Ten Dunkin' Shops Sit Directly Along the Boston Marathon Route

Spectators lining the Boston Marathon course on Patriots' Day will have no trouble finding a coffee. According to a count from Boston.com, which contacted the popular chain and analyzed the results, there are 10 Dunkin' locations directly on the route.

The 26.2-mile course runs from Hopkinton to Back Bay, and the shops are scattered along it like the water stations that will serve the runners. The outlet suggested, however, that few of the people picking up a large iced regular on race day will be the ones who have trained for the long run. Spectators, it noted, will surely be fueling up to take in the action.

The locations are not evenly spaced. Clusters of shops sit near the start and the end of the route, including one just a block from the finish line in the heart of Boston.

The middle of the course is much sparser. There are long stretches without a Dunkin' between Natick and Wellesley, and again between Wellesley and Brighton.

A lack of shops on the route does not mean there are none nearby. The count only includes locations that runners will actually pass.

Hopkinton shows the difference. No Dunkin' sits just beyond the famed starting line, but a shop can be found about a mile in the opposite direction down Main Street.

Framingham offers a similar example. One store is right where runners will sprint by on Waverly Street, and another is about five blocks to the north, on the edge of the city's downtown area.

Across the region, in other words, two Dunkin' shops are never far apart, and always closer to each other than the 26.2 miles of the marathon.