Muddy Socks Issue 1

Marathon, and she placed 7th overall in the Baystate Marathon in Massachusetts. In just a year of racing, she accomplished a finish time of 3:03:48.

This time was 37 minutes faster than was needed for her age group and 2 minutes ahead of that “anybody” qualifying time for the Boston Marathon.

Initially racing was just for her dad, but now it was for herself. Sadly her dad passed away before he could see her run Boston, but her year of success had her excited to race and to set new and ambitious goals.

With the right training, Shannon knew she was capable of more. If she could run fast and strong when underprepared, what would be possible with hard training? Shannon set her sights on a sub 3-hour time. “I wasn’t training intelligently. I will train too hard. I am all over the place. So I hired a coach for structure.” She contacted Run S.M.A.R.T. to find a coach who could provide a tailored plan and better direction. “I would be stuck in this medium zone of just running medium…I knew intellectually of what I was supposed to do but I was just out there, and I go into this default pace. I would just go into a 7:15, 7:15. I could never push hard enough on the hard days and slow enough on the easy days. But that was the best thing that hiring a coach did.” Since 2014 her workouts and her excitement earned her impressive accolades. While she did not run a sub 3-hour Boston Marathon, she finally crushed that time at the Hartford Marathon in 2018. Shannon finished first in the women’s master class and 7th for the women overall with a time of 2:54:57 min. Statistics state that only 2% of marathoners finish with a sub 3-hour time. Welcome to the elite class!

For those who do not run, it is important to note that only a small percentage of marathoners qualify for Boston. Shannon’s 2015 Boston Marathon was her first of 4 consecutive. As she says, “I have a love/hate relationship with Boston. I love the last two turns, and I cry every time, which is not good when you are finishing a marathon. But I have had the absolute worst weather every time.” In 2018 marathoners experienced the coldest temperatures in the last 30 years, heavy rain, and wind gusts of more than 25 miles an hour. “It was the worst weather I have ever run in, period. And I run out-