The Boston Marathon is one of the most exciting events on the running calendar, and this year will be no different with defending champions Evans Chebet and Hellen Obiri returning to defend their crowns.

Chebet is aiming to win the Boston Marathon for the third time in a row after he beat a stacked field that included Eliud Kipchoge last year. His main threat will probably be Sisay Lemma, who ran 2hr 1min 48sec at the Valencia Marathon last year, is the fastest man in the field and the fourth-fastest in history. Last year’s runner-up Gabriel Geay will also be in the mix for the win.

On the women’s side Obiri will have to face down stern competition from other past champions to win her second, with Worknesh Defaga, Edna Kiplagat and Caroline Rotich all aiming to take the tape. New York City Marathon 2022 winner Sharon Lokedi is another runner to look out for, with home interest coming from Des Linden, who won Boston in 2018, and Sara Hall.

Boston Marathon Live Streams

How To Watch The Boston Marathon In The US

ESPN will broadcast the Boston Marathon live nationally in the US, with its coverage beginning on its flagship channel at 8.30am EDT and running until 12.30pm EDT. It will also be streamed on the ESPN website. 

Live local coverage of the race will be on WCVB Channel 5 from 4am EDT to 8pm EDT, along with WCVB’s sister stations WMUR, WMTW and WPTZ.

How To Watch The Boston Marathon In The UK

Eurosport will be showing live coverage of the Boston Marathon on TV and through its website and app. If you don’t have Eurosport as part of your TV package you’ll need a Discovery+ subscription to watch, which costs £6.99 a month or £59.99 a year. Alternatively, you can subscribe to and watch Discovery+ through Amazon Prime Video. 

How To Watch The Boston Marathon In Australia

The Boston Marathon will be broadcast live through FloSports in Australia, which costs AUS$29.99 a month or AUS$150 a year. The FloSport app is available on Chromecast, Amazon Fire Stick, Apple TV and mobile devices.

How To Watch The Boston Marathon From Outside Your Country Of Residence

If you’re traveling and want to watch the Boston Marathon through your usual national broadcaster then you can use a virtual private network (VPN). The team at Coach stablemate TechRadar have tested VPNs extensively and recommend NordVPN, which is easy to set up and reliable. NordVPN also comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it before committing to a longer plan.

Boston Marathon Details

Whether you’re in town to spectate the Boston Marathon in person or you’re planning to tune into the broadcast and track runners from home, there are several ways you can follow the progress of runners.

If you’re going to watch the race in person to cheer on friends or family members, download the B.A.A. Racing app from the Boston Athletic Association (BAA), which is already live in the App store and Google Play.

The app relays when runners pass any of the 16 checkpoints along the course.

“Folks can track as many runners as they’d like,” says Chris Lotsbom, BAA director of race communications and media. “This is perfect for spectators to gauge what time their athlete is set to finish.”

The app will also feature leaderboards, maps, selfie frames, race information for runners and spectators, participant and spectator guides, weather forecast updates from the BAA’s partners at the local WCVB television station, and more. 

New to the app this year is tracking and results for Saturday’s Boston 5K presented by Point32Health, as well as for the B.A.A. Invitational Miles, taking place that same day.

“We annually see that [the app] is incredibly popular among spectators and athletes, often rising to the top of sports app charts in the month of April,” says Lotsbom. “Usually the most tracked athletes are either from the pro field, or celebrities who may be running.” 

You can also track participants on the race website, BAA.org, which will feature searchable results, leaderboards, splits and tracking.

“The site will switch over to a tracking race day specific page the morning of the race,” he says. “In case it’s helpful for anyone trying to plan out their spectating in person, we also have town-by-town tips on our website, too.”

And for those interested in following the professional and elite races, the Boston Marathon will air locally from 4am to 8pm ET on WCVB-TV, the BAA’s official local television partner. Nationally, the race will air on ESPN2 from 8.30am  to 12.30pm ET. The Boston Marathon start time for the professional men is 9.37am and 9.47am for the professional women.

“There will be lots of coverage on WCVB and ESPN in the lead-up to race day,” says Lotsbom. If you’re not in the US when the race starts, find out how to watch the Boston Marathon where you are.

