On Sunday morning at 5:30 a.m., under a sky that is usually still dark, more than 28,000 people will set off from Shoreline Drive and run 26.2 miles through Long Beach. It is the largest field in the race's history, and every distance sold out months ago. For a city that has hosted this ritual since the early 1980s, the 42nd annual 2XU Long Beach Marathon is both a familiar civic tradition and, this year, an unprecedented one.
The weekend actually begins Friday, when the Health and Wellness Expo opens in Hall C of the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center at 400 E. Seaside Way. The expo runs 1 to 7 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, and it is free and open to the public — no bib required. Runners must pick up their packets there, but anyone can wander the interactive exhibits and live entertainment. Saturday morning brings the Aquarium of the Pacific 5K, which starts at 6:50 a.m. at 100 Aquarium Way and, as the name suggests, sends participants through Southern California's largest aquarium. Then Sunday belongs to the main events: the full marathon at 5:30 a.m. and the half marathon at 6:30 a.m., both starting at Shoreline Drive and Shoreline Village Drive. The finish-line festival, with a Michelob Ultra Beer Garden, food trucks and photo ops, takes over Marina Green from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The course is the reason many runners keep coming back. It passes the Queen Mary, traces the Pacific Ocean shoreline, and threads through Belmont Shore, Marine Stadium and the Cal State Long Beach campus before returning downtown to finish on Shoreline Drive. It is USATF-certified and serves as an official Boston Marathon qualifier. The layout is net-flat, with roughly 470 feet of total elevation gain across the 26.2 miles.
The stretch through Cal State Long Beach has its own history. For years the marathon skirted the campus, leaving runners to grind through what organizers once described as a lonely stretch on Studebaker Road during miles 16, 17 and 18. In 2008, race organizers worked with university leadership to change that, rerouting the full marathon directly through campus. The university promised cheerleaders, a pep band and its mascot, Prospector Pete, at the campus entrance, with student groups lining the course and prizes going to the most spirited.
That kind of local buy-in is the through-line of this race. Its origins trace to the late 1970s running boom, when a group of Long Beach YMCA members traveled around the country knocking off marathons and began asking why their own city didn't have one. "We should have one in our city," former race director Joe Carlson recalled. Carlson, who has lived all 73 years of his life in Long Beach, led the race for nine years, from 1984 through 1992. The first Long Beach Marathon was held in 1982, and about 1,600 runners showed up. "Long Beach is a great city, and running is a part of it," Carlson said. "There's a rich history here."
Carlson also remembers the race's rougher chapters. There was the year Long Beach negotiated an airline sponsor and hosted the Pacific Rim Marathon Championship, drawing runners from Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia — and the first edition of that championship greeted them with an apocalyptic wind that sent tents and mile-marker signs tumbling. Then there was the year the race moved from February to May, which Carlson believes was 1986, when race-day temperatures climbed toward triple digits.
What began as a grassroots effort has become one of the city's largest annual gatherings. The marathon is now organized by Motiv Sports, which has built it into a draw for repeat runners well beyond Southern California. The race is one leg of the Beach Cities Challenge, a trilogy that also includes the Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach and the OC Marathon. Finish all three — marathon or half marathon distance, in consecutive order — and you earn a trilogy medal. The races don't have to fall in the same calendar year; a runner could start at Long Beach in 2025, continue at Surf City and the OC Marathon in 2026, and collect the medal at the OC Marathon. There is also a Golden State Challenge medal for completing any four of nine designated California races in a calendar year, virtual completions included.
Last year's race offered a reminder of how local the podium can be. Paige Moore, a 24-year-old from nearby Palos Verdes who had graduated from Peninsula High and run collegiately at Cal Poly Pomona, won the 41st Long Beach Marathon in her first-ever marathon, finishing in 2 hours, 55 minutes, 13 seconds — more than a minute ahead of runner-up Selena Gallardo Dominguez. "I never expected this to happen," Moore said. "I was never the fastest, but hard work makes anything possible." Esteban Prado won the men's marathon in 2:26:32, and Jaquavious Harris took the half marathon title.
The race's footprint extends well past the finish line. In September, Motiv Sports announced a three-year partnership naming Long Beach-based Hight Logistics the event's Official Sustainable Transportation Partner through 2028. Hight, founded in 2011, services the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and operates a zero-emission freight program that has surpassed 2 million EV miles over four years, backed by in-yard charging and a fleet of 26 electric trucks. During race weekend the company will park a branded Class 8 electric truck near the finish line on Shoreline Drive, and it plans to add 25 Tesla Class 8 semis next year. "The marathon is powered by organizations throughout this community," said Phyllis Blanchard, Motiv Sports' vice president of commercial partnerships. The Long Beach Airport has also maintained a multi-year sponsorship, courting out-of-state runners with direct flights while highlighting the airport's $8.6 billion regional economic impact and roughly 46,000 supported jobs.
The marathon is one of several major annual events, alongside the IndyCar Grand Prix, that together draw more than 230,000 visitors and generate an estimated $64 million in annual economic impact for Long Beach. Motiv Sports also partners with the American Cancer Society on the race, with plans to raise $150,000 for the organization this year; the marathon raises money for dozens of charities and nonprofits overall.
For spectators, the event is free — anyone can line the streets or walk into the expo without a ticket. But the city's logistics are formidable. Eastbound Shoreline Drive closes from Shoreline Village Drive to Ocean Boulevard at 7 a.m. Saturday, and westbound Shoreline Drive closes from Ocean Boulevard to Shoreline Village Drive at midnight Sunday. Most other streets and intersections along the course close at 5 a.m. Sunday, with all roads expected to reopen by 2 p.m. No-parking signs will be posted along the route, and vehicles that violate them will be ticketed and towed at the owner's expense to a lot at 3111 E. Willow St. Free overnight parking from Saturday into Sunday is available for Belmont Shore, Peninsula and Naples residents in beach lots along Ocean Boulevard. Boat owners can still reach Marina Green on Saturday via Shoreline Village Drive; on Sunday they can park at the Long Beach Convention Center via Pine Avenue.
This year's theme is "Long Beach Runs Deep" — a phrase that, given the race's history, reads less like a slogan than a description. A marathon conceived by a handful of YMCA runners who wanted a race of their own has become a sold-out, citywide spectacle that closes streets, fills hotel rooms and sends tens of thousands of people past the Queen Mary and down the Pacific coast. The 28,000 runners on Sunday are the latest chapter in a story Long Beach has been writing since 1982.