On a rainy Sunday morning amongst the crowded New York City streets, a woman named Shalene Flanagan made history. The Massachusetts native was the first American woman to win the New York City Marathon in forty years! Flanagan completed the 26.2 race in 2 hours, 26 minutes and 53 seconds and crossed the finish line in tears before proudly holding the Stars and Stripes aloft. “Flanagan won a 2008 Olympic bronze medal in the ten-thousand metres, which was later upgraded to silver due to doping by one of her opponents. She won a bronze medal at the 2011 World Cross Country Championships,” a spectator commented on her athletic achievements. The race was held amid heightened security after a terror attack that killed eight people on a popular bike path in Manhattan a couple weeks ago. But watching Flanagan cross in contagious smiles wrapped in the American flag was an unity we all needed. “It’s a moment I’m trying to soak up and savor,” Flanagan said. “This is the moment I’ve dreamed of since I was a little girl.” Women’s marathoning was not added as a medal worthy event until 1984 and after much campaigning, it was finally added. Flanagan’s win was part of a bigger victory for American women; nearly half of all of the New York City Marathon finishers this year were women runners.