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The Seattle Marathon Isn't in September. Two Race-Finder Sites Say It Is.

RunGuides and RaceRaves list the Seattle Marathon on September 19-20. The race's own site says November 29. Here is the real date, the real price, and what actually runs on the weekend the aggregators picked.

<h2>A Two-Month Gap Between the Listings and the Race</h2> <p>RunGuides and RaceRaves both list the Seattle Marathon on September 19-20, 2026. The race&#x27;s own site lists November 29. That is a two-month gap between two widely circulated race-finder listings and the event they are listing. Aggregators pull dates at scale and republish them, which makes them useful right up until they are wrong. This one costs something, because the September weekend they point to is already occupied. Three organized races run in the Puget Sound region that weekend, and none of them is the Seattle Marathon.</p> <h2>The Date and the Course</h2> <p>The UW Medicine Seattle Marathon and Half Marathon runs Sunday, November 29, 2026, a date seattlemarathon.org displays without qualification. The course begins at Seattle Center, at 5th and Harrison, and ends at Bell Harbor on Pier 66. A separate Kids Marathon runs the day before, on Saturday, November 28, with its own start and its own finish line.</p> <h2>Registration, Price, and a One-Day Gap</h2> <p>Registration opened April 1 and runs through Race Roster, the race&#x27;s official platform, which lists a window closing October 11, 2026. The marathon costs $187.49 and the half costs $155.17, and both figures match across the race site and the registration platform. The price-increase date does not match. Seattlemarathon.org says rates rise October 12. Race Roster&#x27;s window closes a day earlier, on October 11. Both pages were checked on August 24, 2026, and neither has been reconciled against the other, which leaves a one-day ambiguity sitting in the middle of the most expensive decision a registrant makes. Anyone planning to register at the lower rate should work from the earlier of the two dates.</p> <h2>The Weekend the Aggregators Picked</h2> <p>September 19-20 belongs to other people. The Brooks Orca Half Marathon runs from Lincoln Park to the Don Armeni Boat Launch in West Seattle, letting runners choose Saturday or Sunday, at $106 for the half and $91 for an accompanying 8-miler. As of August 24 its Saturday half showed nine spots remaining on RunSignup, and the combined Blowhole Challenge, at $183, showed six. The Fall Mud Mountain Dam Marathon and Half runs that same Saturday out past Enumclaw and Orting, a net-downhill Boston qualifier finishing at the historic McMillin Bridge, priced at $125 and $115 with an increase landing after August 31 at 11:59pm Pacific. The Seattle Spartan Race takes the full weekend at Meadow Wood Equestrian Center in Monroe, running a 5K sprint from $129, a 10K super from $155, and a 21K beast from $195. Only the Orca Half is inside Seattle proper. The other two sit well outside the city, in Pierce and Snohomish counties, which is worth knowing before building a weekend around either.</p> <h2>Where the Marathon Actually Sits</h2> <p>The regional fall road calendar fills in early and empties out by Halloween. Cascade Express opens the stretch on September 12 in North Bend, running net downhill through the Snoqualmie Tunnel at $171 for the marathon and $141 for the half, with its own increase after September 11. Bellingham Bay follows on September 20 from the Bellingham Cruise Terminal, currently in a $140 marathon and $115 half tier. The Snohomish River Run lands October 11 in downtown Snohomish, sending the marathon off at 7:30am and the half at 8:00am. By late November all of them are finished and scored. The Seattle Marathon closes the season rather than competing inside it, a scheduling position the September listing quietly erases.</p> <h2>What Else Is Running in November</h2> <p>Late November is thinner on roads and heavier on trails and turkey trots. Carkeek Cooler runs a 5K and 10K at Carkeek Park on November 7 at $40 and $47, the same Saturday Grand Ridge Trail Run sends four distances out of Issaquah from $45 to $120. Deception Pass Fall takes November 7 and 8 in Oak Harbor, with a 50K and marathon Saturday at $175 and $160 and a 25K Sunday at $145. Kirkland Turkey Trot runs November 15 at Juanita Beach Park, and Ravenna Refresher covers 4K, 8K and 12K at Ravenna Park on the 21st. Thanksgiving itself, November 26, carries four separate turkey trots across Magnuson Park, Tacoma&#x27;s Proctor District, Woodinville and Maple Valley. The Seattle Marathon lands three days after all of them.</p> <h2>What the Search Data Shows</h2> <p>Google Trends measures relative interest across the Seattle-Tacoma metro on a 0-to-100 scale. It does not publish absolute search volume by metro, and nothing below should be read as a count of searches. On that scale, the term seattle marathon has climbed from a flat zero average to roughly 22 over the trailing 90 days, including five consecutive recent readings of 16, 20, 24, 28, and 25. Two summer outdoor terms moved the other way over the same window and in the same metro: hiking near Seattle fell from a June peak near 59 to about 2, and kayaking Seattle from 48 to roughly 2.5. Interest in the race is building while those two decline, three months ahead of a date that two race-finder sites still have wrong.</p> <p><em>Photo: Seattle Marathon.</em></p>

