- Kara and Shalane: Olympic TEAM Spirit!
Two American Women, once fierce competitors, turned teammates, training partners, and now 2012 Olympic Women’s Marathon Finishers and forever a golden representation of winning spirit!
Early Sunday morning, August 5, 2012 in London, amongst the fastest distance runners in the world, three American women: Shalane Flanagan, Desiree Davila, and Kara Goucher started the Women’s Olympic Marathon.
Davila’s dream cut short with a hip injury forcing her to exit the race after mile 2. Yet still she’s living, breathing proof that while none of us are immune to injury, hard work and determination can get you to the starting line of the race of your life!
Kara and Shalane who logged hours upon hours training together in preparation for the 2012 Summer Olympics, pushed each other to become the best Women’s Marathon team that has ever represented the USA in the summer games.
This morning just before lacing up my own shoes to head out for my early run, I watched their Olympic Marathon Finish:
Just across the finish line, Shalane melted to her hands and knees having given her all out on that course with the world’s fastest female distance runners. As her teammate finished a mere 16 seconds later, she gave her training partner a finishing pat on the behind as she ran by. Barely out of the camera’s sight, without having cooled off or having caught her breath yet herself, Kara returned to a few feet beyond the finish line where Shalane had not yet come to her feet on her own.
Without words, Kara reached out to her sister Olympian, her teammate, her training partner, her friend…took her arm, helped her to her feet and wrapped Shalane’s arm around her neck supporting her as they limbered arm in arm away from the finish line down the street in London.
It won’t be their times, nor will it be their 10th and 11st place finish results that will forever remain in my memory as Shalane and Kara’s 2012 Olympic Marathon experience. It will be the humble, helping hand of a friend stretching out with strength to support her training partner and teammate. It was that moment in time, in Olympic history that inspired me to run 10 miles of my own this morning rather than 7 or 8.
In that Olympic moment both Kara Goucher and Shalane Flanagan became a golden shining example of the winning spirit within each of us: American Women, Runners, Moms, training each day for the race of our lives!
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