The 130th Boston Marathon on April 20 will draw its usual field of elite runners and BQ qualifiers. But this year, the BAA’s list of notable entrants reads less like a race program and more like a dinner party guest list you’d never actually expect to pull off.
Here’s who’s running — and why their stories are worth knowing before the gun fires on Hopkinton Common.
Des Linden — The Desert, Then Boylston Street
No story on this list hits quite like Des Linden’s.
The 2018 Boston Marathon champion — the first American woman to win the race in 33 years — announced her retirement from professional road racing at the 2025 Boston Marathon. Since then, she has pivoted hard into trail and ultrarunning, and her 2026 calendar makes that abundantly clear.
From April 3–13, Linden competed in the Marathon des Sables in Morocco — a six-stage, 250-kilometer race across the Sahara Desert, widely regarded as one of the toughest footraces on Earth. One week later, she will be on the streets of Boston.
She won’t be racing this time. Linden is returning to pace her husband through the marathon. After 12 Boston Marathons as a competitor, she’ll be on the course in a very different role — which, given everything she did in the Sahara the week before, still counts as an extraordinary feat.
She came into MdS with trail experience building since late 2025, including a Black Canyon Ultras 50K finish in February. Linden is joined on the MdS course by her close friend Magda Boulet, the 2018 MdS champion.
Suni Williams — Back on Earth, Back in Boston
Suni Williams has already run the Boston Marathon. Just not on this planet.
In 2007, while orbiting aboard the International Space Station, Williams completed the race on a treadmill, finishing in 4:23:46. It remains one of the stranger finishing times in Boston Marathon history.
The Needham, Massachusetts native retired from NASA in January 2026 after 27 years with the agency. She holds the record for second-longest cumulative time in space by a NASA astronaut and more spacewalking hours than any other woman.
On April 20, Williams will run the Boston Marathon on actual ground for the first time — and the BAA is honoring her with the 2026 Patriots’ Award, given to individuals who demonstrate “spirit of perseverance, service, and curiosity.” The timing feels right.
Zdeno Chara — One Medal to Rule Them All
When Zdeno Chara lifts a trophy, people tend to notice. The man is 6 feet 9 inches tall.
The former Boston Bruins captain and Hockey Hall of Famer has spent his post-playing career chasing a different kind of hardware. Last week, Chara crossed the finish line at the Tokyo Marathon in 3:57:00 — completing all six Abbott World Marathon Majors to earn the coveted Six-Star Medal (Boston, New York, London, Berlin, Chicago, and Tokyo).
He is 48 years old. He is, almost certainly, the only Hockey Hall of Famer in history to achieve Six-Star status. Only around 24,000 runners worldwide have done it.
Boston is where this journey now comes full circle. Chara rejoined the Bruins organization last September as a Hockey Operations Adviser, so running Boston isn’t just a personal milestone — it’s a homecoming.
Amby Burfoot — Still at It, 58 Years Later
In 1968, a 21-year-old from Connecticut named Amby Burfoot won the Boston Marathon in 2:22:17, becoming the first American to take the title in 11 years. His training partner at the time was a runner named Bill Rodgers.
Burfoot went on to become the longtime editor of Runner’s World and one of the sport’s most respected voices (and now the Editor-at-Large here at Marathon Handbook). He is now 79 years old.
On April 20, he will run his latest Boston Marathon. He will also moderate a panel at the Boston Marathon Expo discussing the benefits and risks of lifelong running — a topic he knows as well as anyone alive.
Chris Herren — Running With Purpose
Chris Herren played for the Boston Celtics. What most people know about him, though, isn’t his basketball career — it’s what came after: his highly public struggle with addiction and the decades of advocacy work that followed.
Herren founded the Herren Project, an organization supporting individuals and families affected by addiction. In 2026, the organization marks its 15th anniversary.
He will run the Boston Marathon on April 20 alongside his wife, Heather. It is a full-circle moment for a man who has rebuilt his life publicly, and whose hometown race has always carried extra weight.
Kristine Lilly — World Cup Winner, Marathon Returnee
Kristine Lilly played 354 games for the U.S. Women’s National Team — more than any player in the history of the sport at the time of her retirement. She won two FIFA Women’s World Cups and is widely considered one of the greatest players the game has produced.
She is also a minority owner of the NWSL’s Boston Legacy and remains deeply connected to the city.
This will be Lilly’s second Boston Marathon. She ran the race in 2012 for Children’s Hospital. At 54, she returns to the course on April 20, adding another chapter to an athletic life that shows no sign of slowing.
Jeff DaRosa — From the Pit to the Pavement
Jeff DaRosa has been the guitarist for the Dropkick Murphys since 2007. The band’s song “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” has been a Fenway Park staple for years.
His relationship with Marathon Monday runs deeper than music, though. DaRosa quit drinking on Marathon Monday, and running became a central part of his recovery. He ran his first marathon in 2024 at the Mesa Marathon in Arizona. We sat down with him to hear the full story.
On April 20, he’ll run Boston in support of the Claddagh Fund, which assists those in need in the Irish-American community. “The training is where you really find out about yourself,” he told Boston.com. His goal, he has said, is to beat Oprah Winfrey’s marathon time. He’s not the first runner to set that target, and he won’t be the last.
Laura Green — Stand-Up Runner
Laura Green is a physical therapist and Northeastern University graduate who built a substantial following by making running funny — or at least, by making the absurdity of running culture visible to the people living inside it.
She competed in the 800 meters in college. Now she’s a content creator whose comedic takes on training, racing, and the general chaos of being a runner have found a wide audience.
Green is running Boston on April 20 — and the week before, on April 16, she’s hosting “The Running Game Show” at WBUR CitySpace in Boston, a live event featuring stand-up, surprise guests, and what the listing describes as an “unhinged game show format.” It sounds like exactly what the Boston Marathon Expo circuit needed.
Bryan Arenales — Love Island to Hopkinton
Bryan Arenales, 29, won Love Island USA Season 7 in 2025. He entered the villa as a Casa Amor bombshell on Day 17 and left as the season winner.
He also runs. Arenales completed his first marathon in early 2025 and ran the Boston Half Marathon last November in 1:42. His full Boston debut comes on April 20 — a race he has spoken about wanting to run since before the show aired.
Whether reality TV fame and marathon training mix well is an open question. He’s about to find out.