“We encourage spectators to follow @BostonMarathon across all our platforms (Instagram, X, Facebook, Tik Tok), as well as @Boston26_2_Pro on X, and our B.A.A. accounts: @BAA and @RunTeamBAA on X; @TeamBAA and @RunTeamBAA on Instagram; and Boston Athletic Association on Facebook.”

It’s Boston Marathon weekend! If it’s your first time running the race, you may be feeling somewhere between a bit nervous and overwhelmed, even if you’re there for a victory lap rather than trying to throw down a new personal best. Being well prepared is an effective way to keep you on the “bit nervous” end of the spectrum, so here are a few things I would have found useful to know before I toed the line in Hopkinton for the first time in 2023.

1. Take The T Everywhere, Even If Staying Downtown

I used to live in New York City, where I would walk whenever I could rather than take the subway—especially since subway stations were usually so close to each other. In Boston, however, trips like walking the distance of one subway station to another if going from, say, a Boston Common area hotel to the expo and back, add up. Stay off your feet as much as possible, especially since it’s a long weekend with the race being on Monday.

2. Don’t Go To Too Many Events Before The Race

Easier said than done with the overabundance of brand and media events. Being out all day every day from Friday morning can be physically and emotionally draining, so I recommend picking one event each day, and try to time one with a visit to the expo to pick up your bib. 

It’s also worth bearing in mind that the group shakeout runs can be quite large and crowded. I found a good balance was to go to one group run on Saturday and then do my Sunday morning shakeout alone. It really was nice to be at peace and alone with my thoughts around a quiet Boston Common for my final miles before the big day. 

3. Prepare Yourself Mentally For The Race’s Late Start

My first Boston wasn’t my first rodeo. I’d run another World Marathon Major—the New York City Marathon—three times by that point. This meant I knew to expect a later race start than I was used to with my beloved Houston Marathon, which starts at 7am (the perfect race start time, in my opinion) and with the fact that I start most of my long runs by 6am, especially when the weather is on the warmer side. 

Even though my qualifying time of 3hr 30min 14sec was nearly five minutes faster than my age-graded standard, I was still seeded in the third wave of runners, which meant I was set to start at 10.50am. Even starting a run at 8am feels late to me, so starting at almost lunchtime was a shock to the system, to say the least. I did know to pack snacks for a second breakfast in between leaving my hotel for the bus to the start village and waiting in the start village, but I am glad I also made plans to ride the bus with a friend from home. If I had made the trek alone, I probably would have sat there quietly, overthinking my race. Chatting with my friend really helped take the edge off and made the hours in between fly by.

4. Know The Walk To The Start Is About A Mile Long

That’s right — when you get off the bus at the start village in Hopkinton, you still have a bit of a journey to the starting line, something I hadn’t heard or read about before my first race. While there’s nothing you can do to avoid the additional time on your feet and it’s certainly not going to affect your ability to have a good race, I think it’s an important detail to be aware of because it will help you avoid lollygagging too long in the start village. You can also plan for things like getting in one last bathroom stop before leaving, because the chances are you’ll be worried about making your start time and the long lines for the last bathrooms on the way to the start will feel  too risky.

5. Training For Downhills Is Just As Important As Training For Uphills

Did you know the Boston Marathon is net downhill? Most people brush off that fact and fixate on the notoriously difficult Newton hills, a series of climbs from miles 16 to 21. Uphills have historically been one of my biggest weaknesses, so that was what I spent the most time preparing for. 

Even though I didn’t get carried away on the faster, downhill first half of the course and stuck pretty closely to my plan, my quads still suffered from dealing with more downhills than they were used to. It made those Newton Hills hurt even more, even though I didn’t slow down that badly on them. This is probably the biggest thing I’m filing away for training strategy if and when I run Boston again.

6. Don’t Judge Your Progress By Landmarks

Even if you haven’t spent much time closely analyzing the course map, when you think about the Boston Marathon course, you likely know about famous spots like the Wellesley Scream Tunnel, the Citgo sign, and the famous “right on Hereford, left on Boylston.” 

For one thing, you will hear the scream tunnel long before you come across it, and there is a significant downhill that precedes it, before you hit the halfway point. Don’t let yourself get carried away there. 

As for the Citgo sign, you will see it long before you pass it after mile 25, so don’t further torture yourself if you’re having a tough race. 

