Marine Corps Marathon Announces New 8K Race, Moving Expo to National Building Museum for 2026

The 51st Marine Corps Marathon Weekend is getting a new race, a new expo venue, and a larger field. Race director Alex Hetherington announced the changes in a Facebook livestream today ahead of the October 24-25 event.

The race expo is moving from the Gaylord National Harbor to the National Building Museum, and it's expanding to four days. That puts it in the same venue as the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler expo, which should be a familiar and more convenient location for most DC-area runners.

The field is growing, too. Registration capacity is expanding to 40,000 entrants, up from prior years.

The weekend schedule is changing. The 10K is gone. In its place, a road 8K the morning before the marathon in West Potomac Park, with the course still being finalized. The 50K, which was first held in 2019 and was last run in 2024, is not returning this year, though Hetherington said the race organization is still hoping to bring something back in that space eventually.

Registration is now available for the MCM weekend races here.