Flanagan looking for a happy homecoming

Boston — Growing up in nearby Marblehead, Shalane Flanagan watched her parents run the Boston Marathon and thought, "I want to do that, too."

Jordan Hasay watched Flanagan win in New York last fall, and had much the same idea.

"I looked up to her since I was a little kid," said Hasay, who finished third in Boston in her marathon debut last year and will return to the course Monday as part of the most competitive pack of U.S. women to run the race in decades.

"It feels weird to be racing her in a marathon. I feel a little intimidated by her with all her credentials," Hasay said. "All the Americans are an inspiration."

No U.S. woman has won the Boston Marathon since Lisa Larsen-Weidenbach in 1985, the year before the historic race began offering prize money that lured the top international professionals to town. Meb Keflezighi's cathartic victory in 2014, one year after the bombings that killed three spectators and wounded hundreds more, ended a men's drought that had stretched to 1983.

Last year, Americans took two of the top four women's spots and six of the top 10 for men — the first time that's happened in the professional era.

Hasay was third and Desi Linden was fourth, her fourth top 10 finish in the race in as many tries; Flanagan was injured and did not run, but she's back in the field this year for what she says will be her final attempt to win her hometown race.

"It's more of a personal thing, Boston to me," Flanagan said. "That's something I've had to work on, knowing that's part of my psychology that I tend to just want this race so badly, I almost have to pretend that I don't want to win it in order to do well.”