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The Boston Marathon Route: The Ups, the Downs and That Citgo Sign

Related Topics: Boston Marathon

From the rural suburbs to the bedlam of Fenway Park, the Boston Marathon is as special as distance running gets.

The Boston Marathon starts in the small town of Hopkinton, Mass.Credit...Hilary Swift/The New York Times

New York may have the crowds. Chicago may have the speed. But the Boston Marathon is the great American race.

It is an annual party on the third Monday in April, a local holiday called Patriots’ Day. The rest of the world works while Boston ostensibly celebrates the start of the American Revolution, but really just celebrates itself and the 30,000 people running from Hopkinton to Copley Square.