16 Winter Half Marathons You'll Love Running Across the U.S.A.
From the arches of Utah to the beaches of Mississippi's Gulf Coast, trail + road races you'll love running
Mississippi Gulf Coast Marathon + Half
Gulfport, Miss. | Sunday, December 14, 2025
The scent of the sea will be your constant companion at this race along the Mississippi Gulf coastline between Pass Christian and Biloxi, a fast and flat point-to-point course filled with plentiful views of the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the white sand beaches along the shoreline and gorgeous historic homes. The race starts just after sunrise, so you’ll get to see the sun come up as you make your way between the start in Gulfport and the finish line in Biloxi, passing by homes fronted by beautifully landscaped gardens just off the beach. Expect very little elevation change — from the starting line at about 12 feet above sea level, the course never rises higher than about 25 feet.
Cloudland Canyon 50-Miler, 50K, 25K + 5-Miler
Rising Fawn, Ga. | Sunday, December 7, 2025
A stunningly gorgeous run deep into one of the most beautiful places in Georgia, the 3,500-acre Cloudland Canyon State Park — home “to thousand-foot deep canyons, sandstone cliffs, wild caves, waterfalls, cascading creeks, dense woodland and abundant wildlife.” You’ll run down inside its canyons for many of your miles, passing by waterfalls as you run over hills and alongside streams throughout. As the organizers say, “we can not reiterate how beautiful this course is!”
Across the Years
Phoenix, Ariz. | December 28, 2025 - January 3, 2026
Ready to ring in the new year with… six days of running? This legendary race takes place at its new home, the Peoria Sports Complex in Phoenix, Ariz., where baseball’s San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners train in the spring. This event allows you to run as many miles as you want, at any speed you want, with a marathon challenge — run six marathons in six days — and an ultra-marathon challenge to go with it. There are also 72-hour, 48-hour, 24-hour, 12-hour and 6-hour races; and even a “Last Person Standing” event that’s exactly what it sounds like.
Christiansen Trail Run
Phoenix, Ariz. | Saturday, January 4, 2025
A gorgeous, challenging 14-mile run along the trail known as “Trail 100” in Phoenix’s North Mountain Preserve, whose desert scenery is spread out among more than 23,000 acres just north of the city’s downtown. Starting from Mountain View Park, you’ll run an out-and-back route to the turnaround point at Dreamy Draw and then head back, climbing more than 1,000 feet along the way. The preserve itself is filled with history, from centuries-old Hohokam petroglyphs to old, abandoned mines found scattered around, and as the organizers describe it, the “single track trail consists of steep climbs and descents, with rugged terrain and loose rocks along the way to challenge you.”
Newport Resolution Run & Polar Bear Plunge
Newport, Ore. | Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025
Ready for a plunge in the Pacific Ocean? You can take a dip in the (cold!) water after you cross the finish line at this race on the first Saturday of the new year, which runs through Newport’s South Beach area and features stretches through the campus of Oregon Coast Community College and past the Oregon Coast Aquarium. You’ll start this out-and-back race inside South Beach State Park and begin with a run along the jetty looking out into Yaquina Bay; about half of the race is run on paved roads, with the other half on single-track trails and some stretches of gravel road.
Bermuda Triangle Challenge Races
Hamilton, Bermuda | Sunday, January 18, 2026
The stylish storefronts of Front Street in Bermuda’s capital city start you off for this mid-winter race — at which you’re likely to feel temperatures that hover around 70 degrees — but then the course quickly moves you into neighborhoods filled with lush island trees and plants, white-colored roofs that sit atop pastel-colored homes, and the warm, friendly smiles of Bermudians camped out along the route. The marathon and half marathon races follow a single loop that starts and finishes in Hamilton, and tours the southern and northern coasts of the island; you also can run the mile challenge on Friday night and the 10K on Saturday.
Daufuskie Island Marathon & Half
Daufuskie Island, S.C. | Saturday, January 17, 2026
A magical run on an island that lies just off the coast of Hilton Head Island, S.C., accessible only by ferry and whose isolation from the mainland helped preserve its Gullah culture and language for more than a century. Most of the island remains undeveloped today, and you’ll get to see much of it along a combination of paved and unpaved road that snake along the coastline and into the island’s interior. You’ll have your choice of running 13.1 or 26.2 miles — the half marathon runs the loop route once, the full marathon twice — but this isn’t a race to run to record a fast time. You want to soak in the feel, the sights and the sounds of it all.
Carlsbad Half Marathon
Carlsbad, Calif. | Sunday, January 18, 2026
“There are plenty of rolling hills but it's one of the most beautiful courses I've ever run,” says our friend Hollie Sick, a veteran runner who’s run dozens of half marathons across the country. This race’s signature is sun and surf, with waves crashing alongside the shore for much of the course, which unfolds along the Pacific Coast Highway. “Let's face it,” Hollie adds. “The sunshine and 50-plus-degree weather [on the West Coast] is far more enticing than running through the cold, snow, ice, and who knows what on the East.”
