Shalane Flanagan, defending NYC Marathon champ, finishes gallant 3rd

It could have been categorized as a (long) victory lap, or a 26.2-mile goodbye for Shalane Flanagan. The 2017 New York City Marathon champ, 37, has proved everything she needs to in the running world. Retirement is imminent, Nike already has a job waiting for her, and she’s been a national darling since becoming the first American woman to win New York in 40 years.

In every way, it was time to take a bow.

Instead, what onlookers got on Sunday was a brutal, grueling attempt, a swan song turned swan dive. Flanagan threw everything she had at this race, coming back from 21st place at Mile 9 to finish third and earn a spot on the podium in Central Park.

The only bowing came at the end, when Flanagan, having expended everything she had and more, crossed the finish line, mouthed “I love you” to the cheering crowds, and bent deeply at the waist with hands on knees, caught somewhere between gasping and crying.

Her official time of 2 hours, 26 minutes, 22 seconds was 3:34 behind the first-place finisher, four-time winner Mary Keitany of Kenya. Flanagan managed to overtake Ethiopia’s Rahma Tusa at Mile 24, coming up behind her as Tusa, who had been in the top three since Mile 12, looked over her shoulder incredulously. Flanagan kept staring straight ahead, already too far behind to have any real chance of catching the second-place finisher, Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot (2:26:02), but nonetheless putting together a 5:29 final mile to close out the marathon.

“If this truly was going to be my last race, a podium spot would be special,” she said of her thinking. “I think I’m going to take a few hours postrace to decompress, really evaluate, so I don’t want to be too soon in making a decision [on retiring]. I do feel my heart is leaning toward serving others with the knowledge that I’ve gained. I think I’m swinging more that direction than it is my own running.”

She led three other American women in the top six, the first time that’s happened since 1978. West Islip’s Allie Kieffer came in seventh.

Flanagan, a four-time Olympian, already said earlier in the year that she had run her last Boston Marathon as a professional. She even questioned whether she’d return to New York to defend her title.

After all, Flanagan had planned to retire after last year’s New York City Marathon. Before she won, that is. In August, she shared her decision with The New York Times: She couldn’t resist the siren song. Flanagan was coming back to the big city.

“It’s such an honor to be a defending champion and I could not pass coming back,” she said shortly after finishing Sunday. “The running community is an incredible group of people around the world and in New York City, and I’m just so appreciative of being here today . . . I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day.”

Schar dominates. Switzerland’s Manuela Schar won the women’s wheelchair race in 1:50:27, her second New York win in a row, narrowly beating out Tatyana McFadden, who was vying for her sixth New York City Marathon victory. Schar, who has won Boston, London and Berlin in the last year, edged McFadden by 21 seconds.

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.