Lastly, know that the final stretch down Boylston is nearly half a mile long, so don’t expect to sprint immediately there, even though you can see the finish line.

If you’ve ever run any of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, you likely know that they tend to start much later than most other well-known marathons. It’s a boon for spectators and runners in that neither have to wake up as early, but it can also throw up difficulties for runners who can face quite a bit of downtime before their individual start time. 

To help, I’ve included information about when to wake up, when to head to the start village and how to adjust your fueling plans to accommodate the later Boston Marathon start time, based on my experience of running the Boston Marathon last year.

How To Fuel And Hydrate For A Late Race Start

Since I was in Wave 3 for my first Boston Marathon last year, I didn’t start the race until 10.50am, which is practically lunchtime for someone who is accustomed to running earlier in the day. Being from Houston, Texas, I am used to starting most long runs by 6am and most long-distance races by 7am.

I actually got a taste of similar logistics to the Boston Marathon the summer before I raced it, when I traveled to Ventura, California to run the Mountains2Beach Half Marathon. I didn’t give much thought to the two hours in between when I left my hotel to board a bus to the start and when the race actually started, eating my typical oatmeal breakfast before I left and not packing anything else other than my mid-race energy gels. The race start also ended up being delayed by half an hour, and I was feeling hungry again by the time the gun went off. This was not ideal, and I paid the price for improper pre-race fueling, bonking hard by the halfway point of the race.

Luckily, even though that was “only” a half marathon, it was a reality check for what to expect in Boston, and I knew to pack snacks like graham crackers, stroopwafels and granola bars for the bus ride and start village wait. If you’re on Instagram, I recommend following registered sports dietitians like Starla Garcia and Meghann Featherstun, who will post race-morning fueling and hydration suggestions based on your Boston start time, also noting when you should plan to stop eating and hydrating before your start time.

For help picking, consult this guide to the best running gels.

Any of the best running watches can help you pace a marathon, as long as the GPS accuracy is on point. By using the lap pace in particular you can judge your pace for each mile or kilometer split and ensure it’s in line with your overall goals, and stop yourself from going out too fast at the start.

However, Garmin’s PacePro tool goes beyond this by offering a pacing guide that’s tailored to your target time, the way you want to run the race and the course you’re going to run. That last part in particular makes it perfect for the Boston Marathon.

That’s because the Boston Marathon route is not the pancake flat course you get at other major marathons like London, Berlin and Chicago. Boston has hills, with the most famous being Heartbreak Hill in mile 20, and you need to judge your effort on the uphill and downhill sections of the course carefully to hit your target time.

With Garmin’s PacePro tool you set the course you’re going to run and an overall target time, then you choose one of three race strategies and how hard you want to run any uphills. The race strategies are even pacing, a negative split (where you run the second half of the marathon faster than the first), or a positive split. 

If picking a negative or positive split, you also choose how much of a difference you want between the two halves of the race. You could start slowly and set yourself up to sprint home, for example, or just aim for a minute or two difference across the two halves. You also select how hard you want to run uphills, but if you ease off you’ll have to make the time up on flats and downhills.

This is the magic of PacePro, in that it will give you target times for each mile or kilometer split of the race based on your preferences, target time and the elevation of the course during that exact split. For example, if you set up a target time 2hrs 50min for Boston, plus a negative split where you take it easy on uphills, you’ll be given your fastest split targets for the downhills that come after the famous Newton Hills, with a slower target for the mile that includes Heartbreak Hill, or any other incline.

This allows you to ease off in the early stages of the race, and on any uphills, knowing that the race plan will have you hitting your overall target time by attacking the easier downhill miles on the course. The Boston Marathon has a lot of downhills, so you can judge how much time to make up in those sections well to allow you to be slower on the uphills.

During the race the PacePro screen will show your target time for the exact mile or kilometer split you’re running, plus your current split pace, how much distance is left in the split and the total time you are ahead, or behind, your overall goal.

You will need to use a Boston Marathon route within the Garmin Connect app to get a PacePro strategy, but these are easy to find in the app or on the website by searching for Hopkinton, the town where the race starts. There are several Boston Marathon routes to pick between and you can use them to create your PacePro strategy and then send it to your watch. 

