Linden wins Boston Marathon, 1st US woman since ’85
BOSTON — After slogging through just a few miles of icy rain and a near-gale headwind that made her feel like she was running in place, Desiree Linden decided she’d seen enough of the Boston Marathon for another year.
“My hands were freezing, and there are times where you were just stood up by the wind. It was comical how slow you were going, and how far you still had to go,” Linden said.
“At six miles I was thinking, ‘No way, this is not my day,’” she said. “Then you break the tape and you’re like, ‘This is not what I expected today.’”
A two-time Olympian and the 2011 Boston Marathon runner-up, Linden decided to stick around, outlasting the weather and the rest of the field to win the race’s 122nd edition on Monday in 2 hours, 39 minutes, 54 seconds. That was more than four minutes better than second-place finisher Sarah Sellers but the slowest time for a women’s winner in Boston since 1978.