Space Coast Marathon & Half Marathon
Cocoa, FL
- Marathon, Half Marathon
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
Running Zone Foundation and Space Coast Runners welcome you to the Space Coast Marathon and Half Marathon, Florida’s oldest marathon. We invite runners and walkers alike to experience one of the most beautiful USATF certified waterfront courses on the east coast of Florida. The event is hosted in the historic … MORE
Local Historical Weather (Nov 22):
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
| H (°F) | 81 | 68 | 84 | 73 | 76 |
| L (°F) | 63 | 52 | 70 | 69 | 66 |
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The biggest medal ever!!
This was a well produced race. The course was pretty flat through downtown and then along the river front. Watching the sunrise was a highlight. It was a little warmer … MORE
This was a well produced race. The course was pretty flat through downtown and then along the river front. Watching the sunrise was a highlight. It was a little warmer than expected but there were plenty aid stations – both official and unofficial. The medals were the biggest I’ve seen and if you like running series – this one is for you – 2026 sees the start of the next 4 year series with lots of extra bling if you run them all.
A really neat event, Boston Q'd !
This is a really neat event. Make sure you sign up early. I was lucky I got in on the waiting list because I was battling some injuries off and … MORE
This is a really neat event. Make sure you sign up early. I was lucky I got in on the waiting list because I was battling some injuries off and on. I found the course very interesting, and luckily we had decent temperature and humidity for Florida. I was a bit surprised at the rolling hills, but they were actually nice to run. The mileage did not match my watch, and seemed a bit long, however, I guess that’s why it is a Boston qualifier ? Anyway, it was my first time at this race, and I like it. The swag is awesome, and the age group award is awesome. The after party rocked. Everyone was very nice. I got my BQ, and won my age group. This will be a memory I will not forget !
Great fast course along Scenic Waterway
This was my 7th year running this race. The course is always the same and it’s an out and back North then South along a scenic road. Production is amazing. … MORE
This was my 7th year running this race. The course is always the same and it’s an out and back North then South along a scenic road. Production is amazing. Swag is always the same with a long sleeve shirt, finishers towel and a HUGE medal. Love Spacecoast marathon!
Good Luck Getting Medal thru Security
I'm not a huge fan of traveling this weekend but there are no local races and I had a lot of friends doing this race so I told them if … MORE
I’m not a huge fan of traveling this weekend but there are no local races and I had a lot of friends doing this race so I told them if I found flights under $500 round trip that I would go. Surprisingly I found reasonable priced flights I just would have to take the last flight out of Orlando on Sunday and arrive in Boston after midnight. This race takes place the Sunday after thanksgiving. At my current job I have to work the Friday after thanksgiving so I flew out Friday evening. I thought pre-race communication was mixed. There were the right amount of emails but it was not the most user friendly website and some things were a bit tricky to find. I drove to Cocoa after the 5K. It is an under an hour drive from Orlando but over an hour from Clermont which the 5K was in. I arrived around 11am. Packet pick-up is at a park where the race starts and stops. You have to pay to do race day packet pick-up so I decided to get it Saturday since I arrived Friday. Parking near packet pick up was a mess and it took me like 15 minutes to find a parking space but I eventually did. Packet pick-up was easy and they assign your bib number ahead of time and you are also assigned a corral. Packet included a very bold long sleeved tech shirt and a embroidered patch. Everything is space themed. There were a few other booths, areas for selfies and a place to buy race essentials at packet pick-up. After packet pick-up I found a vegan restaurant called MoonShine right near by for lunch. I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Cocoa. There are some host hotels that have their own shuttles that may be more convenient but I almost always stay IHG. This hotel worked fine. Race morning is very early as the race starts at 6:15. They had parking at a mall about 10-15 minutes from my hotel with a shuttle. I heard if you arrive early you can park by the race but after the parking drama yesterday I just wanted to park somewhere easily. The mall parking was very easy but maybe could have used a few signs or specific instructions for where to park but it was not hard to figure it out. The shuttle was there right away. There were a lot of porta potties. Of course the lines were long but I’ve seen worse. The corrals were fairly organized. The only issue is they did not pause between corrals and we kind of had a mass start with the corrals just putting us in place by pace. I do think pausing 2-3 minutes between corrals may space the runners better on the course. The course is an out and back. The first few miles are tight. I had a slow start as a