Key West Half Marathon
Key West, Fla. | Sunday, January 18, 2026
Fast, very flat and scenic throughout, the course for the race takes participants mostly around the edge of this, the easternmost island in the Florida Keys. It’s run during Key West’s coolest month of the year, when temperatures here average between the mid-60s and the low 70s, this race starts near the island’s ferry terminal and in its first mile take runners along world-famous Duval Street. Later stretches run past Higgs Beach and the southernmost point landmark, as well as past the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum — home to perhaps the nation’s most interesting collection of six-toed cats (I’m not kidding).
Rose Bowl Half Marathon
Pasadena, Calif. | Sunday, January 18, 2026
Run along a combination of paved roads and natural trails, this race takes runners past many of Pasadena’s most famous landmarks, including the Rose Bowl stadium as well as the Devils Gate Dam, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Colorado Street Bridge. The last few miles include some of the race’s hilliest terrain, as well as ample views of the San Rafael Hills and the San Gabriel Mountains in the distance — and, when you make your way back to the Rose Bowl, you’ll enter the stadium to finish on the field, where UCLA’s Bruins play.
Arches Ultra
Moab, Utah | Saturday, January 31, 2026
Simply a stunningly beautiful run along the trails that border Arches National Park, where you’ll get to take in the area’s rising red mesas, awe-inspiring Moab cliffs and the snow-covered La Sal Mountains off in the distance. This race, which is part of a running event series known as the Triple Crown of Moab, features a 50-miler, 50K, half marathon and a 9-miler, all of which unfold between 4,000 and 5,000 feet above sea level, organizers note. “The trails are smooth and easy at points, technical slick rock at others, and there’s even some sand to shake things up.”
Death Valley Marathon + Half
Death Valley N.P., Calif. | Saturday, February 7, 2026
Run entirely along a 6.55-mile stretch of Highway 190 through the flat, desolate desert terrain of California’s Death Valley National Park, this race offers one of the most unique routes anywhere. Out-and-back and surrounded by the sandy hills and mountains for which the park is known, the race is also flat, featuring no more than 500 feet of elevation change. Famous for its low elevation (at 282 feet below sea level, it’s the lowest spot in the Western Hemisphere), the race features views of nearby mountain ranges and is run — thankfully! — at a time of the year when Death Valley experiences much cooler weather than its summer, when the park has recorded some of the hottest-ever temperatures on earth.
Seaside School Half Marathon
Seaside, Fla. | Sunday, February 16, 2025
Ever seen the Jim Carrey film The Truman Show? Then you have an idea of the kind of beautiful coastal architecture you’ll find along the route at this late winter race, which takes runners on a long out-and-back course along Highway 30A through several beach towns that stretch along Florida’s Gulf coast. The race is mostly flat and fast, and filled with ample views of the scenic Gulf waters and beaches, including Watercolor, Graytown Beach and Santa Rosa Beach.
Lost Dutchman Marathon + Half
Apache Junction, Ariz. | Sunday, February 15, 2026
A beautifully scenic and challenging race that has won raves from publications like Runner’s World in years past, this race offers a rugged desert course with mountains towering over you from all around, and a far smaller field of participants than bigger-city races, held over President’s Day weekend each year. From the starting line at Prospector Park near downtown Apache Junction, the race takes runners eastward toward the Superstition Mountains that tower over the city on its eastern side — it’s mostly uphill for the first half and mostly downhill for the second half, including the most significant hill in the final few miles of the race.
Snow Joke Half Marathon
Seeley Lake, Mont. | Saturday, February 28, 2026
The freezing, blustery, snowy weather of February each year is never enough to deter the hundreds of runners who come out each year for this race, which unfolds along a loop around the banks of Seeley Lake in westernmost Montana, about 40 miles from Missoula. Organizers say to expect icy patches along the course’s snow-plowed road, and allow a little time for the sun to come out — the race starts at 11:00 AM. Leashed dogs are welcome to participate alongside their humans, with a soup bone prize for the first dog to finish.
Myrtle Beach Marathon + Half
Myrtle Beach, S.C. | Saturday, March 7, 2026
You’ll get to run along long stretches of the white sand beach at this race, which takes place just as winter is giving way to spring here along the crown jewel of the 60-mile-long stretch of coastline known as South Carolina’s “Grand Strand.” All three races in the event — full marathon, half marathon and 5K — start and finish near the home ballpark of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans minor league baseball team, and from there unfold along long stretches on both Kings Highway and Ocean Boulevard, with the final four miles of the half marathon route featuring views of the Atlantic over your right shoulder nearly the entire way in.
