From Road Racing to Ultras with Marathon Legend Des Linden

Wild Ideas Worth Living

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4.7 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 31 March 2026

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Marathon legend Des Linden made history on April 16, 2018, becoming the first American woman to win the Boston Marathon in 33 years. Over more than a decade at the top of the sport, she raced the biggest marathons in the world, represented the United States at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, and set a 50K world record. Last year, on the morning of her 13th Boston Marathon, she announced her retirement from professional road racing. Now she is applying the same discipline and curiosity to new challenges, reshaping what a running life can look like beyond the marathon.

Transcript

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0:00.0	My favorite marathon is got to be the Boston Marathon.
0:12.0	A lot of history there.
0:13.5	Good memories.
0:15.9	On April 16, 2018, Des Linden became the first American woman to win the Boston Marathon in 33 years.
0:24.6	Before this historic finish, Dez had spent more than a decade building a career as one of the most accomplished runners in the country.
0:32.6	She competed in elite marathon races, represented the U.S. at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, and set a world record for the 50K.
0:42.3	Last year, on the morning of her 13th Boston Marathon, Des announced that she was officially
0:47.8	retiring from professional road racing. And while she's stepping away from this specific type of running,
0:53.6	she's already exploring some exciting wild ideas.
0:57.0	I'm Shelby Stanger, and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living, an REI Co-op Studios production presented by Capital One and the REI Co-Op MasterCard.
1:12.0	DesLinden, welcome to Wild Ideas Worth Living.
1:15.3	I'm really excited to talk to a runner, a marathon runner, one of the most badass female
1:19.9	marathon runners in the world of all our time, and a fellow San Diego.
1:24.7	Very exciting for me.
1:26.4	That's right.
1:27.0	Yeah, it's the San Diego nugget that I think we'd have to latch on to for sure. And you're a Padres fan, I've read. Yes, I try. It's a tough job, but I'm keeping the faith, as they say. And where are you based now? I'm in Charlevoie, Michigan. How did you guys settle on Michigan? So I moved out to Michigan to join a team right out of
1:46.9	college and I remember my dad saying, don't meet a boy, get married, and never come home. And I met my
1:55.5	husband who's from Michigan and we got married and now I live here. I loved reading about you because you just seem fun.
2:04.4	You love music, you love bourbon, you love your dog, you love to run.
2:09.3	And I'm curious, what about the marathon?
2:11.5	What about 26.2 miles lured you in?
2:15.5	Yeah, it was kind of accidental.
	...

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