The routes are all slightly longer than the exact marathon distance, because they are probably created from the routes people actually ran—it’s hard to run the perfect racing line at a big marathon because of the crowds.

Most of Garmin’s current range is compatible with PacePro, even if the watch doesn’t have maps or breadcrumb navigation as a feature. The Garmin Forerunner 55 is the cheapest watch to have the feature, and you can be assured that any more expensive watch launched in the past couple of years will also have it. You can check if your watch is compatible on the Garmin website by typing it in and selecting your watch.

Garmin’s PacePro tool is useful for lots of races, but is best for hilly courses and also those that don’t spend much time in the center of big cities with tall buildings, because the GPS accuracy that dictates the pacing info on the watch is affected when you’re in the heart of London or New York, for example. It’s perfect for the Boston Marathon as a result, and may well be just the thing for getting you up and over Heartbreak Hill still on course for your PR.

How To Set Up PacePro For The Boston Marathon 

1. Go to Training & Planning>Courses
2. Search for Hopkinton and select a Boston Marathon course from the list
3. Click ‘create a PacePro strategy’
4. Pick your target time or pace
5. Choose between mile and kilometer splits
6. Choose your race strategy and uphill effort
7. Check the individual splits to see if they make sense for you, then hit save
8. Send the route to your device

You can find the PacePro strategy in the training and workouts section of the running app on your watch. Make sure you select it before you start the race. You can also create a PacePro strategy on the watch for any route you have saved on there, but it’s easier to do it in the Garmin Connect app or on the website.

It should come as no surprise that elite athletes run a lot of miles when marathon training. Even so, actually hearing about what they do is still pretty mind-boggling, both in terms of the distance run and the amount of hard running they log each week.

Earlier this year I attended the launch of the Under Armour Infinite Elite running shoe, where the 2022 New York City Marathon winner Sharon Lokedi spoke about her training. Lokedi is currently preparing for the Boston Marathon, and based on the below it’s fair to say that she is putting the work in to succeed at Boston.

Lokedi said she typically runs 200-220km (124-137 miles) a week, doing doubles (two runs a day) on most days. If that amount wasn’t impressive enough by itself, Lokedi is doing most of her running at altitude in Kaptagat, Kenya or Flagstaff, Arizona, and logging several hard workouts each week as part of her training.

Here’s what a typical training week looks like for Lokedi. There are some runs where Lokedi just described them as a double, so presumably they’re a relatively short and easy run in the afternoon, after a harder or longer morning run.

Monday: Hill training—either reps or a hilly route (20-24km). Double in the afternoon (10-14km)

Tuesday: Track session (12-15km). Double in the afternoon.

Wednesday: Recovery run (20-24km). Double in the afternoon.

Thursday: Long run (alternating 35-40km one week, 30km the week after). 

Friday: Recovery run (20-24km). Double in the afternoon.

Saturday: Tempo or Fartlek sessions (20km). Double in the afternoon.

Sunday: Rest day or 25-30km.

It’s obviously very important to remember when looking at a packed schedule like this that Lokedi is an elite athlete with plenty of time to rest around her running, and a full team on hand to help her with her recovery and nutrition, plus other runners to do her sessions with. This is not something amateurs enjoy, and no-one is suggesting you go and try and copy Lokedi’s training for Boston (although you should pay heed to her coach’s Boston Marathon training tip). 

Lokedi says her nutrition strategy involves protein and carbs in every meal, and lots of snacks. There aren’t any real restrictions to her diet—if the body feels it needs it then just eat it. Or as her coach Stephen Haas put it: “there are no cheat meals when you’re running that much.”

Ask any runner who has completed the Boston Marathon what the toughest feature of the race is and they’re likely to say the inclines. The Boston Marathon course is renowned for the cluster of climbs runners have to tackle in the second half of the race—with the most famous ascent being Heartbreak Hill between miles 20 and 21.

However, while the old adage “what goes up must come down” doesn’t always apply to point-to-point running events like the Boston Marathon, it’s true that runners spend a lot of time going downhill in the race, and it’s important that your training takes this into account.

That’s what Stephen Haas, coach of the Under Armour Dark Sky Distance team, told Coach at the launch of the Under Armour Infinite Elite running shoe. Haas is preparing New York City Marathon 2022 winner Sharon Lokedi for Boston, and has adapted her training to take Boston’s downhills into account.

