Grand Rapids Marathon

09/28/2026

Look who’s coming to run Grand Rapids next month. 👀

Michigan will always be home to many of us, but we’ve got runners headed our way from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, Texas, Florida, California, Georgia, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and Colorado.

And those are just some of the places represented at this year’s Grand Rapids Marathon. One of our favorite parts of race weekend is watching all of these roads eventually lead to the same starting line!

Where are YOU coming from?

Drop your city and state in the comments. Let’s see how far this thing reaches.

To register: https://runsignup.com/Race/MI/GrandRapids/GRMarathon

09/27/2026

We owe a HUGE SHOUTOUT to everyone who completed their longest training runs, or competed locally in the SHE RUNS Grand Rapids events!

You have THREE full weeks to recover, recalibrate and show up on October 18th, to the compete in either the 5k, 10k, Half or Full Marathon, or Marathon Relay!

Use the link below and let's keep adding to the BLING:

https://runsignup.com/Race/MI/GrandRapids/GRMarathon

09/25/2026

We thought the official shirt reveal deserved something a little more elaborate.

Is this actually Marathon Don modeling the shirt? No.

Is it AI? Absolutely.

But the shirt is real and this is how it will look. And it really is red.

We’ve been at this for a while, which means there are a LOT of Grand Rapids Marathon shirts out there! Who remembers another red one? Dig through the drawer, find it and drop a photo in the comments. We’d love to see how far back we can go.

And here it is, your 2026 Grand Rapids Marathon shirt.

Get one with your registration: https://runsignup.com/Race/MI/GrandRapids/GRMarathon

09/24/2026

One of our own, Dr. Rick, is on his way to Berlin to run his 85th World Marathon Major. The people behind the Grand Rapids Marathon don't just put on marathons. They run them, too.

On October 18, Marathon Don will be standing where he always is, at the finish line. And throughout the day, he'll watch thousands of you come toward him after months of early mornings, long runs, good days, bad days and all the stuff it took to get there.

We're getting close, so register today: https://runsignup.com/Race/MI/GrandRapids/GRMarathon

Read this week's Marathon News from Grand Rapids.
https://tinyurl.com/yk7sab28

SIGN UP HERE: https://runsignup.com/Race/MI/GrandRapids/GRMarathon

09/23/2026

Running is better with people.

We talk a lot about the “wealth of running,” and so much of that wealth is the people you meet along the way.

Lucky for us, Grand Rapids has no shortage of places to find them.

We pulled together a few of the local group runs happening throughout the week. Whether you're training for October 18, getting ready for another fall race, or just looking for somebody to run a few miles with, there’s probably a group here for you.
Save this one. Share it with a runner who needs some running people.

09/22/2026

Interested in running 10 or 20 miles with 400–500 of your closest friends?

Join us THIS Saturday, September 26 for our FREE 10/20 Mile Training Run. The run will depart at 7:30am

Together with Team World Vision USA, Hope Water International and RunGR, we’ll get you out onto Kent Trails with aid stations, a few bathrooms along the way, and plenty of people putting in the miles right alongside you.

We know those big training days can feel a whole lot bigger when you’re doing them alone. So don’t.

Come run with us. Get your miles in. Practice your race-day fueling. And let us help you through one of the biggest training runs on the way to race day.

Use this link for FREE registration: https://runsignup.com/Race/MI/GrandRapids/1020MileTrainingRun

It’s free and open to everyone. See you Saturday morning!

09/21/2026

27 DAYS.

Okay, now it’s getting real.

Four weeks from yesterday, we’ll be standing at the start of the University of Michigan Health-West Grand Rapids Marathon.

Some of you have been training for months and some are coming back for another year. Some are about to run their first and are probably bouncing back and forth between I am ready for this and what have I gotten myself into?

More than 30 years ago, Marathon Don was stashing water bottles along the back roads outside Martin, Michigan, training for his first marathon and figuring things out as he went. He says that first marathon changed his life.

If Grand Rapids is on your fall calendar, it’s time to lock in.

09/17/2026

On to the big show.

More than 30 years ago, Marathon Don was training for his first marathon on the back roads around Martin, Michigan. He’d stash water bottles a mile from home so he couldn’t conveniently quit, run four-mile loops, wrestle with frozen PowerBars and slowly figure out something that has stuck with him ever since:

“If you can run 26.2 miles, you can do ANYTHING.”

This week he shares a note from a runner who chose Grand Rapids for his first marathon. At mile 24, when he wasn’t sure he could keep going, a little girl along the course looked at him and said, “You’re going to make it.”

He did.

And when he crossed the finish line, he could finally say something nobody could ever take away from him:

“I AM A MARATHONER.”

First marathon or 100th, Don still believes there’s something pretty magical about 26.2.

We’re getting close.

Read this week’s Marathon News from Grand Rapids.

Email from Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon Marathon News From Grand Rapids 17 September 2026 31 August 2023 Marathon News from Grand Rapids 17 September 2026 View as Webpage Now--On To The Big Sho

09/16/2026

Join Don and Ben, tonight at the Muskegon Run Club’s “Race Director” night, where we’ll be talking about the race and offering registration discounts!