RunRace USA › Texas › Austin Marathon
The complete, course-first guide
Austin Marathon
Sunday, February 14, 2027 · Wave schedule — see logistics
2nd Street and Congress Avenue, downtown Austin (finish at 9th and Congress)
The race in 60 seconds
First run in 1992, Austin Marathon has had time to become part of the city's running calendar. The route forms an open loop, finishing in the same part of the city without returning to the exact start point. The modeled line carries about 1162 feet of total climb and ranges from roughly 432 to 683 feet above sea level. The elevation profile calls out Enfield Hill so the defining work is visible before race morning. Look for The Austonian, Frost Bank Tower, Block 185 (Google Sail Tower), The Independent in the flyover, with recognizable forms modeled from architectural records.
Fly the course
The whole course, built from the best available published route trace and an extruded model of Austin. Scrub it, change the camera, or let it play. Nothing here is a video: it is drawing the city live.
Route statusOrganizer-linked course file. Official Marathon GPX linked from youraustinmarathon.com/course/ (the 'GPX' button in the Marathon downloads section, sharing link drive.google.com/file/d/1ji2IUQm3PCRdLSeP8pBXCWvEM0zDYoyb/view). Downloaded no-login via drive.usercontent.google.com: 531 trkpts, 42.39 km / 26.34 mi, start 30.26417,-97.74423 (Congress & 2nd), end 30.27122,-97.74158 (Congress & 9th). Geometry is identical to the official My Maps 'Austin Marathon Course' line.
The route line uses the best published course trace available. Public-domain USGS and USDA aerial photography plus USGS 3DEP elevation are baked into RunRace USA, so the flyover makes no paid map API or third-party runtime requests. Buildings, roads, parks and water use OpenStreetMap, ODbL. This is photographic terrain with modeled architecture, not photogrammetry. Bridge approaches, elevations and facade details are approximations; the organizer's published route remains the reference.
The elevation profile
This Marathon profile covers 26.2 miles, ranges from roughly 432 to 683 feet, and contains about 1162 feet of modeled climb.
- , mile 0.3 to 3.51: 243 feet up, 1.4% average.
- , mile 7.58 to 10.31: 144 feet up, 1.0% average.
- Enfield Hill, mile 25.31 to 25.97: 70 feet up, the marathon's signature climb, a rolling ascent up Enfield through Clarksville and Tarrytown.
- , mile 17.49 to 18.12: 68 feet up, 2.0% average.
- , mile 11.01 to 11.59: 44 feet up, 1.4% average.
- , mile 24.23 to 25.09: 37 feet up, 0.8% average.
The route at a glance
Gold is the selected modeled course; route provenance is stated beside the flyover.
Race-week weather, measured
At the start line, February 10-18 averaged a low of 43°F and a high of 63°F across 2016-2025. The same window reached 85°F at its warmest and 4°F at its coldest. Measurable rain appeared on about 29% of sampled days. Treat the range, not just the average, as the packing list.
Pace it by effort
The profile and grade strip come from the same route currently loaded in the flyover. Use even pace as a baseline, then protect effort on the highlighted climbs and exposed sections.
| Finish | Even pace | Halfway |
|---|---|---|
| 3:00 | 6:52 /mi | 1:30 |
| 3:30 | 8:01 /mi | 1:45 |
| 4:00 | 9:09 /mi | 2:00 |
| 4:30 | 10:18 /mi | 2:15 |
| 5:00 | 11:27 /mi | 2:30 |
| Published course limit, 7:00 | 16:01 /mi | 3:30 |
Build your race weekend
The course
Live 3D flyover, synchronized elevation, route map, mile-by-mile shape and local landmarks.
Where to stay
52 mapped places to stay, compared by the endpoint that matters.
Expo and logistics
Packet pickup, the published weekend schedule, transit, parking and current entry tiers.
Spectators
Route-aware viewing anchors and a plan that respects the actual course geography.
The weekend
A city guide built around the places modeled beside the course.
Official race site
The organizer's current dates, entry details and late course notices.
Common questions
Is there a lottery or a qualifying time to get into the Austin Marathon?
No. Entry is sold directly through EventDog on a first-come basis, so there is no lottery drawing and no qualifying standard to meet. As of late August 2026 a standard marathon entry for the February 14, 2027 race was $179, with a refundable version at $224 and an optional $45 cancellation-protection add-on. The practical constraint is price and capacity over time, not selection.
How do corrals get assigned, and can I move up?
Your wave comes from four things: the distance you signed up for, the estimated pace you typed in at registration, the date you registered, and how much room is left in each wave for your distance. You may drop back to a later wave to run with a friend, but you cannot move forward into an earlier one. That makes the estimated pace box at sign-up a decision with consequences, not a throwaway field.