“We try to adapt to the course,” says Haas, “and we’ve been making sure that we incorporate more downhill running into training. I think the downhill is more important, you have to make sure the legs are calloused for the downhills.

“In Boston you have a lot more downhill than you have in New York and that’s the area where, if your legs aren’t ready for it [and] you beat them up at mile 16 you’re going to have a long way to the finish.”

Mile 16 is worth noting because there’s a significant downhill around that point in the race, which is just before the four big climbs on the course. The first half of the race is mostly a mild downhill, so if you’ve pounded through that, then charged down the descent just before mile 16, your legs could be toast if you haven’t conditioned them during training.

It’s something US pro Colin Mickow also highlighted when we spoke to him about how elite runners train for the Boston Marathon.

Another thing Haas flagged, which is important for all road marathons, is to spend a lot of time training on the road. For most people that isn’t a problem, but if you’re blessed with abundant trails nearby you might almost always run on them—but you need to have some road runs in your legs to prepare for the event.

“In places like Flagstaff, Arizona, and Kenya, you have to seek out road running,” says Haas. “Not a lot of people have that problem, but we actually have to seek that out and make sure that we’re doing long runs on pavement and getting our legs used to the pounding that you get from the road.”

Every third Monday in April, thousands of runners stand on the start line in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, ready to run the Boston Marathon route. For many, it’s a special moment because it signifies that they’ve reached one of the greatest goals an amateur runner can achieve—a Boston Marathon qualifying time.

Nearly 75% of the field is made up of people who have achieved a qualifying time on another certified marathon course. This sets the race apart from the other Abbott World Marathon Majors, which allocate most of their places by randomized ballot.

The age-graded Boston Marathon qualifying times are below and the qualification period for the 2025 race began on September 1, 2023. If you’re a regular runner, a year to make a qualifying time is achievable. Look at our sub-3hr marathon training plan and sub-4hr marathon training plan to see the degree of commitment required. 

While amateur runners will never have the time or support to replicate the marathon training of elite runners, there are always fascinating insights to draw from how pros train for big events like the Boston Marathon.

Sports scientist Derek Dalzell is the senior manager for consumer education at sports watch brand Coros, and has been analyzing the data of some of Coros’s sponsored elites ahead of the 2023 Boston Marathon, in particular US runner Colin Mickow’s training. 

We spoke to Dalzell to see what amateurs could take from Mickow’s approach to improve their own marathon training. The first insight isn’t all that surprising—elite runners run a lot—but interestingly they don’t really hit top gear and focus on their event until they are close to race day.

“One of the big takeaways is the volume,” says Dalzell. “The volume that they’re training at is exceptional. It’s 131 miles a week. Their aerobic base, their endurance, is massive. But then the big thing that I think a lot of amateurs don’t understand is that they don’t really start running hard until four to eight weeks out from the race. It’s a specific block. 

“If you look at [Mickow’s] training intensity 12 weeks out, eight weeks out and four weeks out, you can see the closer he gets to race day, the more miles he’s putting in at race pace.”

The first practical application for amateurs is not to overdo it at the start of marathon training.

“A lot of amateurs are just getting into it and have this new motivation. They go out and are like ‘I’m gonna push myself, I’m going to get in shape within the next two to four weeks’,” says Dalzell. “That can be a bad thing, because it’s not going to make running easy. Ultimately, you’re not going to want to keep doing it because it’s not sustainable.”

One way to make racking up a lot of miles in marathon training achievable is to ensure that your easy runs really are easy, with your heart rate remaining in your lower heart rate zones, no matter how slow that means you run.

“One thing we can take away from these pros is that they run in their easy training zones,” says Dalzell. “They run a lot of miles in zone 1 or their fat-burning zone, and amateurs would be shocked at how easy or how slow that would be for them. A lot of people aren’t running slow enough.”

Once you’ve built that base fitness through easy running, stepping up to start doing more work at speed becomes easier.

“A lot of amateurs never get to that point because they don’t go through the proper process,” says Dalzell. “They’re too tired and they haven’t established the aerobic base needed to sustain that level of training.”

One thing that Dalzell picked out about Mickow’s Boston Marathon training was the high amount of time spent at race pace in later weeks.

