For Des Linden, Boston Marathon champion, running her final professional 26.2-mile race where it began "is indeed going out on top."

Linden, the 2018 victor, ran her first marathon here nearly 20 years ago. She announced her retirement from professional running Monday, then took on the course one more time.

Beantown is where the distance runner famously won in 2018, defying brutal Nor’easter conditions to become the first American woman to win Boston in 33 years. And Monday, it became the place where she officially closed the chapter on her professional marathon career.