Coast Guard Marathon

Coast Guard Marathon runs over two days in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, on April 3–4, 2027. Saturday holds the 5K at 8:00 a.m. and a 1K kids' fun run at 9:30 a.m.; Sunday brings the marathon (26.2 miles) and the half marathon (13.1 miles) at 7:30 a.m., along with the Semper Paratus Challenge entries that add the 5K to one of Sunday's longer races. It is set in a port city shaped by the U.S. Coast Guard presence in the Albemarle region.

Everything is on the road, and the spread of distances means a family can race the same weekend at very different levels. A first marathon here calls for a 16- to 20-week build with a weekly long run out to 20 miles; the half works off much the same structure at roughly half the volume. If you take a challenge entry, run Saturday's 5K as a shakeout rather than a race.