In the 2012 Boston Marathon on Monday morning, thousands of runners will cover the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, to the finish line in Boston's Copley Square. The Boston Globe offers an interactive course map, allowing "minute by minute, mile by mile" look at the route, and it's truly great, offering tidbits of information about each mile marker was well as expected times that the elite runners will be arriving.

The race begins with the steepest downhill of the marathon, a 130-foot drop over the first mile. In fact, the Boston Marathon is mostly 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.

via cache.boston.com----------

The 2011 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.