A Two-Month Gap Between the Listings and the Race

RunGuides and RaceRaves both list the Seattle Marathon on September 19-20, 2026. The race's own site lists November 29. That is a two-month gap between two widely circulated race-finder listings and the event they are listing. Aggregators pull dates at scale and republish them, which makes them useful right up until they are wrong. This one costs something, because the September weekend they point to is already occupied. Three organized races run in the Puget Sound region that weekend, and none of them is the Seattle Marathon.

The Date and the Course

The UW Medicine Seattle Marathon and Half Marathon runs Sunday, November 29, 2026, a date seattlemarathon.org displays without qualification. The course begins at Seattle Center, at 5th and Harrison, and ends at Bell Harbor on Pier 66. A separate Kids Marathon runs the day before, on Saturday, November 28, with its own start and its own finish line.

Registration, Price, and a One-Day Gap

Registration opened April 1 and runs through Race Roster, the race's official platform, which lists a window closing October 11, 2026. The marathon costs $187.49 and the half costs $155.17, and both figures match across the race site and the registration platform. The price-increase date does not match. Seattlemarathon.org says rates rise October 12. Race Roster's window closes a day earlier, on October 11. Both pages were checked on August 24, 2026, and neither has been reconciled against the other, which leaves a one-day ambiguity sitting in the middle of the most expensive decision a registrant makes. Anyone planning to register at the lower rate should work from the earlier of the two dates.

The Weekend the Aggregators Picked

September 19-20 belongs to other people. The Brooks Orca Half Marathon runs from Lincoln Park to the Don Armeni Boat Launch in West Seattle, letting runners choose Saturday or Sunday, at $106 for the half and $91 for an accompanying 8-miler. As of August 24 its Saturday half showed nine spots remaining on RunSignup, and the combined Blowhole Challenge, at $183, showed six. The Fall Mud Mountain Dam Marathon and Half runs that same Saturday out past Enumclaw and Orting, a net-downhill Boston qualifier finishing at the historic McMillin Bridge, priced at $125 and $115 with an increase landing after August 31 at 11:59pm Pacific. The Seattle Spartan Race takes the full weekend at Meadow Wood Equestrian Center in Monroe, running a 5K sprint from $129, a 10K super from $155, and a 21K beast from $195. Only the Orca Half is inside Seattle proper. The other two sit well outside the city, in Pierce and Snohomish counties, which is worth knowing before building a weekend around either.

Where the Marathon Actually Sits

The regional fall road calendar fills in early and empties out by Halloween. Cascade Express opens the stretch on September 12 in North Bend, running net downhill through the Snoqualmie Tunnel at $171 for the marathon and $141 for the half, with its own increase after September 11. Bellingham Bay follows on September 20 from the Bellingham Cruise Terminal, currently in a $140 marathon and $115 half tier. The Snohomish River Run lands October 11 in downtown Snohomish, sending the marathon off at 7:30am and the half at 8:00am. By late November all of them are finished and scored. The Seattle Marathon closes the season rather than competing inside it, a scheduling position the September listing quietly erases.

What Else Is Running in November

Late November is thinner on roads and heavier on trails and turkey trots. Carkeek Cooler runs a 5K and 10K at Carkeek Park on November 7 at $40 and $47, the same Saturday Grand Ridge Trail Run sends four distances out of Issaquah from $45 to $120. Deception Pass Fall takes November 7 and 8 in Oak Harbor, with a 50K and marathon Saturday at $175 and $160 and a 25K Sunday at $145. Kirkland Turkey Trot runs November 15 at Juanita Beach Park, and Ravenna Refresher covers 4K, 8K and 12K at Ravenna Park on the 21st. Thanksgiving itself, November 26, carries four separate turkey trots across Magnuson Park, Tacoma's Proctor District, Woodinville and Maple Valley. The Seattle Marathon lands three days after all of them.

What the Search Data Shows

Google Trends measures relative interest across the Seattle-Tacoma metro on a 0-to-100 scale. It does not publish absolute search volume by metro, and nothing below should be read as a count of searches. On that scale, the term seattle marathon has climbed from a flat zero average to roughly 22 over the trailing 90 days, including five consecutive recent readings of 16, 20, 24, 28, and 25. Two summer outdoor terms moved the other way over the same window and in the same metro: hiking near Seattle fell from a June peak near 59 to about 2, and kayaking Seattle from 48 to roughly 2.5. Interest in the race is building while those two decline, three months ahead of a date that two race-finder sites still have wrong.

Photo: Seattle Marathon.

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