In the 116th running of the Boston Marathon, competitors will follow the 26.2-mile route from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, to the finish line in Boston Copley's Square.
Boston.com offers an interactive course map, allowing a "minute by minute, mile by mile" look at the route, as well as bits of information about each mile marker and expected times that the elite runners will be arriving.
The race begins in Hopkinton, where it's started from since 1925, and immediately goes downhill -- the first mile is the steepest downhill on the course, dropping 130 feet. Competitors will then make their way through Ashland, Framingham, Natick -- somewhat ironically, home to the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, whose mission is to conduct research about how human perform in extreme heat -- the Girls of Wellesley around mile 13, Newton and Heartbreak Hill, Brookline and finally, the finish in Boston.
The Boston Marathon is nearly all downhill, with an elevation change of 450-feet from start to finish, the greatest elevation change of the five World Marathon Majors. Of course, when you're running up Heartbreak Hill, you probably aren't thinking of that.
The 2012 Boston Marathon begins with the Mobility Impaired Participants at 9 a.m. ET Monday morning, followed by Push-Rim Wheelchair Division and Handcycle Participants, starting at 9:17 and 9:22 a.m., respectively. The Elite Women go off at 9:32 a.m., and the Elite Men (along with Wave One) start at 10 a.m.
Follow along with the 2012 Boston Marathon with Stride Nation as well as SB Nation Boston.
Additional reading: