(July 8, 1981- )
Born in Boulder, Colorado
Long-distance runner
Won the bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics in the 10,000 meters
Won the bronze medal at the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships
Became the first American woman, since 1977, to win the New York City Marathon (November 5, 2017)

She wrote a cookbook.
Her first name is frequently misspelled ('Shalene').
Her husband is her agent.
Her performance in the 2016 Rio Olympics was a disappointing one, mainly due to a lower back injury.
Her 2008 10,000 m Olympic bronze medal was upgraded to silver after original silver medalist Elvan Abeylegesse was stripped of her medal over a doping violation (March, 2017).
The conversation over her NYC Marathon win inevitably focused on her ending the Kenyan stranglehold on Marathon wins (beating presiding champion Mary Keitany by barely a minute), as opposed to the individual nature of her achievement.

She adopted two teenage foster children.
Her mother is world record holder and 5-time World Cross Country Champion, Cheryl Bridges.
She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and won back-to-back national cross country titles in 2002 and 2003.
She holds the American record for the 3000 meters (indoor), the 5000 meters (indoor), and the 15K road race.
The NYC Marathon victory was her first major marathon win in her career (and - at 36 - it was supposed to be her last race).
Her win over Keitany came as a game changing shock to many; pulling away from Mary only in the last three miles of the race.
She cried when she was announced the winner of the Marathon, hugging Keitany and saying 'This is the moment that I’ve dreamed of since I was a little girl.'
Her spunk earned her overnight national heroine status - particularly in New York, which days earlier had experienced a deadly terror attack that cast a shadow over the marathon.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair

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• BoyWiththeGreenHair’s Profiles [Series 10]
• Daughters of Celebrities
• I Adopted a Child
• I Attended University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
• I Married in 2009
• I Ran a Marathon
• I Ran in the Boston Marathon
• I Ran in the London Marathon
• I Ran in the New York Marathon
• Look at Me, I Got My Hands Up
• Look at My Hair in a Pony Tail
• Ripped Chicks