The Rock ’n’ Roll San Antonio Half Marathon this Sunday will be a preview of sorts for the upcoming Olympic Marathon Trials with 2012 Olympians Kara Goucher, Shalane Flanagan and Amy Cragg (10K), as well as 2:28 newcomer Kellyn Taylor on the line.

But it will also be a reunion. Flanagan and Goucher, arguably two of the most recognized U.S. female distance runners, will face off in this L.A. 2016 tune-up. Though they competed in the same races at the Portland Track Festival (5K) and USATF Outdoor Championships (5K), it will be the first time the duo will face off on the roads since the 2013 Boston Marathon.


Kara Goucher and Shalane Flanagan, then training partners, embrace after finishing the 2013 Boston Marathon. Flanagan finished fourth in 2:27:08 and Goucher sixth in 2:28:11. Photo by Nancy Lane, Boston Herald

The two joked around on Twitter about the reunion, with Goucher’s son, Colt, picking Flanagan for the win.

"@ShalaneFlanagan is going to be in Texas? She will win, she's the best. Sorry mom".

— Colt Goucher (@ColtGoucher) December 3, 2015

@karagoucher I've known @ColtGoucher since he was a baby and he has always had a silly heart!! Give him a ðŸÂÂÂÂÂÂ’‹for me. #momisalwaysthebest

— Shalane Flanagan (@ShalaneFlanagan) December 3, 2015

Both are trying to make their second-consecutive marathon Olympic team, as Flanagan won the 2012 Trials in 2:25:38 and Goucher finished third in 2:26:06.

Though this Sunday is considered a “build up” for both Flanagan and Goucher leading into the February race in Los Angeles, these former training partners have had very different experiences since their last road race together in 2013.

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Flanagan was fourth in the 2013 Boston Marathon in 2:27:08. She went on to win the 2013 USATF Championships in the 10K and finished eighth at the World Championships in Moscow. She finished third in the 2014 Berlin Marathon in a new personal best 2:21:14, making her the second-fastest American all-time. She capped off 2015 with a sixth-place finish at the World Championships in the 10K, her best world championship finish ever.

This fall she broke the American 10K road record in 31:03 in Tilburg.


Goucher was sixth in the 2013 Boston race in 2:28:11. She finished second in the 10K at the 2013 Stanford Invite (31:46) but failed to make Team USA after she finished fifth at the national championships. Since then she has made the move from Portland to Colorado, switched partnerships from Nike to Oiselle and Skechers, and has suffered a stress fracture and had knee surgery. But things are looking up. Goucher is coming off a 1:11:13 half marathon victory at the Big Sur Half Marathon on November 8. It was her fastest half marathon — and victory — since 2012.

In their 2011 build up, Flanagan and Goucher raced the Dodge Latin Music Miami Beach Half Marathon in December as their final race before the January 2012 trials. Flanagan won in 1:09:58, while Goucher was second in 1:12:59.

Stay tuned for more updates from the 2015 Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Half Marathon...