A 5 foot 4″, 102 pound fiery Bostonian has her eye on the finish line to win the Boston Marathon.  Shalane Flanagan has been training the Boston marathon route repetitively. She is called a pony tailed assassin in knee socks.  The Olympic athlete who now lives in Portland, OR has been training in Boston, Portland and at high altitude in Arizona.

Watch a segment on 60 minutes about her quest towards her goal.  The 32 year old sponsored by Nike, runs as her full time job.  What a dream!  She watches everything she eats because it is not only food, but fuel for her body.  Shalane ran 2:25:38 at the 2012 Olympic marathon trials in Houston, which many of the women have faster marathon bests than that.  That blows my mind!

Shalane grew up watching her father run the Boston marathon.  So winning this race to her means everything.  It even means more than winning an Olympic medal.  It’s in her blood. Her mother, Cheryl Treworgy, was the world-record holder in the marathon in 1971 and her father, Steve Flanagan was once a 2:18 marathoner.

When watching the CBS 60 minute story of her you can see the desire in her eyes.   You can feel her passion for wanting to win this race.  It’s going to be an amazing marathon this year for many reasons.  I will be watching (or listening via my iPhone from my car on the way up to the race) to see if she can beat the Kenyans at this year’s marathon!

You can watch Live coverage streamed online on Monday from http://watchlive.baa.org/. For more media coverage click here.  Will you be following the marathon live on Monday?