Who is Des Linden
The short answer
Des Linden, born in 1983, is an American marathoner who won the 2018 Boston Marathon, the first American woman to win since 1985. She ran the marathon at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics and set a 50K world best of 2:59:54 in 2021. She retired from professional marathoning in 2025 but still races.
Linden ran for Arizona State under Walt Drenth, then spent most of her professional career with the Hansons-Brooks group in Michigan. In 2018 she went back to Drenth. In 2026, in her forties, she won the Disney Princess Half Marathon in 1:16:27 and took on new race formats.
How she trained
- The Hansons approach. High, consistent weekly mileage, with long runs capped rather than extreme, and a lot of running on tired legs through the week.
- Marathon-specific tempo. Long runs at goal marathon pace as a staple.
- Grit as a skill. Her Boston win came in some of the worst conditions in the race's history. Pacing and patience mattered more than speed.
- Adapting with age. As a masters athlete she has talked about more recovery, more strength work and fewer, better sessions.
