The Six Star Medal was introduced by the Abbott World Marathon Majors in 2016 to honor the runners who complete all six major marathons. Across the nation, just 4,153 people have earned one—only 98 in Pennsylvania. Susan Flavin is one of them. The East Vincent Township resident is the first to tell you she isn’t an athlete, and she certainly isn’t fast. But she is persistent.
When Flavin gave birth to twins in 2007, she hemorrhaged badly and fought for her life, delivering Adam and Liza 11 weeks early. She’s also a breast cancer survivor, beating the disease in 2009 after a lumpectomy and six weeks of radiation. “I’d go to Bryn Mawr Hospital twice a week at 6:30 a.m., get zapped, and be back at my desk in Chesterbrook by 7:30,” says Flavin.
Two years later, Flavin went back to school for her doctorate in nursing science from the Medical University of South Carolina, graduating in 2015. She’s currently senior scientific director at Amgen, one of the world’s largest independent biotech companies. “I’m not smart—I’m persistent,” she says.
In 2014, a friend persuaded Flavin to try a mud run. Fearing embarrassment, she trained for eight months and had a ball. She signed up for the 5K version of Philadelphia’s Rocky Run and later the Marine Corps Historic Half in Fredericksburg, Virginia. “I said, ‘I’m only ever doing this once,” says Flavin of the Historic Half’s 13.1-mile trek. “Well, I did it four more times.”
By April 2018, Flavin was running in her first Boston Marathon. The Monday of the race brought the worst weather the event had ever seen, with pouring rain, monsoon-like winds and a temperature just two degrees above freezing. “That’s been my bar by which I measure everything,” Flavin says. “Now, every single challenge that comes my way, I say, ‘It’s not as bad as Boston.’”
Ironically, it wasn’t running that almost put Flavin out commission. In 2020, she slipped coming out of a spin class and fractured her sacrum. The former nurse took Motrin and carried on, continuing to run despite intense pain. Months went by before she visited a doctor, who insisted she put a pause on running. After three separate physicians recommended a spinal fusion, Flavin turned to Main Line Spine in King of Prussia, desperate for a Plan B. Having lived with a broken back for a solid year, she opted for regenerative medicine. They drew 50 vials of her own blood, which was spun, then reinjected. With Pilates, strength training and swimming, her condition improved.
Flavin spent 14 weeks training for the Tokyo Marathon, running an average of 35 miles over five days weekly.
November 2022 brought Flavin’s second marathon in New York City, then London in April 2023. She ran the Chicago Marathon in October 2023, just two weeks after she competed in Germany’s Berlin Marathon in September. “I was so tired and so sore,” Flavin recalls.
All that remained was the Tokyo Marathon. It differs from the others in having eight cutoff points to ensure runners keep a timely pace. Flavin hired Main Line running coach Meredith Minnick to help her gear up. “We prepped for Tokyo a little differently than I normally would for marathon training,” Minnick says. “We knew we had to get through the first couple of time checkpoints, so we practiced running paces that would get her through those with time to spare.”
Flavin spent 14 weeks training for the event, running an average of 35 miles over five days weekly. “Susan was out running in the freezing cold, snow, rain and heat,” Minnick says. “I don’t believe she missed a training run the entire Tokyo cycle, which is impressive given her demanding job and the fact that she has three kids.”
Flavin flew to Tokyo this past March with her 23-year-old daughter, Mia. “She’s always my beacon,” Flavin says of her eldest daughter, who was also with her in Boston, New York and London. At Flavin’s first marathon, Mia was photographed holding a sign that read “Mom, U R my hero.”
In Tokyo, Flavin made each cutoff, finishing with her second-best time ever: five hours, 15 minutes. Through sobs, she accepted her Six Star Medal. “There isn’t a possible way to describe the depths of my true admiration,” daughter Mia says.
Next month, Mia will run her first New York City Marathon with her mom by her side. “I tell my kids all the time: You don’t have to be the best. You don’t have to be the fastest. You just have to be the trying-est,” Flavin says.
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