result as I could not run as fast as I wanted on my run intervals not walk as fast as I wanted on my walk intervals. The course is nice even though it is out and back. It almost all is along the water. You see a gorgeous sunrise near the start. There is also a lot of shade which is good for Florida. There are some fancy houses as well. It’s not the most exciting scenery but it’s very pretty and pleasant. It is also really flat. Less than 100 feet of elevation gain. The difficulty is just the crowdedness of the course and the heat and humidity of Florida. Today was not terrible but it was hotter and more humid than I prefer. I don’t love how the race is set up. The marathons basically do an out and back north of the start and then do the same out and back south of the start as the half marathoners. In the past half marathoners could choose either the north or south but now south was the only option. Not sure why. Maybe a time limit thing. The course just got quite congested and I feel bad for the lead marathoners who had to weave through the pack of half marathoners but the course set up did mean a very long time limit. This is one of the most back of the back friendly races I’ve done. Other than the odd setup. Production was good. While it was a pretty easy course to follow, anything that needed to be marked was marked. There were large mile markers and plenty of aid stations with water, electrolyte drink and multiple (at least 3) with gu. There were also lots of unofficial aid stations. The end had a lot of turns which was a bit annoying as I couldn’t see the finish line until I just about got to it so it was a little hard to do a last minute push. There were a decent amount of spectators but a few sections spectator support was sparse. It is so back of the pack friendly there were too many people at my pace. My goal was under 3 and I was just slightly slower than my goal pace the first half of the race due to the congestion and I resigned to accepting being just over 3 hours but I actually sped up the second half as the crowd thinned out more. I go the the 10 mile marker at 2:18 and realized I just had to run a 42 minute 5K to finish under 3 hours and I kicked it up a notch and ran a 38 minute 5K to finish a few minutes under 3 hours. Very impressed with my last 3.1 miles which were my fastest miles of the race and was happy with my finish time especially with the congestion and heat. The medal at the end is absolutely ridiculously huge which is one reason this race is so popular. It’s almost too big like I don’t know what to do with it. There is a good post race party with apparently unlimited beer (I didn’t drink it so can’t confirm) and breakfast and pizza and plenty of food left when I finished. Overall I thought this was a good but flawed race. A few big pros are the flat course, back of the pack friendliness and great swag. It was bit too crowded for me and I don’t love out and backs. Personally I enjoy the Publix Half in Melbourne in February a little more as it’s a loop and a smaller field but I’m glad I did this race as well. Whether I’d recommend it for Florida really depends on how easy it is to travel this weekend. If you have Friday off so have 4 days to travel or if you have relatives in Florida and are spending the Holidays there then it is a great choice but if you have to work Friday there are easier weekends to travel. Also travel tip if you are taking the medal in your carryon please plan for extra time for TSA to check your bag as it will by flagged with that giant thing in it. At least mine did (don’t worry they let me keep it).
The prettiest course I have run.
This is a beautiful course. It is out and back, which I did not enjoy so much, except that it was so pretty it seemed OK. The onlookers were handing … MORE
This is a beautiful course. It is out and back, which I did not enjoy so much, except that it was so pretty it seemed OK. The onlookers were handing out food and drinks (even bourbon) as it is an upscale neighborhood on the bay. Cocoa is a cute town and the beach is nice, so you can make a vacation out of it.
Beautiful scenery with nice swags
I loved running on the coast and got PR with the flat course. In 2024, there was no North half. It is a fantastic option for a destination run for … MORE
I loved running on the coast and got PR with the flat course. In 2024, there was no North half. It is a fantastic option for a destination run for the Thanksgiving weekend. The race is a 4 year series of space missions and I can see people go back for collecting all the huge medals. The only confusion was giving water and Gatorade looked the same in Gatorade cups. We are too tired to think on the spot, so it would be great to avoid next time. Otherwise, I really recommend the race!
Highly Recommend
As always Space Coast did not disappoint. I did the south course again and got my best time of the year. The course runs along the water through a quaint … MORE
As always Space Coast did not disappoint. I did the south course again and got my best time of the year. The course runs along the water through a quaint neighborhood. There were a few small hills. There was plenty of post race food. I paid extra for race day packet pickup. Race swag was a nice tech long sleeve shirt and a moon pie. Nice huge medal and towel at the finish. I recommend Space Coast often.
Beautiful views
Course was beautiful. Love the rocket at the starting line. It does suck that parking can be far away, who was to go far to the car after 26.2 miles MORE
Course was beautiful. Love the rocket at the starting line. It does suck that parking can be far away, who was to go far to the car after 26.2 miles
I felt very light when running
A race with very beautiful landscapes, easy route, generally very flat, a very suitable climate, excellent logistics from hydration, food in general, very nice medal and memories. Quite a lot … MORE
A race with very beautiful landscapes, easy route, generally very flat, a very suitable climate, excellent logistics from hydration, food in general, very nice medal and memories. Quite a lot of food after finishing it. And a very good tour of restaurants and tourist sites.
One of my Favorite Races
Space Coast is a wonderful experience and I would recommend it to anyone. It is a well run event with great communication, great voluteers and huge medals. The expo was … MORE
Space Coast is a wonderful experience and I would recommend it to anyone. It is a well run event with great communication, great voluteers and huge medals. The expo was outside with a few vendors. Packet pickup was quick and very easy. Plenty of shuttles from various pick up locations provided transportation to and from the race. I did the South course which has no limit. It is basically a flat course with a couple of inclines. It runs along the water and sometimes dolphins are spotted. The course is lined with beautiful trees and large houses. There was plenty of course support, volunteers, and water stations. There could have been a few more port-o-potties on the course. The course leading up to the finish line chute was changed. It now makes several turns that make finishline seem further away, like you will never get there. It is frustrating. In spite that, I will continue to do this race and recommend it.
Heat really got to me but it’s Florida
Course is very scenic running along the water and beautiful neighborhoods. Medal is top notch. I ran the full but it was in the 80’s so the heat drained me … MORE
Course is very scenic running along the water and beautiful neighborhoods. Medal is top notch. I ran the full but it was in the 80’s so the heat drained me early…wish I did the half instead. I believe you could do the front or back half’s, I recommend the back half
Fun race great swag!
The expo and packet pick up was very well organized and easy to get in and out of. We utilized the shuttles to get to the start line and back … MORE
The expo and packet pick up was very well organized and easy to get in and out of. We utilized the shuttles to get to the start line and back and that also was a very smooth operation. It is a VERY early start as we had to be at the shuttle pick up at 4am, but that gave us plenty of time to warm up and use the porta-johns prior to race start at 6am. There were plenty of porta-johns at both the start and along the course. Since we were there so early we were able to use them without waiting. The course itself was nice I did the north course which the race info said went past the NASA assembly building or something like that. I never saw it. The course to me seemed to be out and back on one long residential street that ran along the Indian River. It started out very dark. Once we got out of the starting area and onto the main course it was surprisingly dark. I was surprised by that but there were some street lights etc so it wasn’t pitch black and the sun came up within the fist 30 minutes. The sunrise was on our backs which I couldn’t help but think might have been planned that way. There was plenty to see on the water between the birds, boats, and people. A lot of the homes along the course had people out cheering and some had set up makeshift aid stands with freeze pops water and even one had mimosas! The crowd support was great! The aid stations were frequent and well manned. I did not like the 6am start, but considering it is Flordia and was 70 and 90% humidity at 6am I was grateful that it started early enough to finish before the heat and humidity became too much. The after party was also amazing they had scrambled eggs, mac and cheese, chocolate milk and beer in addition to regular stuff like bananas and water. Overall, I would highly recommend this race. It is run like a well oiled machine, and since the race is Thanksgiving weekend it’s a perfect opportunity for a “Race-cation” lots of stuff to see and do in the area. Oh and I almost forgot the medal is HUGE and awesome and the shirt is very cool.
Views
Very flat course with incredible space coast views! Awesome community support and met a lot of great runners along the course. This was my first marathon and I totally enjoyed … MORE
Very flat course with incredible space coast views! Awesome community support and met a lot of great runners along the course. This was my first marathon and I totally enjoyed my experience!
Fun race
I have run this race several times and always enjoy it. It's well organized, good communication, great swag, and amazing medals. Challenge medals for consecutive years are a big incentive … MORE
I have run this race several times and always enjoy it. It’s well organized, good communication, great swag, and amazing medals. Challenge medals for consecutive years are a big incentive to come back. For the half marathon there are two course options; If you want to take it easy then south and if you want to run and not dodge walkers go north.
Nice Race!