“Over the last four weeks, [Mickow] spent 56% of his time at race pace, which is a lot,” says Dalzell. “If you look at 12 weeks prior to race day, 70% of his time was easy, and only 30% was race pace. So the closer you get to race day, the more you want to specifically train that system to be prepared.”

Of course you can’t keep hammering out race pace runs right up to race day. A taper period ahead of a marathon is essential for runners of all levels.

“Each person’s individual [requirements are different], but if somebody’s been training properly, a taper is usually somewhere between eight to 14 days,” says Dalzell. “Mickow started his taper on 6th April, so 11 days out from Boston.”

While most of the marathon training that elite runners do for Boston will apply equally to any city event, the Boston Marathon route does have some well-known features, such as the Newton Hills, for which pros make specific preparations.

“It’s actually a lot of downhill,” says Dalzell. “There are uphill sections, that’s the famous stuff, but there’s a lot of downhills as well. We just interviewed [former US marathon champion] Emma Bates and she [told us she] has spent a lot of time training downhills in preparation for Boston, because she doesn’t want her quads to seize up at mile 22 or 23. It is a net downhill race. 

“Everybody focuses on the uphills, and don’t get me wrong—you have to be able to surge above your threshold on the uphill to stay with the pack. But if you don’t have your legs trained for downhill running as well, they’re gonna give out at a certain point.”

One thing that elites don’t tend to do in their marathon training is short, all-out intervals well above their threshold pace.

“Maybe if there’s something wrong with their turnover or their gait, they’ll do some 400s or 800s,” says Dalzell. “But a lot of elite marathoners, they’re not doing 400m repeats on the track. They’re building volume and their aerobic base at an easy level, then they might go up to do some above threshold very sporadically. If you look at Colin’s breakdown of zones, 98%-99% of his training is threshold or below.”

One last point that Dalzell highlighted about elites in comparison to amateur runners was cadence—the amount of steps you take per minute. 

“When an amateur starts running, for whatever reason, they settle in somewhere between 155 to 170 steps per minute,” says Dalzell. “Research says that each person has their own specific maximum efficiency of cadence, but it’s usually somewhere above 180. So a lot of amateurs are just not turning their feet over fast enough. 

“When you look at the elites, like Colin Mickow, Eliud Kipchoge, Emma Bates, they’re generally more like the 190 to 200 range. So not not only is their stride length longer, but they’re turning their feet over faster, almost 20 to 30 times more a minute than most amateurs do. 

“The takeaway there is you don’t have to run faster to increase your cadence. It’s a neurological pathway—it’s basically your brain sending a signal to your legs to pick up your feet. You can practice this on your easy runs. And the more you do, the more efficient you’re going to become. 

“If somebody’s not going to run 130 miles a week—which nobody’s really going to do, right?— but they want to improve as a runner, I will basically tell them ‘slow down, build your base, and increase your cadence on all runs’.”

There are two things runners participating in the Boston Marathon tend to obsess about in the weeks leading up to race day: the weather, which tends to be unpredictable until you’re very close to the event, and the course, which is not your typical flat city marathon.

Since qualifying for the Boston Marathon is no easy feat, chances are you’re familiar with the course profile and included hills in your training to prepare for it. But even so, having a rough idea of what to expect from start to finish can help you plan your pacing strategy accordingly.

Of course, race advice is always best served up from those who have firsthand experience of the marathon you’re running, so I asked Boston Marathon veterans for their insight to guide you through the course and added my own based on my experience of running the race in 2023. 

The Boston Marathon Route Map

Boston Marathon Route Miles 1-6

Fun fact: Most of the Boston Marathon course is not actually in the city of Boston. In fact, you don’t arrive in Boston until well into the final 5K. The race starts on a cramped two-lane road next to the town common and public library of Hopkinton. Atlanta-based five-time Boston Marathoner Jay Holder recommends taking advantage of the situation to start conservatively.

“The boom of the start cannon is a rush of adrenaline, but runners would be wise to use the tight space and massive crowds to keep the pace moderate,” says Holder. “The marathon starts with a massive 130ft elevation drop in the first mile, and going too fast can come with a price later in the race.” I’d add that you don’t want to brake too hard on this first downhill or you’ll unnecessarily fatigue your quads.

