Over the past 11 years, Desiree Linden has started 15 marathons, finished 14 of them, and come in second three times. But until today, she had never broken the tape.
That’s despite some close calls, most notably at the Boston Marathon in 2011, when she came within 2 seconds of taking the crown. With each near miss, her desire to win only grew, as did her legions of fans, who commiserated with her struggle every time she came close again.
How to Win Boston in Horrible Weather worst weather days in Boston Marathon history—freakish driving rain, headwinds gusting to 30 miles per hour, and temperatures in the 30s, it was the 5-foot-1, 96-pound Linden who stood up to the conditions and prevailed down Boylston Street. Only as she celebrated did she take off the long-sleeved wind jacket she wore for the entire 26.2 miles, bib number pinned vertically along one side.
She became the first American woman to win the race in 33 years, and she seemed to shed tears at the finish line—although the torrents of rain made it impossible to tell for sure.
Shoes & Gear, Master the Half, John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images.
Runners love Linden for different reasons than they love other giants of American marathoning, like Shalane Flanagan or Deena Kastor. Linden has at times seemed like the most unlikely of world-class runners. She hasn’t shied away from sharing her goals, however audacious, and showing how hard she has to work. This was her sixth run at Boston.
When she graduated from Arizona State University in 2005, she had no major sponsors offering her a shoe deal. She had to convince Kevin and Keith Hanson, coaches of the Hansons-Brooks training group in Rochester Hills, Michigan, that she could handle the cold winters and that they should take a chance on letting her join their training group. When she first moved to Michigan, she had a part-time job—no six-figure contract for her.
Year after year, she has kept at it, bringing her marathon down from her debut of 2:44:56 in 2007 to her PR of 2:22:38, which she set at that Boston race in 2011.
She is the patron saint of the pluggers, the people who show up, on time, every day, and keep putting in the work, and who don’t have any expectation that anything will be handed to them.
Last year after Boston, when she finished fourth after speaking openly about her desire to win, she took the summer off from running, doing her best to bust out of a slump.
Today’s win, in 2:39:54, was the slowest in 40 years at Boston. She survived a battle of attrition with those most Linden-like of traits: keeping at it, pushing ahead, running intelligently.
“This is hands down the biggest day of my running career,” she said at a press conference after the race. “If it hadn’t been difficult, I don’t think it would mean as much.”
It almost didn’t happen today, either. Early in the race, Linden said she felt horrible and was considering dropping out. She chatted with Flanagan, who won New York and was one of the favorites, and offered to help block the wind or do anything she could to ease Flanagan’s path. Linden drifted back from the pack while Flanagan made a pit stop, and together they ran back to catch the leaders.
A few miles later, when Mamitu Daska of Ethiopia made a break for the front, Linden helped Molly Huddle, another prerace favorite, try to track Daska down.
Taking the focus off of her own pain and offering an assist to the other Americans got Linden out of her own bad patch.
“Sometimes when you pick it up and forget how you’re feeling and engage for a bit, it can turn everything around,” she said. “That’s what happened.”
By 18 miles, Huddle had fallen off, and Linden and Gladys Chesir of Kenya had Daska in their sights. As the wind whipped in their faces, all three runners struggled up Heartbreak Hill.
“It was brutal,” Linden said. “I don’t think I’ve ever raced that distance in those conditions. My hands were freezing. There were times you were just stood up by the wind, it was kind of comical how slow you were running and how much farther I had to go. It was definitely the toughest conditions on the cold side that I’ve had to run in.”
By 22 miles, Linden had dropped Daska and Chesir and was on the downhills into Boston. She built a 90-second lead on the chase pack when Kevin Hanson saw her at mile 23.
“She was still attacking,” he said, and he could tell Daska and Chesir were broken. “There’s nobody who is going to make up a minute and a half on her. And right then, I got the most emotional.”
Linden, who never looked behind her, said she was running scared for the final stretch. Only when she took the quick right onto Hereford Street, before the final stretch on Boylston, did she see that the fans were cheering for her in a way that meant she was going to win.
“It was nice to get it right down Boylston this time for sure,” she said, referring to her loss in a sprint finish in 2011. “Those last couple of steps, I knew: This is for real.”
As she sat, beaming from the dais, she told reporters, “I’m thrilled. This is storybook stuff.”
Except that it looks nothing like a traditional fairytale. No Prince Charming, in to save the day. No dramatics.
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Sarah Lorge Butler is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World Sarah Lorge Butler, Run Your Butt Off! and Walk Your Butt Off!
