Boston Marathon route and course map

The B.A.A. does not state an elevation figure on its course pages. The numbers come from the USA Track and Field certificates. Two are active for the Boston course: MA25027JK lists a drop of 3.3 m per km and MA21002JK lists 3.27 m per km. Over 42.195 km that is about 138 to 139 m (roughly 455 ft) lower at the finish than at the start.

Both certificates mark the course not record-eligible, and both list a start-to-finish separation above 91%, because the course runs one way from Hopkinton to Boston. For what it takes to get in, see the Boston qualifying times: the standards, and the 2027 cut-off of 5 minutes 17 seconds.

Net downhill does not mean easy. The B.A.A. itself singles out the Newton Hills, miles 17.5 to 21, as the part that challenges runners, and they arrive late, after 17 miles already in the legs.

This section is Runsy's advice, not the B.A.A.'s. It is how we would race this course from the facts above.

• Miles 0 to 8: hold back on purpose. A course that loses about 139 m overall invites a fast start. Downhill running costs your quads even when the pace feels easy, and you pay for it in Newton. Run the first miles at goal pace or a few seconds slower.
• Halfway in Wellesley: do not race the crowd. The scream tunnel comes just before halfway. Enjoy it at the same pace.
• Miles 17.5 to 21: run the Newton Hills by effort. Let your pace drop on the climbs and do not try to win the time back on the descents between them.
• Miles 21 to 26.2: this is where Boston is won. Brookline's Beacon Street and the run to Boylston Street are where a runner who saved their legs passes people. If you have anything left, spend it here.
• Train for the start time. Wave 1 went off at 10:00 a.m. in 2026, later than most marathons, after a bus ride and a wait in Hopkinton. Do some long runs at that hour and practise eating breakfast earlier than usual.
• Train downhill as well as uphill. Hill repeats prepare you for Newton; controlled downhill segments in long runs prepare you for everything before it.

Turn a goal time into splits with the marathon pace chart, or sanity-check the goal with the race time predictor.

From the B.A.A.'s 2026 athlete and spectator information. The 2027 details are not published yet.

• Fluids: water and Gatorade at every mile from mile two, on both sides of the road.
• Gels: three Maurten depots: mile 11.8 at the Wellesley town line, mile 17 in Newton, and mile 21.5 just after Boston College.
• Bags: the only bag allowed on B.A.A. buses and in Hopkinton is the small plastic Start Area Bag your bib comes in, and no bags travel from the start to the finish. Clothes left in Hopkinton are donated, so plan your warm layers as throwaways.
• Field: the B.A.A. says 30,000 participants race on Patriots' Day.

Training for it: our 16-week intermediate marathon plan is the base the plan bridge above builds from, and the advanced version suits runners chasing a big qualifying margin.