Des Linden

I swore I would never do a Marathon

By InnerVoice

January 13^th, 2017

I was hooked

When I was really young I wanted to write and illustrate a comic strip. I grew up reading Calvin & Hobbes and thought it was the coolest! It's probably for the best that I'm not very funny and have little artistic ability. Instead, like a lot of kids I decided to try track, specifically distance running, in order to stay in shape for soccer. I ran on the MLK Blasters track team while I was in middle school and had immediate success.

I always considered myself more of a mid-distance runner; every high schooler wants to be a miler — it's the sexy event. When I got to college I realized I'd have to move up in distance, but swore I would never do a 10k. I ran the 1500m and 5000m for most of my collegiate career and at my final Pac-10 conference meet my coach talked me into trying out the 10,000m. I finished second.

After that, I kicked around the idea of trying out the longer distances and dedicating a bit more time to the sport to see if I could be any good at the 10,000m, but I swore I would never do a marathon. I joined up with the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project, predominantly a marathon group, for my professional career. In 2006, I watched as my teammates prepared for the Chicago Marathon and watched them on race day as they chased down their Olympic Trials qualifying times. After I watched my teammates go through the process of marathon training and morph from distance runners to marathoners, I was intrigued and thought I needed to give it a try. In spring 2007 I went through a typical Hansons marathon build-up; logged 100-mile weeks, knocked out the famous simulator workout, and went from a soft, distance runner to marathon-ready. I ran the Boston Marathon as my debut and loved every single step of the 26.2mile journey. I crossed the finish and added marathoner to my resume. I was hooked.

Long distance running is hard, but it’s not scary.

I’m super fortunate; my life has been fairly tragedy free. Having the biggest injury of my career in 2012, just before the biggest race of my life — the London Olympics — would probably be one of the biggest challenges I’ve gone through. It was incredibly difficult and challenging, not only heading into the Olympics, but regrouping and trying to make a ‘comeback’ afterwards. It felt pretty tragic at the time, however having an athletic setback when compared to so many other tragedies wasn’t all that bad in the grand scheme of things.

Long distance running is hard, but it's not scary. When you're out of shape or just starting out, thinking about running 26.2miles, or even going out for 10miles seems so daunting and intimidating, but that's why you train. Distance running really highlights how the body craves consistency and routine. Once you string together 10-15 days of running, it becomes a habit. When you miss a day, it’s a lot like forgetting to brush your teeth; you feel sort of off and blah all day long. Getting in shape and creating that routine can be a challenge, but once you’re in it, it’s awesome.

I’m a pretty laid back person, but when it comes to work I can bring a lot of intensity and I have a really high level of expectation for myself, my coaches, agent, physio and the rest of my team. If you don’t bring your A-Game I’m quick to let you know, but I would expect to be told the same if I show up with something less than my best on any given day. It might sound negative but we’re all trying to push ourselves to be our very best and we all hold each other accountable. I feel like I have very real and honest relationships with the people that are directly a part of my team. I have been at this for 10+ years now and as a group, we know what works and can be straight with one another. I trust that my team has my best interest in mind, on and off the course, even if I don’t necessarily love what they are telling me. That being said, we all have a ton of fun doing it and it is super rewarding when we have success.

“My inner voice says 'You are ready for this. Go out and rip some @#%#T heads off. Have fun.' It's a very (possibly overly) confident and a bit aggressive inner voice.”

it's easy to find reasons not to try.

My dad would have to get most of the credit for getting me involved in sports, and specifically, track and field. He was always trying to get me and my sister involved in different activities. If there was a one-day golf clinic he would sign us up and makes us go even if we were kicking and screaming about it. We would show up, learn something new and end up having a blast. He does the same thing even now. When he retired from his full-time job, he joined a local gym and started taking swimming lessons as a total beginner, and now he’s in the pool a few times a week. In 2012, he decided he really wanted to try Brazilian Jujitsu (seriously!) so he signed up and started taking classes. He's still at it and I hear he recently earned his purple belt. I give him a ton of credit and it's something I really admire about him. So many people are afraid to try new things or step out of their comfort zones. It's super easy to find reasons not to try something new, but he finds something interesting, makes it fun, and learns a lot about it and himself in the process. It's something I try to emulate.

My mom was totally on board with whatever activities we ended up in. She was our biggest fan and never missed a game, or even a practice. I really think she taught me to be a student of my sport. When she was at our soccer events she wasn’t just taking us and dropping us off, she was really watching and understanding and learning the game with us. She never coached us but she would always have advice or make casual recommendations of what we could work on, or extra drills we could be doing that would help with our weaknesses.

My parents were never really runners while I was younger but it’s been really cool to see them slowly get into it. I don’t foresee them signing up for a marathon anytime soon, but in the past few years they’ve been signing up for 5ks and 10ks and being way more active. It’s pretty awesome to feel like I might have helped inspire them to pick up some shoes and try it out—but maybe I’m giving myself a little too much credit.

my husband inspires me.

My husband, Ryan Linden, also inspires me. He competes in Ironman and is super-freaking-dedicated. I see the amount of time he puts in and how hard he works, and it's so impressive. He does it for the personal challenge and the love of the sport. It's amazing how time-consuming training for the full Ironman can be, and I know it can be extra challenging for him when he's working with my schedule and training too. He never complains and always finds a way to get the work in. Whatever he gets on race day, there's nobody who has a better outlook on results; he's just an incredibly positive person and I strive to be more like him.

Ironman is super impressive to watch, but I don’t think I have what it takes to do it. I'm a sinker, not a swimmer. It's so impressive how much time Ironman triathletes put into their training and how long they are out there grinding on race day. The mental fortitude it takes to be present and focused for the hours they are competing really blows my mind.

“I'm trying to find out how good I can be. I think I have some improvements left in me, which will hopefully show up in results somewhere along the line.”

i focus on the things i can control.

I’m big on having a plan before the race. Instead of allowing my mind to wander, I try to give myself a to-do list while I’m out on the course. I like to make sure I have the right places for my mind to go because it usually goes to a negative place. When things get tough, I know I need to focus on the things I can control and get to the next task on the to-do list. This is super practical and works really well for the first 20 miles of a marathon. It’s often said in the marathon you run the first 20 miles with your head and the last 6.2 with your heart. For the last 6.2 miles I allow myself to think about how much work I’ve put in and the team of people who helped me get to the line healthy and ready to roll. When it starts getting hard, I think about those things and ask myself how bad I want it and to try digging deep one more time — there’s always more left than I think.

Maybe it’s surprising, maybe not, but I have similar tactic for off the track. When things get tough in life, I make sure to focus on the things that I can control and try to fix or improve the situation. I’m not a big fan of worrying; I’ve never been able to worry myself out of a tough situation and have things turn out better. I’m also not afraid to turn to my support team. I’m so lucky and have so many great people in my life, many from the sport and plenty outside of the sport. Whatever the situation is, if I can turn to a friend and get advice, I’m certainly not too proud to ask for help.

I think it would be fun to try.

I've definitely kicked around the idea of going up in distance, maybe to 50k, but that's not exactly a new or different discipline. I have been seriously considering giving biathlon a try. Cross Country skiing could be great cross-training in the winter and I'm a respectable shot; who knows if I would be any good but I think it would be fun to try.

As I’ve progressed through sport, I’ve developed a big interest in sports psychology and I’ve wanted to get into that field. It's something that I still study and keep up on in order to help my own athletic career, but I'm not sure that I'll delve back into it after my running career is over.