Shannon Gaden Joins Austin’s Running Elite

<image above> Shannon Gaden (right #13) has been posting some speedy track times. <image above>

Relatively new on the Austin running scene, Shannon Gaden is quickly making a name for herself. Gaden, who is a registered nurse, moved to Austin from Denver in 2021 and now works for Health and Human Services surveying home health agencies.

Since breaking through at the 2024 Boston Marathon with a 2:46:09, Gaden has been steadily climbing through the ranks of Austin’s elite runners.

“I’d been running a little in Denver and started to get interested in training harder after moving to Austin,” said Gaden, 30.

In January this year, she ran a fine 1:16:05 at the super-competitive Aramco Houston Half Marathon. Never one to shy away from the track, Gaden won the 5,000 meter event at Texas State’s Bobcat Invitational on March 27 in 16:43. Then, on April 6, she came in second in Texas’s largest 10K, the Statesman Capitol 10,000, posting 34:47 behind sometime training partner Allie Kieffer (34:18). Back on the track, Gaden ran a speedy 4:18 for the 1,500 meters at the Texas Invitational at Mike Meyers Stadium on April 24 and followed that up with a 2:09.12 800 for second place at the Texas State Twilight Last Chance Meet on May 17.

Gaden has honed her speed with several different running groups, including RAW Running and the Purple Dragon Run Club and is now coached by Rio Reina, a former Razorback standout.

“I’ve been working with Shannon since 2022,” said Reina. “I saw how much talent she had when I first met her at RAW Running. Over the last couple of years, I’ve encouraged her to pursue her potential. Once we started putting together a structured training plan, things started to happen. It’s been really fun to see her just take off the way she has. She has a lot of natural speed, so we try to structure her training around her strengths. She’ll run the 1,500 at the Portland Track Festival on June15th.”

“The Austin running scene is amazing. There’s nothing like it,” Gaden said. “There are all these different running groups and we all come together for different events. It’s supportive and competitive at the same time. It’s spurred me on to get faster and faster. I’m enjoying getting on the track and seeing what I can do there — I’m still figuring out what my best distance will be. Of course there’s always the marathon too, and I’ll likely run one in the next year.”

Upcoming Races: Saturday, June 14 at 8:00 a.m., the Manor Community 5K at Timmermann Park in Manor. Saturday, June 14 at 8:30 p.m., the Night Nation Run 5K at the Travis County Exposition Center. Saturday, June 21 at 7:30 a.m., Dos Rios 5K Splash and Dash at Cypress Bend Park in New Braunfels.