Running Insight

4 runninginsight.com © 2018 Formula4media LLC. You've spoken before about being extra protective of your- self as you enter this phase of your running career. Was that a factor as you weighed stopping or continuing? "I do take a lot of time to be thinking long-term about how each race is going to impact the next couple of years of my career, and how much am I compromising. But I thought that even if I did step off, I'd be standing in the rain, shivering — I'd have to wait and wait and wait for a ride or a way back. And I told myself I could slow down: I was bargaining with that. Even when I'm training, once I start feeling depleted, I use that as a tool. It's from a positive mindset, but if there's 10 miles left to go and it sucks, I tell myself, just go to the next mile marker." With the dire conditions on the course, how did you even begin to decide how to dress? "It's not crazy unusual to have to run in weather like that in Michigan [where Linden lives, training with the Hansons-Brooks Original Distance Project] there's a couple of times like that every fall, winter, and spring. It's not fun, but I know I'm not going to die. The week out, we knew it would be rough in Boston, although how bad, we weren't sure. I'm pretty comfortable with running in tough conditions, so I packed all the right things. Knowing how to dress [is critical] like, this is the right jacket, I've used it before." [For more on Desi's race day wear, see sidebar, "What She Wore."] Switching gears, we hear you own a coffee company? "Yeah, it's me and [husband] Ryan Linden and [fellow elite run- ners] Ben and Sarah True. We launched it right before Boston. Ben and Ryan do the roasting, it's their baby and they do all the work. But we're all pitching in in our own little way. We actually kicked off sales on the Monday of the race. We stated off with a bang— we're almost sold out!" Boston is hard to top. What's next for you? "For the next marathon, I really want to be patient and picky about it. I don't want to do something that I'm only partially invested in. I'm waiting for something to speak to me. But I'll be busy in the meantime!" n RUNNING INSIGHT Desi Linden (continued) What She Wore Threshold Gloves Greenlight Headband Canopy Jacket The almost laughably bad weather for the 2018 Boston Marathon — unrelenting rain, 35-mile-per- hour gusts of wind, near-freezing temperatures — meant that the gear each runner chose to wear to the starting line couldn't have been more critical. So what was Linden wearing for her historic run? The Jacket: The $120 Brooks Canopy jacket (Linden ran in the neon color-blocked Elite colorway) is made of water- and wind-resistant ripstop polyester. It also has a fitted hood designed to stay out of a runner's peripheral vision. The Gloves: The unisex Threshold style from Brooks is also wind-resistant and waterproof, and has a mitten hood for added warmth (very useful on race day). It also has a touchscreen friendly finger pads (not as useful on race day, but very useful for most people's runs). The Headband: Brooks' unisex Greenlight headband covers the ears for warmth and uses a sweat-wicking fabric to keep you dry (when it's not in a downpour, at least). The TOP-SECRET Race Shoes: So what about the shoes? Linden said she ran in a Brooks prototype, and while the reps for the company confirmed that she wore an advanced concepts test shoe, they wouldn't confirm much more. The all-black prototype — which the brand hand- delivered to Linden a few days before the race — is "as light as possible and has impact protection and feels fast," a rep said. What season the shoe could be expected to hit retail, what technologies it uses, and even whether or not it was waterproof? Only Linden (and her product team) know for sure. The Celebration Shoe: Linden's husband posted a video of her drinking celebratory champagne out of a Brooks shoe the night after her victory. (View the video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/ Bhp_VJaF-7q) Her celebratory shoe of choice? The Birds of Paradise Fusion throwback '90s sneaker from the now-shuttered Brooks Heritage collection.

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