“Within the first mile of the race, you’ll see the locals out cheering even in the rain, and don’t be surprised within the first couple of miles if you hear ‘Sweet Caroline’, playing from speakers the locals set up,” says Susan Moriarty, a two-time Boston Marathoner. “It’s basically the theme song for the marathon, and you’re guaranteed to hear it playing several times more throughout the course.”

According to Holder, the course flattens as you enter Ashland, which is home to the original Boston Marathon start line at mile 2. You’ll stay in this town through mile 5, where the two-lane road will open up to chain stores, stoplights, and large crowds lining the course. 

“As you climb out of Ashland up a small hill, you’ll run into Framingham just before the mile 5 marker,” Holder says. “You’ll cross train tracks—watch your step—and then cross the 10K split.”

The 10K mark is a good spot for friends or family to spectate, because it’s close to a subway station so they can easily head back toward Boston after you exchange high fives, Holder adds.

Boston Marathon Route Miles 7-10

According to Sarah King Cherington, an RRCA-certified run coach and native Bostonian who now lives in Houston and has run the race eight times, this section of the marathon course is an oft-forgotten one. But she also describes it as the most peaceful part, which takes you through Framingham and into Natick, where you’ll see mostly families out spectating in the miles before you hit the Wellesley College “Scream Tunnel.”

“Once you get past the 10K mark and all the downhills, it’s a great opportunity to rein yourself in and zero in on your marathon goal pace,” she says. “Lake Cochituate is the stand-out, so just take those moments to check in with yourself and enjoy the peacefulness heading into Natick, because it’s the last point of the course that will be that quiet.” 

Boston Marathon Route Miles 11-15

According to Lizbeth Nieves, an eight-time Boston Marathoner based in Chicago, the beginning of mile 11 is a little quiet. You’ll see the “Entering Wellesley” sign and not many spectators as you navigate the small rolling hills flanked by tall trees leading up to mile 12. There is also a pretty steep downhill before you get to Wellesley, so be careful not to take it too fast.

“As you continue to run the course and approach mile 12, you will hear a roar that only gets louder and louder as you get to Wellesley College and go through the Scream Tunnel,” Nieves says. “Stay to the right if you want high fives, pictures, hugs or kisses, and tons of encouraging words shouted just for you. This part is, without a doubt, one of the most fun parts of the course, so enjoy it, soak it all in and don’t get carried away [by picking up the pace too soon].”

Nieves also notes that this part can become a bit crowded with runners stopping for a photo op or to engage with the Wellesley College community.

In downtown Wellesley you hit the halfway point and, according to Nieves, there’s minimal elevation for the next couple of miles, so it’s a good point to assess your pace and effort and make adjustments if need be. 

“The crowd thins as you approach mile 15, [which is also where] there is the biggest drop in elevation on the course,” she says. “Don’t let gravity take you down faster. Control your speed and prepare for the Newton hills.”

Boston Marathon Route Miles 16-21

The infamous Newton Hills is one of the Boston Marathon’s signature sections, and many coaches (myself included) will agree that mile 16 is the true halfway point where the race really begins.

“You’ll need to hold yourself back a bit in the first half of the race—there is a lot of downhill in the first 10K of the Boston Marathon—so that you’ll have the strength to tackle the infamous Newton Hills,” says, Natalie Mitchell, an RRCA-certified running coach in Los Angeles who is gearing up for her third Boston Marathon.

Subbu Venkat, a five-time Boston Marathoner from Houston, points out that mile 16 is when the course goes over Route 128, which is a long and steep bridge where there aren’t many spectators.

“You’d think it’s Newton but it’s not yet and this hill can be daunting,” he says.

At about 17.5 miles, you’ll make a sharp right turn onto Commonwealth Avenue. Turn the corner and you’ll start the ascension of the Newton Hills, which is a series of climbs that end with the notorious Heartbreak Hill.

“Heartbreak Hill has a 3.3% grade which, if you think about it, is not incredibly tough, but when your legs have been pounding for nearly 20 miles, it will feel tough but manageable,” Mitchell says. “Let the crowd carry you through the series of hills. Relax, breathe, don’t worry about your pace—it will be slower—and get ready to take advantage of the downhill that is coming.”

