Linden ready for Boston
2018 champ making eighth appearance
Desiree Linden took her place in the front row in a gathering of former BAA Boston Marathon champions assembled on Friday afternoon at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel.
Linden earned her station among the elite by winning the BAA race in 2018, becoming the first American women to don the laurel wreath since Lisa Larsen Weidenbach in 1985.
Linden will make her eighth appearance in the arduous 26.2-mile jaunt from Hopkinton to Boston on Monday morning in the 125th running of the Boston Marathon.
“I’m super happy, I’m excited to be here and excited to feel like things are making forward progress,” said Linden. “I think right from the beginning that this was the race that captured my heart and I fell in love with the distance here.
“It is a pleasure to be back and to continue to be invited back.”
Linden is the most decorated American runner, male or female, to run the Boston Marathon in this century.
In her previous seven races, Linden has a win, a second-place finish in 2011 with four top fives and six top 10s. Linden has been in the top five in nine Abbott World Marathon Majors and represented the United States in two Olympiads that included a seventhplace finish at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Linden’s victory in 2018 was due to her ability to adapt to some of the worst weather conditions in the history of the BAA race. A springtime Nor’easter greeted the runners on April 16, bringing with it driving rain, perilous wind guts and unseasonably cold temperatures. Those conditions remained prevalent throughout the race.
Linden passed Mamitu Daska and Gladys Chesir on the downturn at Boston College and labored to victory in the climate inflated time of 2:39:54. Many to the favorites from Africa and Europe had a DNF instead of a time next to their names that day.
“You know when you sign up for spring marathon in Boston you can get that day,” said Linden. “Anyone who was surprised by that hasn’t been paying attention and I was certainly ready for that.
“When I moved out to Michigan it was not “how does this feel” or “this is tough.” It is about being ready or not and I was prepared that day.”
The victory in 2018 put Linden on a perch, but it was the race in 2011 that was the watershed moment in her professional career. Running under her maiden name Desiree Davila, Linden engaged in a three-way race with Kenyan veterans Caroline Kilal and Sharon Cherop and they employed merciless team tactics against her.
Kalil and Linden broke free of Cherop by Kenmore Square and exchanged surges down Boylston Street to a wild reception from the sidelines. Kalil made the final push and broke the tape in 2:22:36, two seconds ahead on Linden. Her time of 2:22:38 was the fastest ever run by an American at Boston in the closest women’s race in BAA history.
Cherop would come back and win the race in 2012.
“I had been building and building and bridging the gap to that front group and I felt like I was ready to have that type of day,” said Linden. “I don’t think the outside world thought of me as a contender just yet but it made it a lot more fun to get in there and mix it up.
“I think afterwards it was kind of a turning point where you get that belief that I can compete with these athletes and I belong here. It was such an amazing field with fast times and it was just an amazing day across the board.”