Leading up to the Boston Marathon this year, Desiree Linden had a phrase she kept telling herself. Now, after winning it, she has filed to trademark that phrase.
Linden has filed for the trademark to "Keep Showing Up" with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, with the intent to use it on athletic gear.
"I was ready to throw in the towel this year," said Linden, who hadn't won a marathon in her previous 13 tries. "'Keep showing up' just means everything from keep getting up every morning to keep showing up at the Boston Marathon."
Linden's win in the Boston earlier this month was the first win for an American woman in the since 1985. It was her sixth time running Boston with her previous best being a second place finish in the 2011 race.
This year, Linden, 34, said she had been questioning her motivation to continue long-distance running. Her "keep showing up" motto allowed her to continue waking up at 6 a.m. every day for coffee, running 12 to 14 miles in the morning and another four miles later in the day.
"It sounds kind of nerdy, but I was listening to a lot of Macklemore's album 'Gemini,' his comeback album, and it served as an inspiration to me," Linden said.
Linden has a shoe deal with Brooks and recently launched Linden+True, a coffee subscription company with her husband, Ryan, and Ben and Sarah True, who are all runners.