What is the deal with the 10:35 a.m. cutoff at mile 12.3?
This is the one that catches first-timers. The official start waves page states that all marathon participants must start in corral A, B, C or D, or they risk missing the 10:35 a.m. cutoff at mile 12.3, where the marathon and half marathon courses split. If you are in a later wave and running a marathon, that intermediate cutoff, not the finish-line limit, is the clock you are actually racing.
What is the overall time limit?
The published requirement is a 16 minute per mile pace for the marathon, described as a seven-hour limit, with the course closing at 2:18 p.m. Note that the race's own numbers do not quite line up: seven hours from a 7:00 a.m. gun would be 2:00 p.m., not 2:18 p.m. Treat 16 min/mi from your own wave start as the real standard and do not plan to use the extra 18 minutes.
When do the waves actually start, and what if I miss mine?
Corral pre-load opens at 6:00 a.m. Waves A through D go with or just behind the 7:00 a.m. official start, and waves E onward release on a rolling basis beginning at 7:09 a.m. with eight minutes between each. The race asks you to be in position five minutes before your listed time. Show up late and you drop into a later wave, which for a marathoner pushes you closer to that mile 12.3 cutoff.
Can I pick up my bib on race morning?
No. Packet pickup happens only at the expo at the Palmer Event Center, and everything must be collected by 6 p.m. on Saturday. There is no race-morning pickup of any kind. If you cannot get there yourself, someone else can collect your packet with a signed authorization form from you.
Where is gear check and what bag can I use?
Gear check opens at 5:30 a.m. race morning at 7th Street and Colorado, and it is free. Only the clear plastic bag the race provides is accepted, so a backpack or your own duffel will be turned away. Write your bib number on the bag as large and as legibly as you can, and leave anything you would hate to lose in your hotel room, because the race does not accept responsibility for lost items.
Can I defer to next year if I get hurt?
No. The race states plainly that deferrals to a future year are not offered. What you can do through EventDog is change your distance or move to the virtual event. If you want financial protection against a scratched race, you have to buy it at registration, either as the refundable entry or as the separate cancellation-protection add-on, because neither can be bought after the fact.
Am I allowed to wear headphones?
Yes for amateur runners, with the condition that the volume stays low enough that you can still hear traffic, other runners and course marshals. Austin runs on open city streets with a rolling closure, so this is a functional request rather than a formality.
Can I bring my dog or push a stroller?
Pets are not permitted at any distance. Strollers are allowed in the 5K only, so you cannot push a child through the half or the full. Plan childcare or a spectator handoff around that.
What should I actually expect from the hills?
The 2026 edition was described by event organizers as roughly 1,015 feet of climb and one of the tougher urban marathon courses in the country. Reading the course file, the damage is front-loaded: about 243 feet of gain between miles 0.3 and 3.5, then another 144 feet from mile 7.6 to 10.3. The sting is at the end, with roughly 70 feet of climb from mile 25.3 to 26.0 up Enfield Hill, right where you have nothing left. Going out hard on the downhill first mile is the classic Austin mistake.
How much support is on the marathon course?
There are 22 aid stations on the marathon route carrying water, electrolyte drink, medical support and restrooms, positioned at miles 1, 3, 5 and then roughly every mile from 7 through 25. Two gel zones sit near miles 9 and 20 (the course page gives them as 9.5 and 19.5). Official pace groups run the full marathon. The half marathon gets nine aid stations and a single gel zone.
What is the weather usually like on race morning?
Austin's February normals, measured at Camp Mabry over 1991 to 2020, run to an average high near 63F and an average low near 42F, so a 7 a.m. start is typically in the 40s and warming through the morning. February in Austin also swings hard: freezing nights happen about twice a month on average, and the same month averages a dozen days that reach the 70s. Bring throwaway layers for the corral and dress for the finish, not the start.
The start and finish are close together, so how early should I really arrive?
Start at 2nd and Congress and finish at 9th and Congress, seven blocks apart, which is unusually convenient. Even so, gear check opens at 5:30 a.m. and corrals pre-load at 6:00 a.m., and the guidance is to be near your wave about 30 to 45 minutes before your start. With downtown hotels a one to four minute walk from the line, the cost of being early here is very low and the cost of being late, for a marathoner, is the mile 12.3 cutoff.
Register for the 2027 Austin Marathon →on EventDog
Course geometry provenance is stated beside the player; elevation profiles always use the same route loaded there. City geometry is OpenStreetMap, ODbL. Aerial imagery is from USGS and USDA; other images carry their own source credits. Weather figures use Open-Meteo reanalysis for February 10-18 across 2016-2025 at the start line. Schedule, prices and expo hours were checked in 2026-08-26 and are the fields most likely to move: confirm them on youraustinmarathon.com before you book anything. Spot an error? Tell us and we'll fix it fast.