Boston Marathon 2015: TV Schedule, Route and Race Guide

The 119th running of the Boston Marathon will take place on Monday, April 20. This year's race figures to be a wet one. According to Weather.com, there' a 100 percent chance of rain, and it should be consistent from the morning into the afternoon.

If you're a local and plan on attending the race, you'll want to bring an umbrella. If you're planning on watching the historic race on television, here's the viewing information you'll need, per BAA.org:

Viewing Info

Local

When: 7 a.m. - 3 p.m. ET

TV: WBZ-TV

National

When: 8:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. ET

TV: Universal Sports Network

Route

BAA.org details the historic course's route, which hasn't changed much in recent years. It still starts on Main Street in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, and runs along Route 135 through the towns of Ashland, Framingham, Natick and Wellesley to the junction that connects to Route 16.

The path continues on Route 16 to Newton Lower Falls, Commonwealth Avenue and then to Route 30,
stretching onward to Chestnut Hill Avenue and Cleveland Circle.

Beacon Street and Kenmore Square are next as the route continues to follow Commonwealth Avenue. The race then finishes near the John Hancock Tower in Copley Square. Take a look at this quick video tour of the course:

Runners to Watch 

Steven Senne/Associated Press

Defending champion Meb Keflezighi is looking to repeat, but the American will have some serious competition from Ethiopian Lelisa Desisa. The latter won the Boston Marathon in 2013, and he's finished first or second in each race he's finished since his win in Beantown.

Keflezighi will turn 40 in May, and that could be a major disadvantage for him considering not one of his primary competitors was even born in the 1970s. Per Nick Zaccardi of NBC Sports, Keflezighi said this of his chances when speaking to reporters on Friday: “Last year, nobody had good chances for me to win. I think the chances are higher, at least according to others, this year than it was last year.”

On the women's side, an Ethiopian is also likely to finish at or near the top of the leaderboard. Mare Dibaba and Buzunesh Deba were runners-up to Kenyan Rita Jeptoo at both the 2014 Chicago Marathon and last year's race in Boston. However, Jeptoo is currently suspended following a positive test for a banned substance, so Dibaba and Deba are now considered to be major threats.

Keep an eye on America's best hope on the men's or women's side of the draw. Three-time Olympian Shalane Flanagan has the field's fifth-fastest personal best over 26.2 miles at two hours, 22 minutes, two seconds. However, her time did trail four Ethiopian runners.

It'll take an amazing performance for Flanagan to win, but she should compete well.