Plenty of Boston College students have watched the Boston Marathon from the sidelines—even fewer have raced it. Almost none have crossed the finish line as the city’s fastest resident.

Erik Linden, BC ’22, did. 

Last spring, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) awarded Linden the title of “Fastest Bostonian” in the 129th Boston Marathon. The award recognizes the fastest male, female, and non-binary Boston residents who compete in the race.

“I definitely wasn’t trying to be the fastest,” Linden said. “I was trying to run my own race and see how that turned out, and I was serendipitously awarded the prize at the end.” 

Long before the big finish on Boylston Street, Linden was a high-school athlete who ran track and played soccer. His speed caught the attention of college coaches, and he was recruited to run track at BC.

Linden said he appreciated the sport’s direct, results-driven nature.

“With team sports, you can’t necessarily get out what you put into it, because an individual can’t determine the main outcome,” Linden said. “[Track] is very much an individual sport where if you want to get better and faster, there’s a very clear path to that.” 

Still, when he arrived on the Heights his freshman year, Linden found that the individual nature of running didn’t mean going at it alone.

“When I got to BC, there was a great team there and a great environment,” Linden said. “It was definitely very nice to have a group of guys and an immediate friendship, with the women’s team as well.”

After graduating in 2022, Linden’s relationship with running didn’t slow down. Without the constraints of a college schedule, he was able to devote more time to training.

But he missed the regimen and community that running on a team provided. Linden turned to the BAA, where he found a running environment that mirrored his team at BC.

Sarah Dupré-Healy, a coach of the BAA Running Club, noticed Linden’s dedication early on. 

“He was someone who was incredibly consistent,” Dupré-Healy said. “[He’s] an excellent example that when you keep showing up, [it] really pays off.” 

Linden’s steady approach began to translate into something bigger. Linden changed the habits he had built at BC, shifting his focus to longer races and trying out a different type of training. 

“Over the course of three years, I went from doing more of the same track work that I was doing at BC to eventually starting to do longer distances—half marathons, marathons, and then the Boston Marathon was my fourth marathon,” Linden said. 

His first marathon came in Berlin in 2023, which he ran in 2:18.00—just enough to qualify for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials Marathon in Orlando, Fla., where he competed against the best distance runners in the country.

Linden didn’t stop there. Later that year, he ran the California International Marathon, logging a new personal best of 2:14.15.

Linden then turned his attention to Boston—a course that holds a special place in his heart.

“I had been going to watch the Boston Marathon starting when I was eight years old,” Linden said. “My mom would just take me with my sister, and we’d go over to Coolidge Corner and watch.” 

Motivated by the support, Linden finished the race in a time of 2:21.25—making him the race’s fastest male Bostonian.

While Linden is humble about the recognition, those who have followed his running see it as no surprise. 

“You could see it, right off the bat, that there was so much potential there,” Dupré-Healy said. “He was running PRs, winning races, scoring on the team for us much more than we expected.” 

Linden, who ran the McKirdy Micro Marathon at Rockland Lake State Park in Congers, N.Y., at the end of March, is taking some time off to reset after a demanding stretch of training.

His personal rule of thumb is one marathon a year, Linden said. 

“I think it’s good to take a bit of a break, both mentally and physically, because you’re prepping for the better part of 15 weeks,” Linden said. “The race day comes, and sometimes it goes really well, and other times you feel like there’s something left in the tank.”

Linden still has sights set on what’s next. He’s been working with Kurt Benninger, head coach of the Rhode Island Track Club, to plan for his next circuit.

“We talked the other day about what we’re kind of looking at next,” Benninger said. “Zoom out and look ahead to the Olympic trials and think about, ‘Okay, what do we need to do for him to be his best athlete at the Olympic trials?’” 

Benninger, who coaches Linden remotely, emphasized Linden’s ability to take ownership of his training and make adjustments in the moment.

“He’s a mature athlete,” Benninger said. “He’s a mature person, but as an athlete, he’s very mature, which works really, really well for our setting and our setup. [He knows] what he needs to make the right decisions at the moment.”

Re-running the Boston Marathon remains one of Linden’s goals for the future, and competing in the event means something even greater than aiming for a fast time.

“Boston is definitely my best experience in terms of the overall day and the overall environment,” Linden said. “Even if you’re not doing as well as you want to, the people on the side cheering for you will help you get to the finish line.”