Marine Corps Marathon 2026

Sunday, 25 October 2026 · Washington, DC, United States

The 2026 race has been run. The 2027 details are not out yet.

In the RunningChecked 26 October 2026Read the sources

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Collecting your number 2026 details

Collection is inside the Health and Fitness Expo at the National Building Museum, 401 F Street NW, across the street from the F Street entrance of Judiciary Square station on the Red Line. Gallery Place-Chinatown, on the Red, Green and Yellow lines, is two blocks west. It runs from Wednesday 21 October to Saturday 24 October, 10:00 to 18:00 each day.

Your confirmation email lets you book a time to collect, which the organiser says keeps the queues down, and you can also pick an entry time at the museum. Bring your e-Card and photo ID. Everyone is screened on the way into the museum. Someone else can collect for you with your completed e-Card, a copy of your photo ID and their own ID, and a parent can collect for a child under 18. There is no collection on race morning unless you bought the Race Day Packet Pick-Up, in which case the organiser contacts you.

The clear plastic bag you get at collection is your gear bag. Stick the label from the back of your bib onto it.

Race morning 2026 details

Runner's Village is in the North Pentagon parking lot, reached from Pentagon and Pentagon City stations on the Blue and Yellow lines, which the organiser says runners should use. The organiser does not publish when the village opens or when Metro starts running on race morning, so check WMATA's trip planner for the first trains. Every runner and spectator is screened on arrival at the start and the finish.

Drop your labelled clear bag at the UPS truck for your event and bib number. Wheelchairs start at 7:05, duos at 7:07 and all runners at 7:20 Eastern time. There is a water point at the Runner's Village information tent before the start.

The course 2026 details

The organiser describes the route as starting between the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery, running through Rosslyn and over into Georgetown, along Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, round Hains Point, and up the National Mall past the Capitol. It then crosses the 14th Street Bridge back to Arlington, passes the Pentagon, runs through Crystal City and climbs to the Marine Corps War Memorial. The certified map on the course page is labelled 2025.

The three gauntlets close at these times. The DC Gauntlet on Independence Avenue closes at 12:33, and runners not through are sent along 14th Street. Beat the Bridge, at 14th and D Streets just before the 14th Street Bridge at mile 20, closes at 13:15. The Crystal City gauntlet, where 12th Street South becomes Crystal Drive, closes at 13:49. Runners diverted at a gauntlet can keep going, but do not finish the full distance and are not official finishers.

There are 12 water points. The first is on Lee Highway between Wayne and Adams Streets, and the last at the Lady Bird Johnson parking area on Boundary Channel Drive. Every one has Nuun Endurance in lemon-lime. There is a self-serve, cupless water station on the 14th Street Bridge and another water point on Crystal Drive near Crystal City station. UnTapped gels in maple, coffee and salted cinnamon spice are handed out on Hains Point approaching mile 14, after the Capitol between miles 18 and 19, and at Long Bridge Park approaching mile 24. Ten medical aid stations sit along the route, from Georgetown to Long Bridge in Crystal City.

Entering 2026 details

On 13 October 2026 the race page still showed registration as open, at the standard rate of $240. Places bought for 2026 cannot be deferred or transferred. Deferrals from 2025 are honoured. The course is USATF certified, so a finish time counts towards qualifying for Boston.

Getting to Washington, DC 2026 details

All three airports work. Reagan National is on the Blue and Yellow lines, which also serve the Pentagon stations for the start. Dulles is on the Silver Line. BWI has no Metro. From there, WMATA's routes are MARC or Amtrak to Union Station on the Red Line, or to New Carrollton on the Orange and Silver lines. Union Station is the arrival for trains from New York, Philadelphia and Boston, and Judiciary Square, for collection, is the next stop on the Red Line.

Where to stay in Washington, DC

Two journeys matter. The start is at the Pentagon on the Blue and Yellow lines, and the finish is in Rosslyn on the Blue, Orange and Silver lines, so a room near a Blue Line station covers both with no change. Collection is at Judiciary Square on the Red Line, a short ride from any downtown hotel.

Weather in Washington, DC in late October

The race is held in the last week of October. No race was held in person in 2020 or 2021, so these are the last five completed race days, at the North Pentagon start, at 7:00 and at 13:00. The hour is the one the marathon starts in. They are model estimates for the start area, not readings from a weather station.

The race has started near 5 °C and near 18 °C, so check the forecast in race week. 2023 reached 24.3 °C by 13:00, when slower runners are still on the Mall.

Afterwards 2026 details

The finish is at the Marine Corps War Memorial, up a short final climb. The Finish Festival is in Rosslyn at Wilson Boulevard and North Lynn Street, where you collect your gear bag from the UPS trucks and meet family. The medical information tent is at Lynn Street and Fairfax Drive, and bottled water and Nuun are handed out in the hospitality area. Rosslyn station, on the Blue, Orange and Silver lines, is at the festival's edge on North Moore Street.

Other race weekends

Close by, and with guides of their own, are Baltimore Marathon.

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Sources

Written from the organiser's published information and the app's own race data, checked on 26 October 2026.

If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us.