Des Linden Just Ran Her First 100K — and She Did It Through the Sahara

Desiree Linden has won Boston in a nor’easter. She’s run two Olympic marathons. But last week, she did something she had never done before: run 100 kilometers in a single day — through the dunes and hammada of Morocco’s Sahara Desert.

Competing in the 40th anniversary edition of the Marathon des Sables, Linden completed Stage 4 on April 8 in 12 hours, 16 minutes, and 57 seconds, finishing third on the stage and moving into third place in the overall women’s standings.

She wrote on Instagram shortly after finishing: “Every step past the 50k distance was a step into new territory but the miles kept clicking off steadily.”

Then, characteristically: “The course was a bad MFer but so am I — fun was had.”

The Race

The Marathon des Sables, held each spring in the Sahara near Ouarzazate, Morocco, is widely regarded as one of the most demanding footraces on earth. Runners carry all their own food and gear across roughly 250 kilometers of desert over six stages. Water is rationed. The sun is unforgiving. The sand goes everywhere.

This year’s 40th anniversary edition — billed as the “MDS Legendary” — marked a milestone in the race’s history: the queen stage, traditionally around 80 kilometers, was extended to 100 kilometers for the first time. The stage comes with a 40-hour cutoff and uses two staggered starts to manage the field.

For Linden, it was the longest run of her life. You can read a first-hand account of what the race is really like in our honest account from an under-prepared runner, and if you’re wondering whether it could ever be on your radar, our full guide to training for a stage race is worth a look.

A New Kind of Hard

Linden has been one of the most celebrated American distance runners of the past decade. She won the 2018 Boston Marathon in conditions so brutal — driving rain, headwinds, near-freezing temperatures — that most elite runners simply collapsed in on themselves. She finished in 2:39:54. It remains one of the most celebrated performances in the race’s modern era.

She has also competed in two Olympic Games (2012, 2016) and set the American 50K record of 2:59:54 in 2021. But 100 kilometers — 62 miles — was genuinely new ground. We covered whether Des Linden could become the next great ultrarunner earlier this year, and this performance goes a long way toward answering that question.

The shift toward ultras and trail running has been intentional. After years of racing road marathons at the highest level, Linden has made no secret of her desire to explore longer distances. Her April racing schedule alone is extraordinary: Marathon des Sables, Boston Marathon on April 20, and London Marathon on April 26 — all within three weeks.

She entered the Sahara alongside Magda Boulet, one of the most accomplished ultra runners in the world, who won the Marathon des Sables in 2018 and has victories at both Western States 100 and Leadville 100.

Stage 4 Results

The men’s race on Stage 4 came down to seconds. Mohamed El Morabity crossed the line in 8 hours, 24 minutes, and 32 seconds, edging French competitor Ludovic Pommeret — who finished just 12 seconds later in 8:24:44. Mohamed now leads the overall men’s standings with a cumulative time of 16 hours, 7 minutes, and 55 seconds.

In the women’s race, French runner Maryline Nakache won Stage 4 in 10 hours, 2 minutes, and 22 seconds, strengthening her grip on the overall lead. Her cumulative total of 19 hours, 50 minutes puts her well clear of the field. Aziza El Amrany of Morocco holds second overall.

Linden’s 12:16:57 puts her among a field where just finishing the stage — on day four of a six-day race across one of the hardest ultramarathons on earth — is an achievement most runners will never attempt.

Day 5: Rest, Sand, No Easy Days

After crossing the finish line, Linden faced something no amount of road racing prepares you for: a desert rest day in a sandstorm.

“Recovering in a sandstorm,” she wrote. “No easy days in the desert.”

That’s the Marathon des Sables in a sentence. Between stages, competitors shelter in open-sided tents called bivouacs, exposed to whatever the Sahara decides to throw at them — which, on day five, happened to be a full sandstorm.

The race concludes on April 13. Linden then has one week before she lines up at the Boston Marathon start line in Hopkinton — a race that, as we reported, holds a special place in her career. The 2026 Boston Marathon start line already has no shortage of remarkable stories. After this week in the Sahara, hers might be the most remarkable of all.