Shalane Flanagan placed third at the 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials on Saturday in Los Angeles, after leading the race with her teammate, Amy Cragg, for 24 miles. It was then that severe dehydration almost ended her chances of making the team going to Rio Games in August. She hung on, however, and finished behind Cragg, who won, and Desiree Linden, who placed second.

It was the hottest Olympic Marathon Trials on record, with temperatures topping out at 73 degrees during the race. Many athletes struggled and Flanagan, 34, was among them. She’s never competed in a marathon in these conditions before and says she will consult with experts to figure out a better hydration plan prior to going to Brazil, where the temperatures will also be warm and it will be more humid.

Instead of the customary stop at the post-race press conference, Flanagan was receiving IV fluids and medical attention. Runner’s World caught up with her by phone on Sunday as she relaxed and recovered in her hotel room.

Runner’s World: Take us through your race a little bit. What happened and when did you feel like your body was starting to go south?

Shalane Flanagan: I got pretty dehydrated yesterday out on the course. I was feeling fantastic all the way up until the last (six-mile) loop. I started to get chills heading into that last loop. I didn’t say anything to Amy, but I thought, “Uh oh.” When you get chills like that, it’s the start of dehydration. I’d been taking all my fluids, but I could just tell that they weren’t really absorbing. I could feel them sitting in my stomach and sloshing. I am not really sure why I wasn’t absorbing them, but my chiropractor, who is a doctor and is pretty knowledgeable, said that it was a sign that my drink may have been too sweet.

Probably at mile 23, I was in a really bad place and typically people would stop and walk or drop out. But obviously I had something huge on the line, so I pushed through and pushed my body to a place I’ve never experienced. I was really dizzy, chills, ringing in my ears, couldn’t see straight.

Because I pushed myself for three miles basically in a state where I had run out of fuel, when I finished I was just really out of it. I don’t really remember much, to be honest. It was recommended that I immediately go get an IV, which I’ve never had before.

RW: How do you feel today?

SF: Because of that dehydration, this is probably the roughest recovery. I think it was good I got an IV because everybody was telling me it would help with my recovery.

I was just so elated for Amy that I didn’t sleep much. And I just wasn’t feeling great. It was just a mixture of excitement and a lot of emotion. It’s been kind of a drama-filled buildup for me, with injuries and niggles—and then the race itself was somewhat dramatic, too. I’m not used to this much drama in my training and racing. I’m used to just a simple buildup and a simple race. It’s been a drama-filled past two months, so last night I was just very excited and also relieved to have this chapter closed. I’m looking forward to what’s ahead.

RW: Let’s back up a bit to when you and Amy put in a pretty good surge at mile 12 to break up the race. Nobody went with you. Was that planned? What spurred that?

SF: The plan was to sit back and let people dictate the pace. [Coach] Jerry [Schumacher] said to us the night before that we are the two fastest 10K runners in the field, so it could be extremely slow through 20 miles and he had full confidence that we didn’t need to panic if there were still 15 people around. We have great leg speed and we both had a track season last year. He felt like we’d be in great position to have that kind of a race, so there was no reason to press.

At the same time, I told Amy that, just to be safe, we should get out and get clear of the field so there was no tripping. The first 2.2-mile loop, I was a little nervous about people clipping. I tripped in the first loop at the 2012 Olympic trials—somebody clipped me—so I just wanted to run free. I didn’t think it would take a lot of effort out of us to just get out front.

We knew Jerry didn’t want us leading, so we tucked back in on purpose and just let other people dictate the pace. But then Kellyn [Taylor] was leading and she threw in a surge. I could feel the pace quicken and Amy and I just covered it, thinking everybody would cover it. Before we knew we’d broken, I said to Amy, “I think there’s just four of us.” We looked around and it was just Sara [Hall] and Kellyn and Amy and I.

I said, “Okay. Let’s pick up the pace just for two miles, squeeze it down and put some doubt in people and just work together.”

It wasn’t a conscious, prerace decision to do that. I realized we had broken from the pack, so I said, “Let’s just keep this pace honest for a few miles, then we’ll back off.” We threw in some 5:25 miles for two or three miles, then I said, “We have to constantly monitor ourselves. If I feels edgy to you, Amy, let me know.” And then we backed off to 5:30s.

RW: Seems like in the end, that gap you built may have saved you.

SF: It’s unfortunate, because I was feeling so good and so confident, not laboring. It wasn’t a lack of fitness for why I decayed. It was absolutely overheating and a dehydration problem, which I’ve got to figure out. I have to dial that in for Rio. I’m not sure where I went wrong with my fueling. The good thing is that the fitness was there—I felt amazingly smooth and effortless until I started getting the chills with six miles to go.

RW: Amy had a rough time on the third lap and you were the one helping her out, she said.

SF: I was constantly asking her how the pace felt because I didn’t want either of us to be overextending ourselves. There was no need to press when we were out front. I wanted to make sure we were in a rhythm and a groove. A few times I felt like I was pulling away from her a little and I kept asking if it was OK. She said that it did feel edgy and wanted to slow down a little bit.

I just said, “Amy, I’m not going to leave your side, this is like a training run. We’re just going to get this done together. I’m not going to leave your side until the finish line.”