I signed up to run this just a few weeks ahead of the race, too late to take advantage of the partner hotel discounts which were very good compared to … MORE
I signed up to run this just a few weeks ahead of the race, too late to take advantage of the partner hotel discounts which were very good compared to what I paid. I went to the running store to pick up my bib, shirt, and medal once I arrived in town, so cannot comment on the expo. I didn’t have any goal in mind other than to finish the race.
There were ample school buses that picked up and dropped off at host hotels. (I didn’t stay at a host hotel but walked over to one.) I road the 4 am bus which was a bit early for the 6am start. I and many others sat in a park near the start for over an hour waiting for the events to get started. Music played to keep us entertained. Water was available and portaloos were plentiful. Skies were overcast, temps low 50s at the start and mid 60s at the end, humidity high but at that temp not as impactful to me.
The course is broken into 2 half marathons, a north half and a south half and each is an out-and-back. The marathon started at 6am before the sunrise. The first 30-40 minutes or so were running in the dark on the north course. House lights and the occasional street light were sufficient to see with: I didn’t think a headlamp was necessary. We had a beautiful sunrise but needed to turn 120 degrees to see it. Tt was the first time I’ve raced in the dark. We ran along mostly tree-lined asphalt roads in view of the water most of the way. Lovely scenery. Though the hills were manageable, I was expecting a flatter course that close to the water. I thought the 13th mile contained a bit of a cruel hill as you transitioned from the north route to the south route. The south route wasn’t any less hilly. Mind you these aren’t large hills like Big Sur, but undulating enough that I noticed them. I noticed the side slope of the road moreso in the south route than the north, so ran more in the middle of the road. Another reviewer commented about catching up to the walkers and needing to run around them: Yes, that’s true. In that last half mile the finish line seemed to take forever to reach with a few turns thrown in. Crossing the finish line yielded a finisher towel.
There weren’t many out for fan support, but there were some. Water stations were sufficiently stocked with supplies and enthusiastic volunteers. Post race recovery food and drink were nice but I didn’t stay long. During these Covid times I find myself missing the ceremony of someone awarding you a medal around your neck once you finish. Overall I thought this was a well run race and one I’d recommend.
Lots of Walkers In the Way
There are actually three races going on simultaneously with this event: a full marathon, and two half marathons (north course and south course). The full marathon runners and the north … MORE
There are actually three races going on simultaneously with this event: a full marathon, and two half marathons (north course and south course). The full marathon runners and the north course runners start together with the full marathon joining the south course halfway into the race.
There is, unfortunately, one huge issue with this arrangement. Full marathon runners must dodge several thousand walkers on the south course. Many of these individuals are wearing headphones and have no idea of basic race etiquette.
In my case, I caught the back of the south course half marathon around mile 16 or so and spent the remainder of the race dodging people who were walking 4 or 5 abreast as well as a lot of folks who were walking/jogging down the middle of the road with headphones on and couldn’t hear anyone coming up behind them.
I guess this race is supposed to be more of a party than a serious run. As such, I cannot recommend the full marathon to anyone that wants to save the partying for after the race.
Well organized, fun event!
Very nice race shirt! Really good after party with plenty of food, beer, and music! All finishers also received a commemorative beach towel. MORE
Very nice race shirt! Really good after party with plenty of food, beer, and music! All finishers also received a commemorative beach towel.
Beautiful
Great swag flat out and back and shaded on south half , great food, if you a under 1.40 half runnner plan getting up front at the start or you … MORE
Great swag flat out and back and shaded on south half , great food, if you a under 1.40 half runnner plan getting up front at the start or you will held back a little
1st live race after the pandemic
I was so tankful to run this race after not running any races for 6 plus months. I really appreciate the extra effort that the race production team did to … MORE
I was so tankful to run this race after not running any races for 6 plus months. I really appreciate the extra effort that the race production team did to put on a safe race!
A very nicely done marathon.
This was my first marathon attempt and I did not finish. And it was on my 50th birthday. I did get to mile 24 so I covered a lot of … MORE
This was my first marathon attempt and I did not finish. And it was on my 50th birthday. I did get to mile 24 so I covered a lot of it. This is a very scenic marathon. Super nice area with great views of the bay. Downside, there were not enough aid stations, in my opinion. Also, it was very hot and humid for the end of November but hey it’s Florida. Nice medal!