Fort Worth Marathon 2025

This is a hometown race for me. The Fort Worth Marathon is run mostly on the Trinity Trail in Fort Worth, Texas. It is usually around the beginning of November and still within the qualification period for the next year’s Chicago Marathon.

Weather/Course

This time of year the weather in Fort Worth is unpredictable. You can usually count on it to be fairly warm. We got lucky this year that it cooled off some on race day and was fairly pleasant. It was in the 90’s the week leading up to the race, but luckily a “cold front” came in the evening before, and temperatures dropped into the mid-high 50’s at the start. It was also incredible windy (hence the cooler temps), but I will always choose cooler temps and wind over heat. Most of the course is fairly exposed, but the wind didn’t bother me too much until miles 21-24 when it was almost a straight, unrelenting head wind. My husband gave me an ice bandana early in the race which was enough to keep me from getting too warm in the sun. Overall the weather was better than I anticipated but still not “perfect”. I figure I maybe lost 1-2 minutes to wind.

The course is mostly on a paved trail system following along the Trinity River. Not the most scenic race, not the least scenic. You do have to cross the river 3x along the course which seems unnecessary and adds more elevation. The water crossings are short but very steep. I wouldn’t consider this course super flat like it is advertised. The miles that aren’t on the trail have some climbs. My watch counted 680 feet of elevation gain, but I think that’s a little high. It is never super accurate on that measurement. The trail is still open to the public but luckily didn’t run into any issues of cyclists or runners not part of the race getting in the way. There is also a gravel trail next to the paved trail that in theory you could run on but it wouldn’t be the exact course measurements. What I really didn’t like about the course was the many steep descents with a sharp turn at the bottom that you really had to break for. This definitely slows you down and gets you out of your rhythm. There were a lot of these, or at least enough for me to notice. Aid stations seemed fairly well spaced, but as I don’t use anything from the aid stations (except occasionally water) I don’t pay much attention to them. I believe they had water and Gatorade at most of the stations. Drink cups were the typical small, paper cups. The mile markers were also off (ahead of) my watch GPS by 0.25 miles until mile 25, so mile 24-25 seemed extra-long. Another girl running in my group said this was also the case for her. This annoyed me because I never knew if I was on pace or ahead of pace. Also to note, the start and finish lines are not at the same spot.

Logistics

There were quite a few options for packet pickup, offering different days and locations. I went on the last day. It was inside a small running store so you could always pick up some last minute nutrition or supplies that you may have forgotten. It is also in an area with a lot of restaurants for pre-race dinner and lunch. Packet pick up was very low key and you got a bib and a t-shirt. You can also pre-pay for race day parking which makes it cheaper ($5 vs. $10) and you don’t have to deal with it on race day. You can pay via Venmo for this but the cell signal in the store doesn’t work so you have to go outside, pay, then come back inside to get the parking pass. I definitely recommend parking in the paid parking lot because it is literally at the start line and it can be challenging to find street parking around there. To get to the paid parking lot on race day, there are two entrances, which I think no one realized. The entrance on Trail and Lancaster St. did not have a long line to get into the parking lot, but the entrance on University and Trail had an exceptionally long line and probably took a long time to get parked. But otherwise parking was easy and right at the start line, so you can stay in your car if the weather is bad or if you just get there super early. It is about a half mile walk from the finish line to the parking lot

There were pacers I believe starting at 3:20 (maybe one group faster) and spaced every 10 minutes or so. The 3:30 pacers were very ahead of schedule early on being only a few minutes behind the 3:20 pace group. I don’t know if this was on purpose or accident, or how accurate the other pacers were. There is a moderate amount of crowd support while you are on the trail. The course allows for your loved ones to see you at multiple points which makes it easy if you have someone that is supplying you with nutrition. There are also a handful of restaurants on the trail/course where your loved ones can hang out and cheer you on, so it’s a very spectator friendly experience. Press Café has a lot of parking, outdoor seating with fire pits, and opportunities to see racers 3 times. The Woodshed and HG supply are also good options to eat and see the race, with opportunities to see their loved ones pass by 2x.

The finish line is pretty basic without really any food options. I saw water and bananas. Supposedly they offered chicken noodle soup as well. The medal is a big belt buckle which is cool if you are in to wearing belts.

Travel

As this is a hometown race about 15 minutes from my house there was no travel involved. But your options for flying into Fort Worth are either the DFW airport or Love Field Airport. Personally I hate DFW but there are usually more flight options into/out of here. If you fly Southwest they only operate out of Love Field, which is a smaller and less congested airport. There are plenty of hotel options near (within a few miles) the start of the race in the West 7th area, with a lot of shopping and restaurants in this area as well. These are probably pricey due to the area, but there are plenty of economical options within a short drive. If you want a “real” Fort Worth experience you can stay in the Stockyards and I recommend Joe. T Garcias for post-race food and celebrations.

Final Thoughts

I really debated about paying for a race on routes that I can run at any time. And I personally think that the price tag for this race is a little high for what you are getting. But the logistics of not traveling for a race, and having a course where my husband could hand me my nutrition easily at well spaced points, was too good to pass up. Would I do it again? Eh maybe. Only if I needed a last minute Chicago qualifying time. Would I travel to do this race? Absolutely not. Unless you have just been wanting to visit the Fort Worth area for other reasons. I think if you wanted to race in Fort Worth then the Cowtown Marathon is a better production; however it is a much more challenging course, with a lot more elevation, cobblestone section, and longer stretches without crowd support. This race has definitely made me realize that choosing races without a lot of travel chaos is best if your goal is a top performance.