The Baltimore Marathon course

Out of downtown and north on Paca, with Madison Street pointing you uphill. The climb starts here and does not quit until past mile three, so run this slower than the fresh legs want.

McCulloh Street through Bolton Hill, still tilted up. Nothing about it is steep, it is just relentless, and the hardest part of the climb is still ahead of you.

The steepest sustained stretch of the whole day, still on McCulloh. This is where the opening three miles finally add up, and it tops out right around the end of the mile.

Into Druid Hill Park on Mansion House Drive past the zoo entrance, with Buffalo Yard Road and Greenspring Avenue on the far side. One short sharp kick early, then the road hands it back and you finish about where you started.

Now you get paid. East Drive drops hard through the park, so keep the stride relaxed and let the grade do the work instead of pounding it out.

Wyman Park Drive and Art Museum Drive alongside the Baltimore Museum of Art. There is a rise in the middle of this one, but it washes back out and the mile ends level with where it began.

Onto Saint Paul Street and genuinely downhill for the first time. Free speed through Charles Village, and it keeps running downhill for the next two miles.

Still Saint Paul, still dropping. The road is doing the work, which is exactly why it is easy to spend a race here that you will want back at mile 19.

The last of the long descent, Saint Paul feeding into Light Street past the Bank of America Building at 10 Light Street. You arrive at the harbor at the bottom of it.

Light Street to Key Highway and Warren Avenue under Federal Hill. The course goes flat here, which means the road stops helping and the pacing is suddenly yours to manage.

Key Highway heading out toward Locust Point, dead level. Good place to sort out fuel and effort before the long harbor stretch.

Same road back, Key Highway with nothing in the profile to react to. Run it by feel and keep the split honest.

Back along Key Highway onto Light Street and the Inner Harbor. Flat, familiar and unremarkable, which is a good thing to be at this point.

Halfway, on Pratt Street and President Street by the water. The course has been generous so far, so bank patience rather than time.

Aliceanna and Lancaster through Fells Point, then out onto Boston Street toward Canton. Flat waterfront running, and the last genuinely easy mile before the course turns north.

Canton and the turn up South Linwood off O'Donnell Street. The climbing restarts here, gently at first, and it is worth noticing before it gets your attention on its own.

Linwood Avenue along Patterson Park and up toward East Madison Street. Two moderate rises back to back, neither of them dramatic, both of them adding up.

East Madison and Washington Street, at the front edge of the longest climb of the back half. The grade is mild but it runs for a mile and a half, so shorten the stride now rather than later.

Washington Street into Saint Lo Drive and Clifton Park, topping out the climb. How you run this mile decides how mile 23 feels.

Hillen Road and Harford Road, and the climbing is finished for now. Level ground, and the first real chance in three miles to find a rhythm again.

The loop around Lake Montebello, flat all the way around. Water on one side and nothing to fight, so use it to reset before the last five.

Off the lake and onto East 33rd Street, uphill again but barely. Under one percent, which is nothing on fresh legs and still registers at 22 miles.

East 33rd to Guilford Avenue and 29th Street, essentially level. Three miles out, and the course is about to hand you something big.

The drop. 29th Street west onto Howard gives back a hundred feet in a single mile, which is a gift if your quads can still absorb it and a problem if they cannot.

Howard to Eutaw and Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard, with one last rise in the way. Forty feet, the final climb of the day, so put your head down and get over it.

Eutaw Street, downhill the whole way toward the stadiums. Nothing left to save it for.