Every Patriots' Day since 1897, the Boston Marathon has ended on Boylston Street, right where you are. The Boston Marathon has been run every Patriots' Day — the third Monday in April — since 1897, inspired by the revival of the Olympic marathon at the 1896 Athens Games. The course runs 26.2 miles from Hopkinton through Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, and into Boston, ending here on Boylston Street in front of the Boston Public Library.
The Newton hills, including Heartbreak Hill at mile 20, are the defining challenge of the course; runners who have not conserved energy through the first half frequently collapse here. On April 15, 2013, two bombs were detonated near the finish line in the final minutes of the race, killing three people and injuring 264 others, many of whom lost limbs. The city's response — Boston Strong — became a rallying cry for a community that returned to the race the following year in enormous numbers, filling the streets with a solidarity that transformed the marathon from a sporting event into a civic ritual of resilience.
Look at the finish line painted on the road; every year on Patriots' Day, this is the most emotionally charged strip of asphalt in the country.