Memphis in December: A Flat, Fast Course With a Cause That Draws Nearly 2,000 to the Finish Line

The St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend marathon sends runners through Overton Park, past the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital campus, and into historic Memphis neighborhoods before a downhill finish on Union Ave. adjacent to Beale Street — all on a point-to-point road course that drops a net 19 feet over 26.2 miles. In 2025, 1,973 runners crossed the line, with the field median sitting at 4:31:47 and the top 10% finishing inside 3:30:45.

By the numbers

The field has grown modestly across the provided editions, from 1,846 finishers in 2024 to 1,973 in 2025 — a gain of roughly 7%. Women made up 705 of the 2025 finishers and 685 in 2024. The men's median has held remarkably steady, moving from 4:24:22 (2024) to 4:23:47 (2025), while the women's median improved from 4:49:34 to 4:44:31 year over year. The middle of the field runs in the low-to-mid 4:30s; the back quarter crosses somewhere after 5:09:59.

How the course runs

The course is flat by any meaningful measure — two gentle climbs of roughly 50 feet each and one descent of similar size are the extent of the terrain variation, with the net elevation change across the full 26.2 miles just -19 feet. The downhill finish on Union Ave. is real and welcome.

The 2025 median pace data tells a clear story about how the race unfolds for a typical finisher:

*The mile 8 segment figure likely reflects a shorter or differently measured split interval.

The field runs its two sharpest miles through the 5K–10K stretch at 9:33–9:34/mi, then begins a gradual fade. By mile 17, the median segment pace has softened to 10:39/mi, and the stretch approaching 30K — which includes the course's most sustained climb near miles 16.6–17.7 — sees the pace ease further to 11:36/mi. From there, the field stabilizes and actually ticks slightly quicker through the final miles as the downhill finish comes into play, closing at 11:04/mi. The pattern is a textbook early-lock, mid-race drift, late-course recovery.

Pacing patterns

In 2024, 83% of finishers ran a positive split, with an average second-half slowdown of 12.7% and only 145 runners achieving a negative split. That figure is entirely normal for a mass-participation marathon — the large majority of amateur finishers slow over the back half at virtually every race in the world. December in Memphis can be cold: 2024 brought 23–33°F temperatures and 6 mph winds, while 2025 was even colder at 25–35°F with mist and 93% humidity. Both years rewarded conservative early pacing; the runners who banked time in the first half rarely outran the fade.

The weather question

Both provided editions ran in genuine cold — sub-freezing at the gun in 2024, near-freezing with heavy mist in 2025. December 5, 2026 falls in the same seasonal window, so cold-weather preparation is reasonable. The 2025 conditions were wetter and marginally warmer at the start; the 2024 edition was drier but windier. Neither year produced dramatically different median times, suggesting the field handles Memphis December weather without major disruption.

What it takes

Breaking 3:57 puts a runner in the top quarter of the field. The top-10% threshold has been almost identical across both years — 3:30:45 vs. 3:30:52 — suggesting a consistent competitive ceiling regardless of weather variation.

What to watch

Jordan English's title defense. English won in both 2023 (2:30:21) and 2025 (2:28:02), with Carl Nelson taking 2024 in between. Whether English can return and improve on his 2025 mark — the fastest men's winning time in the provided editions — is the headline competitive question.

Women's field depth. Winning times on the women's side have ranged from 2:51:11 to 2:56:44 across the four provided editions, a tight cluster that suggests genuine year-to-year competition at the front.

Field growth. With the event serving as St. Jude's largest single-day fundraiser and finisher counts rising from 1,846 to 1,973 in consecutive years, whether the 2026 edition crosses 2,000 marathon finishers is a natural threshold to watch.

The mid-race climb. The 52-foot rise between miles 16.6 and 17.7 coincides precisely with the steepest segment-pace drop in the 2025 data. Runners who account for it in their race plan rather than discovering it mid-effort will be better positioned for the finishing stretch.