I didn’t find Heartbreak Hill to be that bad or steep —just very long. I didn’t even know I’d finally reached it until I finally saw the “Congrats; you’ve conquered Heartbreak Hill” sign.

“Once you conquer Heartbreak Hill and go past Boston College [at around mile 21], it becomes quiet again, and the [stretch] between Chestnut Hill Reservoir and Cleveland Circle is somewhat tough mentally as you don’t have much in your tank and the finish is still at least 3-4 miles away,” Venkat adds.

Mile 21 is also where you’ll find the marathon’s most culturally diverse cheer section, home to the Pioneers Run Crew and TrailBlazHers Run Co. They bring the hype and get runners’ spirits up after they’ve survived one of the course’s toughest sections. Several professional runners, including Des Linden and Emma Bates posted on Instagram about it being one of the most memorable parts of the race.

Boston Marathon Route Mile 22-finish

According to Cris Gutierrez, a runner based in Columbus, Ohio, founder of Ope Athletic Club and a soon-to-be four-time Boston Marathoner, many runners mistakenly think the final post-Heartbreak-Hill miles will be smooth and easy. It can be—if you’ve run smart until then.

“While the final four miles of the course is a net downhill, Boston has a couple tricks ready for those that take this final section too lightly,” he says. “Keep your eye on the footing when you cross Beacon Street as you’ll be crossing over train tracks in this section. Take advantage of the downhill over this section to maintain your speed and let it help carry you over the little incline just before 23 miles.” 

The crowd through Brookline is phenomenal, Gutierrez adds. 

“If you’ve run your race smart, you’ll be cruising by runners that left their legs over the first half of the course,” he says. “Maintain effort over the little uphills and utilize each downhill to shake out the arms, stay loose, and maintain rhythm. The crowd will go crazy for those that look confident over this section, so let it give you confidence to finish strong.”

Just after 24.5 you’ll see it. Boston Marathon’s North Star, AKA the giant Citgo sign, Gutierrez says. Once you pass it about a mile later, you’ll arrive at Kenmore Square, where the crowd noise will be building.

“The incline underneath the Tommy Leonard Bridge seems like a mountain this far into the race with one kilometer to go, but keep your head up, pump your arms, and stay strong,” he says. “After this you’ll be home free and into the most memorable finish of your life. Right on Hereford, left on Boylston, for the final 600 meters of the course. Take it in. You’ve earned it. You’ve now finished the Boston Marathon.” 

The Boston Marathon Route FAQs

Eliud Kipchoge is running the 127th Boston Marathon on Monday 17th April and will be attempting to win his fifth World Marathon Major and set a new course record—breaking the current mark of 2hr 3min 2sec set by Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai in 2011.

Kipchoge set the overall world marathon record last year in Berlin, where he ran 2hr 1min 9sec. He can’t break that official record in Boston, which is not a world record-eligible course because it is a point-to-point race. Records can only be set on courses where the start is near to the finish.

• Boston Marathon route mile by mile

For the world record In Berlin, Kipchoge ran at an astonishing average pace of 4min 37sec/mile (2min 52sec/km). That’s 21kph, a speed most treadmills don’t go up to.

Prior to the marathon in Boston, the watch brand Coros, which sponsors Kipchoge, is staging a challenge to show how fast Kipchoge ran in Berlin. The challenge is a simple one: Can you run at Kipchoge’s world record pace? If so, for how long?

If you’re using a Coros watch (or a Decathlon Kiprun watch that uses the Coros platform), you have the chance to earn badges if you can hit Kipchoge’s pace. Coros lists this as 4min 36sec/mile. There’s a badge just for hitting it at all, another one for running 200m at that pace, and one for 400m.

To put Kipchoge’s speed into context, I also ran the Berlin Marathon in 2022 where I set my PR of 2hr 28min 34sec and finished 125th. I’m nothing like an elite runner, but as amateurs go I’m good. I can only run one mile at Kipchoge’s marathon pace—it’s exactly my one-mile PR in fact, which I ran indoors in spikes.

If you want to try the Coros challenge, it is open until Monday 24th April. I picked up two of the Coros badges in my track session this week before I knew exactly what the challenge involved, and will try to nab the third with a speedy 400m next week. With the Boston and London marathons imminent, it’s a great way to showcase how ridiculously quick the best marathon runners in the world are.