I am running the Boston Marathon this year and reside in South Africa, so this is my first trip to the USA.

I am 41 and qualified for Boston with a 3.16 I have run 55 marathons and ultras so am pretty experienced. I recently ran a 3.23 on a fairly difficult course.

My questions are:

1. Are there km as well as mile boards? We run with only km boards so I would need to re work my splits to miles. I know there are 5km boards but 1km boards?

2. I am used to running in Africa nothing here is easy, we normally run in temps of +- 20 - 25 degrees Celcius and the courses are tough. There is a huge running community here but the focus is around ultras of between 50 and 90 km we do at least 1 per year sometimes 2 or 3.

Is the Boston course as hard as everbody makes out? I was thinking of going for +- 4.40 min/km pace for a 3.15 but after reading some of the articles maybe I need to revise I want to enjoy so do not want to set out at the wrong pace.

Good luck at Boston! I'll be there this year as well. Don't expect there to be km markers. It's highly unlikely, except at, e.g., 5k, 10k, (perhaps every 5k there will be). If you ever compete in mountain ultras, the Boston course will be easy, relatively speaking. There are a number of long mild to medium grade downhills, which can take a toll on the quads for those not used to running downhills very much.

Congrats on your BQ. I ran it last year and I think based on your experience you won't find it terribly difficult. The coarse has lots of rolling hills pretty much the whole way. The toughest part of the coarse is between miles 16-22 where you hit a series of hills that peak at mile 21. From there it more or less rolls downhill to the finish. It's also very crowded and stays that way for most of the race. The elevation chart on the Boston marathon website gives you a basic idea, you just don't get a sense of the rolling hills throughout. Good luck it's a great experience and the people of Boston are very supportive of runners.

Thanks for the info I am sure I will enjoy it sounds like a great day.