Des Linden made her 29th marathon — and 12th in Boston — the last 26.2-mile race of her professional career.
Linden, a 41-year-old who won the 2018 Boston Marathon, finished 17th in 2:26:19, her fastest marathon since 2017.
“I wanted to race well, and I felt like I moved all the chips in and just went for broke out there and was really happy with the result,” she said on the broadcast.
Linden made her marathon debut in Boston in 2007 and ran her first of five Olympic Trials marathons in Boston in 2008. In a cold, windy 2018 downpour, she became the first American female runner to win the world’s oldest annual marathon since 1985.
“I made my debut at 26.2 on your roads in 2007 and fell in love -- with the distance and with the Boston Marathon,” was posted on Linden’s social media two hours before she started Monday’s race. “Four years later, we were in it together as you lifted me up through the Newton Hills, carried me as I turned right on Hereford and left on Boylston, and brought me within two heartbreaking seconds of victory.
“But you never gave up on me, inviting me to keep showing up. Hell, you embraces the fight, because Boston knows grit. The victory in 2018 wasn’t just mine. It was ours.
“People say you should go out on top, and that’s what I’m doing -- because getting to race my final professional marathon in Boston is indeed going out on top. I’m ready to leave it all out on the course one last time. See you on Boylston.
“Thanks for all the years and all the cheers, Des.”
Linden raced the Olympic marathon in 2012 (dropping out with a stress fracture in her femur) and 2016 (placing seventh).
She remains the most recent American male or female runner to win a World Marathon Major (Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, New York City, Tokyo, the World Championships or Olympics).
“It’s not retirement; it’s retirement from the professional marathon side of things,” she said. “This is where my heart’s always been, but there’s still things to explore in the sport. I’m not done running. I’m just done moving all the chips in on the marathon. This was it for that, but longer distances, different surfaces, more running and more adventures.”
Let’s have ourselves a day. #BostonMarathon pic.twitter.com/l4PsOphpCV
— des_linden (@des_linden) April 21, 2025
