Hopkinton to Boylston Street: 449 feet net downhill, 717 feet of climbing, and four Newton hills between miles 16 and 21. Here is the course mile by mile, and how I’d run each stretch.
A typical race morning: 49°F with a 36°F dew point at the 10am start, a combined score of 84. Every race morning since 2000, the forecast six days out and your goal pace adjusted for it are on the Boston Marathon weather page. For any other forecast, my heat pace calculator does the same math.
Over these 4 miles the course climbs 74 feet and drops 349, 276 feet net down.
Boston is usually lost here, not on Heartbreak Hill. The early downhill makes goal pace feel cheap, and your quads pay for every second of it after mile 20. I’d run the first 5K a little slower than goal, keep the stride short and quick instead of reaching, and let the hill do the work.
Over these 11 miles the course climbs 266 feet and drops 287, 21 feet net down.
This is where you settle into goal effort and stay there. The road rolls gently, so run the effort rather than chasing the exact split every mile. The noise through Wellesley around halfway will lift you. Enjoy it without speeding up for it.
Over these 0.8 miles the course climbs 3 feet and drops 115, 112 feet net down.
The steepest drop since Hopkinton, down to the river at Newton Lower Falls. Relax down it and save your quads, because the first of the Newton hills starts at the bottom.
Over these 4.8 miles the course climbs 309 feet and drops 127, 182 feet net up. The four climbs: Over Route 128 from mile 15.9 (+71 feet over 0.6 mi, 2.2%); The Commonwealth Avenue turn from mile 17.5 (+67 feet over 0.4 mi, 3.4%); The third Newton hill from mile 19.1 (+58 feet over 0.5 mi, 2.2%); Heartbreak Hill from mile 19.9 (+92 feet over 0.8 mi, 2.2%).
Run these by effort, not pace. Your splits will slow on every climb, and that’s the plan: hold the effort you had on the flat, shorten your stride, and let the watch read what it reads. Heartbreak Hill is the last of them, and it tops out near Boston College. The runners who force goal pace up these hills are the ones who come apart on the way down to Boston.
Over these 5.5 miles the course climbs 66 feet and drops 288, 222 feet net down.
Mostly downhill from Boston College to the line. Kenmore Square, a mile from the finish, is where the crowd gets loud. If you ran the first half with patience, this is where it pays: whatever your legs have left, spend it here.
This course runs one way, toward the east-northeast, so the wind is either in your face or at your back for most of it. At the Boston Logan station at 10am on 26 race mornings since 2000, it was a headwind on 12, a tailwind on 5 and a crosswind on 9. The strongest headwind was 2007: ESE at 28 mph, gusting to 36, with 0.04 inches of rain. Into a headwind, tuck in behind other runners and give the goal pace some room; with a tailwind, bank nothing early anyway, because the hills still come at the same mile.
| Mile | Elevation at the marker | Climb | Drop | Street |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mile 1 | 354 | +31 | −139 | East Main Street |
| Mile 2 | 300 | +14 | −66 | East Main Street |
| Mile 3 | 240 | +23 | −85 | West Union Street |
| Mile 4 | 183 | +5 | −58 | Union Street |
| Mile 5 | 198 | +40 | −24 | Waverly Street |
| Mile 6 | 170 | +18 | −48 | Waverly Street |
| Mile 7 | 158 | +6 | −18 | Waverly Street |
| Mile 8 | 157 | +30 | −31 | West Central Street |
| Mile 9 | 145 | +12 | −26 | West Central Street |
| Mile 10 | 169 | +33 | −7 | West Central Street |
| Mile 11 | 195 | +28 | −3 | East Central Street |
| Mile 12 | 151 | +24 | −65 | East Central Street |
| Mile 13 | 142 | +20 | −32 | Central Street |
| Mile 14 | 137 | +20 | −25 | Washington Street |
| Mile 15 | 162 | +34 | −9 | Washington Street |
| Mile 16 | 60 | +13 | −115 | Washington Street |
| Mile 17 | 107 | +69 | −22 | Washington Street |
| Mile 18 | 145 | +72 | −32 | Commonwealth Avenue |
| Mile 19 | 105 | +7 | −50 | Commonwealth Avenue |
| Mile 20 | 142 | +58 | −21 | Commonwealth Avenue |
| Mile 21 | 221 | +95 | −17 | Commonwealth Avenue |
| Mile 22 | 147 | +13 | −85 | Commonwealth Avenue |
| Mile 23 | 111 | +22 | −59 | Beacon Street |
| Mile 24 | 31 | +5 | −86 | Beacon Street |
| Mile 25 | 19 | +12 | −21 | Beacon Street |
| Mile 26 | 13 | +13 | −21 | Commonwealth Avenue |
| To the finish | 10 | +0 | −2 | Boylston Street |
Race week, start to finish: how I’d run the three-week taper, what to take in during the race, how much to slow down in heat and humidity, and what the four weeks after should look like. Still chasing the qualifier? Here is how I coach a Boston qualifying build.
A course map tells you where the hills are. It doesn't know your training, how you handle a long climb, or what your legs look like at mile 20. I write every plan by hand and set race-day pacing with each athlete. It starts with a free 20-minute call.
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RunFitCoach is not affiliated with the Boston Marathon or its organizers. Course line © OpenStreetMap contributors. Elevation from the USGS 3D Elevation Program (1 m bare earth), sampled every 50 m and smoothed over 250 m. Bare-earth elevation leaves bridges out, so bridge decks are rebuilt from their ends. Distances are scaled to the certified 42.195 km, so mile marks can sit a little off the course markers.
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