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Watch the actual route
Where to watch
A course-aware spectator plan for Arlington.
Read the geography first
The course returns toward its starting district. Use the map to choose a fixed anchor and the finish, and never build a plan that requires crossing the live route.
Gold is the selected modeled course; route provenance is stated beside the flyover.
Landmarks that make useful anchors
Central Place Tower
Course mile 1.3
A fixed landmark in the 3D model and a practical orientation point. Confirm the accessible side of the course after closures are posted.
Watergate Complex
Course mile 9.7
A fixed landmark in the 3D model and a practical orientation point. Confirm the accessible side of the course after closures are posted.
Washington Monument
Course mile 17.0
A fixed landmark in the 3D model and a practical orientation point. Confirm the accessible side of the course after closures are posted.
Moving around race morning
Metro is the answer to nearly every MCM transport question, and MCM has arranged for it to open at 5:00 a.m. on race morning, early enough to get you from any sensible base to Runners Village well before the 7:20 a.m. start. Two details catch people out. First, the station that sounds perfect for the start, Arlington Cemetery, does not open until 8:30 a.m. on event morning: it is a spectator station for mile 25, not a runner station. Use Pentagon or Pentagon City instead. Second, the whole start and finish corridor closes in the small hours, roughly 3:00 to 3:30 a.m. from Rosslyn down past the Pentagon, so any plan involving a car after about 3 a.m. is already dead.
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 October 21-29 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 www.marinemarathon.com/event/marine-corps-marathon before you book anything. Spot an error? Tell us and we'll fix it fast.