No matter how their lives change, Desiree Linden and Amy Cragg will forever be linked by their college and their sport.
They were cross country/track teammates at Arizona State, dreaming but not fully imagining that they would be 2012 U.S. Olympic teammates too. Monday, they will be among the top American women competing at the 119th Boston Marathon, their final 26.2-mile test before the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials.
Cragg, formerly Hastings before her marriage in November, is racing Boston for the first time. Linden, formerly Davila before her marriage in 2013, was runner-up at Boston in 2011 in a personal record 2 hours, 22 minutes, 38 seconds.