Hypothetically there was going to be a chance that we were just going to run it in together. That would have been a dream. But I kind of spoiled those plans.

RW: What were you and Amy saying to each other as Desiree was closing in on you in the last two miles? Were you telling her to leave you? To go?

SF: Like I said, I started getting chills and I didn’t say anything to Amy because I didn’t want to scare her, but I could just feel I was starting to get in trouble. I just tried to stay calm, but once we got the Coliseum, I told Amy, “I may be in trouble. You may need to just take off. If I start to falter and fall off, you just have to go.”

I wasn’t going to hinder her race. I think she was tentative to take off because it’s scary to run it in the last four miles by yourself. It’s a long last four miles.

She said, “No, I’m going to stay right with you, one mile at a time. We’ll get to the next fluid station and you’ll feel better.” I don’t think she knew how bad of a state I was in. Then as it progressed I think she saw how red I was getting and she started to get genuinely concerned that I wasn’t going to make it to the finish. She kept looking back to see how far back Desi was. We had about a minute going into the last lap and had everything gone according to plan, I don’t see any reason why that gap would have closed.

I kept telling her to go—that she had to go. I told her, “You cannot wait around for me.” She just waited until the last minute. She had enough running left in her legs, so when she could see Desi getting close, she just took off. I was relieved. I was slightly delirious. Once she took off I just knew someone must be coming up on me, so I figured I just had to latch on to Desi and pretend she’s Amy. I just switched teammates for a little bit. It was the hardest three miles of my life.

Amy coached me through a big chunk. There were times I just didn’t know if I could finish.

RW: Desi and Amy were at the finish line screaming you in. Could you see them or hear them?

SF: I could see Amy and I kept thinking, “Just get to Amy, get to Amy.” I felt bad because here she is, like a 100-pound girl soaking wet, and I expected her to like carry me. When I saw her, the relief of just crossing the finish line, all of my dead weight just went on top of her. I felt bad. I thought, “Oh God, I'm going down.” I could not stand up at all. I don’t think she was expecting me to just completely collapse on her. I didn’t see them cheering. I saw Amy and I don’t know what she was doing, but that was like my safe harbor.

RW: Have you had the chance to celebrate at all or have you been resting since the finish?

SF: We had a lot of family and friends in town, so last night we got together for a little bit, but it was kind of short-lived. It was an early evening for me. My husband, Steven, ran the L.A. Marathon this morning, so he had to get up early. We celebrated, but we were still in bed by nine.

RW: Knowing the temperatures could be about the same in Rio—with some added humidity—what do you think you need to do differently to prepare?

SF: I think the fitness is there, so that component is dialed in. It’s trying to figure out my hydration. Amy was just chugging down her fluids and was able to get water bottles, while I was still trying to muscle down my fluids. I need to consult with some doctors and hydration experts on the best ratio of sugars and salts. The dynamic of your hydration changes depending on the conditions and I’ve fared well in mild and cool temperatures, but it’s a completely different type of hydration for the heat.

I feel embarrassed at this stage that I don’t know, but it’s the first time I’ve run a marathon in this type of weather and these kinds of conditions. London [2012 Olympics] is probably the closest—it was like 60s, not terribly warm, but I still had some trouble there as well, with cramping. The fact that my face turned bright red shows that something’s not right.

RW: How do feel about the system that the U.S. uses to select the Olympic team? Does it work?

SF: I’ve always been in favor of our system. I like it very clear-cut—you’re either top three or you’re not. Even thought the conditions were really tough on the athletes, it’s going to be similar conditions in Rio. It’s a good test of if people can weather the weather. It was a good way to test out a good team to send to Rio, because it will be warm. In some other countries there’s some hand selections and I’m not in favor of favoritism and all that.

RW: How do you think the entire Olympic Marathon Trials event went, from the course to the organization of it?

SF: In general, I would say it was a huge success. My only frame of reference was in Houston in 2012 and I thought Houston did a great job. I think what L.A. had to offer was more people. There were more fans out. I don’t know if that’s just because it’s L.A. or the accessibility, but it definitely felt like the fans were just deep and there was a lot of energy on the course. That was great for the sport and exciting for the athletes to perform in front of a big stage. It makes it feel important. My only complaint is that we had a later start in the day [the women’s race started at 10:22 a.m. Pacific]. I would have been nice to start earlier, to be honest. At the end of the day, everybody has to compete at the same time and in the same conditions, so it is what it is. Overall I thought it was a great event.

RW: So, what are you doing today now that it’s all over?

SF: I woke up early. I proceeded to eat a giant cinnamon roll, and then a chocolate chip scone. Then I laid in bed for about two hours. I responded to texts and emails from friends and family, while not leaving my bed. There’s been a lot of quality bedtime, but I eventually got up and had coffee with my mom. I sought out some medical advice because I damaged two of my toenails pretty badly so I had to make sure they weren’t infected—they were quite red and swollen.

I’m just going to lounge around then hook up with Amy later for some more pastries and donuts. We want to send pictures to the other girls on the [Bowerman Track Club] team with some wine and donuts. That’s the priority for the day.

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