]); her 4:46.91 mile won the National Scholastic Indoor Championships.

[21] Flanagan attended the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where she won national cross country titles in 2002 and 2003—becoming the first individual champion in the sport in Tar Heel history—and numerous track accolades, with best times of 4:11.24 in 1500 m (7th in the U.S. at any level in 2003), 9:00.22 in the 3000 m and 15:20.54 in the 5000 m.[22] She won the Honda Sports Award as the best female collegiate cross country runner in the nation in both 2003 and 2004.

[39] She took her fifth title at the National Cross Country Championships and asserted herself as the clear number one in the discipline, winning by a margin of 41 seconds.

[43] With this in mind, she ran at the first Miami Half Marathon in December and won in a Florida state record time of 1:09:58 hours.

On February 2, 2013, in St. Louis, she won the 8k national cross country title in 25:49.0, just ahead of Kim Conley and Deena Kastor.

[49] Flanagan qualified for the 2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships with the top American time of the year[50] at the 2013 Stanford University Invitational 10 km, where she ran 31:04 without competition for the 2nd half of the race.

[58] Flanagan ran a time qualifier for the 2015 World Championships in Athletics and USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships with the top American time of the year[59] at the 2015 Stanford Invitational 10 km, where she ran 31:08,[60] pacing race winner Gelete Burka[61] in her 10 km debut.

[62] Flanagan finished 2nd to Molly Huddle in the 10,000 meters in 31:42.29[63][64] at the 2015 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on June 25.

[67] On February 13, 2016, Flanagan placed third, behind Amy Hastings (Cragg) and Desiree Linden, at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, finishing in 2:29:19 on a warm day in Los Angeles.

[69] Molly Huddle ran a 1:07:41 in New York City in March, while the American record is 1:07:34, set by Deena Kastor in Berlin in 2006.

On December 12, 2016, Flanagan was upgraded from seventh to sixth in the 2014 Boston Marathon results after winner Rita Jeptoo was disqualified for doping offenses.