Boston Marathon
Boston is unique, controversial and challenging, but rewards runners who start controlled.
Entry
Boston is unlike other Marathon Majors - there is no ballot to gain entry. You can enter through:
running a qualifying time
raising money for a non-profit.
There are qualifying times (BQ times) on the BAA website, but the important thing to note is that achieving these times does not mean that you will get a place - it just means that you can apply. Once the application window closes in mid-September, the organizers will make the qualifying time faster until they have reduced the field enough. In the last couple of years, the time cutoff has ranged from 0-7 minutes, and if you run a BQ time, you absolutely should apply.
The Lead Up
A couple of things to note:
The race is on a Monday! It's Patriots Day in MA, but not normally a holiday in the rest of the US.
Boston is the smallest city to host a World Major Marathon, and transport to the city and hotels fill up fast. Book early or find a friend to stay with! If you live in the Northeast, consider carpooling with a local club.
Bib pickup is close to the finish in Boston. It's normally pretty quick, apart from Saturday and Sunday afternoons when lines can be longer.
Getting to the start
Boston is a point to point course and the start is in Hopkinton, some 26 miles away! Boston organizes buses from the center to the start. These are normally well organized and much less stress than driving. You're given a time when you should get to Boston Common where you will be loaded onto school buses and driven to the start. It's important to note that Boston is a lot stricter with timing that NYC - you may be able to sneak onto an earlier bus than your wave time dictates, but you may also be asked to wait on the Common until previous waves have been loaded.
The drive to the start takes about 45 minutes, and it feels like a long way. Rather than focusing on the time you're on the bus, try to notice how much the road climbs on the way to Hopkinton - you'll be getting all of that back on the run. Everyone on the bus will be talking about their previous times, their fueling, tips for the race and generally trying to show that they belong in Boston. I'd suggest listening to music and concentrating on your race plan and tuning them out.
Buses drop you off at the Athlete Village. Here you can grab water, a snack and wait for your wave to be called. There are tents and on colder/rainy years you'll definitely want to find a spot inside. Wave announcements are loud and clear so you won't need to worry about missing a wave.
When your wave is called, you will assemble in a playground just outside athlete village, by corrall. These are not the start corrals - they are just to start getting people in order. Corral by corral, you will be released to walk to the start.
From the athletes' village to the start is 0.5 miles (downhill). Take it slow - you have plenty of time. Don't worry about people running past you or trying to get ahead, everyone is sorted back into corrals at the start anyway.
Just before the start corrals, there is another area of toilets so don't worry if you need to go after you leave the school. There are no toilets in the corrals themselves though, so make sure you take advantage here!
Boston is strict about checking bibs to enter corrals - you'll enter the corral and then be ready for the start of the race!
The Route
Another reason that Boston is unlike other major marathons is that you only spend a couple of miles running in Boston itself. Much of the marathon you're running through smaller towns and fields.
This video covers the whole route and commentary. I wish they'd film a version on race-day so you could see the setup, but it's still useful to help you recognize the landmarks.
0-6 miles: the first 6 miles of the course are downhill. The start is steeply downhill and it is very easy to be sucked into running too fast. There are also a lot of people and it's hard to work around them. Use this to stop yourself going out too fast - this is why the Boston course is so hard.
6-16 miles: largely flat. You're running through different towns at this point, running will be easier with fewer people around you. Highlights are the Welsely College scream tunnel at around 12 miles - stay to the left of the road to stay out of trouble. The road turns steeply downhill for 3/4 mile before the 16 mile marker - if you went out too fast you'll feel it in your quads here.
16-21 miles: the Newton Hills. None of these hills are that scary, but when combined they can be challenging. For 4 miles it's essentially repeats of 0.5 mile hills followed by 0.5 miles flat or slight downhill, culminating in Heartbreak Hill. On a good day, these hills don't feel like a problem at all. On a bad day they can feel like walls.
21-26.2: if you gave the course enough respect early on, these miles will be very fun. There's a nice continuous downhill that you can take advantage of and you'll be able to pass a lot of people. Be careful of the train tracks with tired feet. At about 25.5 you go under an underpass that can be tricky if you're feeling rough. Right on Hereford, left on Bolyston. Hereford is a kick up, but Bolyston is a nice slightly sloping downhill, but it will feel like a long way, but you're done!