COLORADO SPRINGS — Lisa Rainsberger will be at the finish of the Boston Marathon next Monday, just in case an American woman wins for the first time since Rainsberger did it in 1985.

She’s even got an outfit picked out for the occasion, “in hopes of passing the laurel wreath over.”

Now a successful coach and soccer mom who lives in Colorado Springs, Rainsberger used to enjoy being known as the last American to win the Boston Marathon, but not now. It’s been too long.

“Had you asked me this question 15 years ago, I wanted it for me still,” Rainsberger said. “But now, for the betterment of the sport, for our pride and patriotism, it (would) pave the way for people like my daughter. If she sees women winning, it’s going to make the sport for her that much more sexy, attractive.

“She’s playing soccer right now because soccer is all of that. Soccer is much more promoted in our country right now than track and field.”

The Boston drought for Americans is even longer on the men’s side. The last American man to win there was Greg Meyer in 1983.

“I’m very surprised,” Meyer said. “We’ve had the talent. I think Ryan Hall, had he run a little bit differently a couple years ago, was in a position to win.”

Hall finished third in 2009 and fourth in 2010. He will run Boston again this year, along with Kara Goucher, who was third in 2009.

“I think Kara is the real deal,” Rainsberger said. “She exudes what Greg and I had. She’s strong. I look at her and I think, ‘That’s it!’ She looks the part.”

Rainsberger — known at the time by the surname Larsen-Weidenbach — won Boston on a hot day with a time of 2 hours, 34 minutes, 6 seconds. The second-place woman was eight minutes behind her.

“The night before the race, my husband dropped me off at this stranger’s house (in Hopkinton), and all I had was my toothbrush, my race outfit,” Rainsberger said. “I slept in a T-shirt and some pants, and I left them at their house.”

She walked to the start and ran away with the race.

“I knew it was my race to lose,” Rainsberger said. “Pinnacle moment in my life.”

Rainsberger was a swimmer with Olympic aspirations at the University of Michigan in 1980 when President Jimmy Carter prevented American athletes from competing in the Moscow Olympics because of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. Rainsberger took up running that summer and liked it so much she went out for Michigan’s cross country team.

Soon she was forced to choose — running or swimming — and decided she liked running more. She would win the Chicago Marathon twice and finished fourth (first alternate) at the Olympic Trials of 1984, 1988 and 1992.

After the 1996 trials (19th), she thought her career as an elite athlete was soon to end, but when the International Olympic Committee announced triathlon would be a medal sport at the 2000 Olympics, she began training for that.

That’s what brought her to Colorado Springs 14 years ago — triathlon training at the Olympic Training Center.

“It was really exciting to feel that potential again, of going to the Olympics,” Rainsberger said.

Then she found out she was pregnant. She retired in 1998 and started coaching her former triathlon training partner, Susan Williams, who won a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics. Rainsberger now coaches more than 50 people, running the gamut from Olympic hopefuls to folks who just want to get fit.

She’s excited about turning 50 — “I’m in a new age group this year!” — and is planning to do a Half Ironman. Last year she rode her bike in the inaugural Pikes Peak Assault, completing the 7,700-foot ascent in just under 4 hours, 30 minutes.

“I take the attitude that every year, I’m going to do something that gets me out of my comfort,” Rainsberger said. “That way I know I’m still alive.”

Last year she marked the 25th anniversary of her Boston win by running the race with her husband, finishing with him in 4:04.

“I love to re-establish goals, based on who I am today,” Rainsberger said. “If I can get within an hour of my marathon PR, I’m happy. That was my mental problem, to get through that. I had to rediscover what I like about running.

“For the longest time, it was winning. That’s why I ran. I loved to win.”