Marathon Route Residents Request: No Peeing on the Lawn

By Charlene Arsenault (Patch Staff)

Photo Credit: Susan Petroni/Petroni Media Company

“Please respect the communities through which the Boston Marathon runs by taking advantage of these facilities, if needed,” notes the Boston Athletic Association on its website, where along with lots of other information, provides a list of locations where portable toilets are located along the route.

On Monday, April 20, thousands of runners take part in the 119th Marathon, running the 26 miles (and 385 yards) from Hopkinton to the finish line in Boston.

The route follows 135 through Ashland, Framingham, Natick, and Wellesley to where Route 16 joins Route 135. It continues on Route 16 through Newton Lower Falls to Commonwealth Ave, and onto Route 30. Continuing on Commonwealth, the route then winds onto Chestnut Hill Ave. to Cleveland Circle, then headed left on Beacton Street to Kenmore Square, and back on Commonwealth Ave. Onto Hereford Street, the final stretch is onto Boylston and into the finish line in Copley Square.

That’s a lot of people, runners and spectators, clogging many miles of road, either running or partying and cheering on the sidelines. People along the race route, much like a parade route, have grown used to the chaos.

But Hopkinton residents, in particular, have issued an important request for the many spectators who party along the streets, and yards, of the marathon route: please don’t urinate on their lawn.

Many homeowners along this route shared memories of the many Boston Marathons that have gone by their properties, and with it, stories of not only excitement and good times, but loud noise and pee, which they shared in a Newswire article on Runner’s World.

One woman shared a heart-warming story about her kids watching, in particular, the wheelchair racers, affecting her son so much that he drew a prize-winning picture. Many others who live near the route have “a story about runners relieving themselves in inappropriate places.”

A homeowner near Athletes’ Village, where roughly 30,000 runners walk by to head to the starting line, remembers years ago that the BAA didn’t have enough portable toilets, making her land, well, “the toilet.”

She added that women headed into the backyard, where there was a pool, and there “were tampons and everything else back there, because it was secluded,” she told Newswire.

That problem has been fixed, but many others still complain of their yards becoming toilets for not only spectators, but runners.

Here is a list of the portable toilets provided by the B.A.A. along the route:

Mile 3 - Ashland
Mile 7 - Framingham
Mile 10 - Natick
Mile 12 - Wellesley
Mile 18 - Newton
Mile 23.5 – Brookline

As the B.A.A. notes, these are in addition to the toilets at every water and Red Cross station. Please respect the communities through which the Boston Marathon runs by taking advantage of these facilities, if needed.