On November 2nd, 2025, 59,226 runners traveled from all across the world to take on the 5 borough crown jewel of New York races: the TCS New York City Marathon. As they do every year, these marathoners captured the hearts of thousands on social media. The elderly couple holding hands made us cry, the hot dog costumes made us laugh, and the “Ethan, I’m pregnant!” sign sent us scouring the internet for a mysterious baby daddy. With an overload of inspirational background stories circulating, many current runners and even nonrunners might be experiencing a healthy dose of FOMO. Whether you actually plan to follow through with the oath you swore to participate next year or you’ll squash your newfound running bug within the month, running the marathon goes much further than just showing up at the start line. Here are some of the ways you can secure your spot.
- The Drawing
The lottery drawing caters to runners who haven’t earned guaranteed entry, as is drawn by NYRR (New York Road Runners). This year, applications will be live from February 4th to the 25th. Applicants will be drawn from 3 pools based on location: NYC area residents, U.S. residents, and those applying from outside the U.S. The drawing will take place on March 4th, with an additional “second chance” drawing for those who have purchased an NYRR membership. While the drawing is the lowest effort way to gain race entry, it is also the most selective and unreliable!
- Running With a Charity Partner
NYRR partners with over 400 charities to offer a charity fundraising path to marathon entry. Not only will runners partnering with a charity raise awareness for their cause of choice while representing them during the race, they also commit to a fundraising goal. Once you’ve reached out to an organization on their partner list, a minimum of $3,000 should be raised for your chosen charity before the marathon deadline. Of course it’s important that this goal actually be met, this isn’t a route to pursue if you don’t plan on following through. It’s also worth noting that not all applicants are selected by the charities they apply to represent.
A List of Some of NYRR’s Charity Partners:
https://www.nyrr.org/about/charity-partners
- Run With Team for Kids
This is another route that technically falls under the umbrella of running the race for charity. Team for Kids offers charity applicant “packages” on the NYRR that go along with race perks. There are multiple “tiers” one can commit to: from the “Community Champion” tier that comes with a free jacket and 2 Night of Champions gala tickets but requires a $10,000 fundraising commitment, to “experience altruist” category with the lowest fundraising goal of $3,000, a free singlet, and both in-person and virtual running coaching. Many of the tiers are currently sold out, but the higher tiers have a waitlist still available.
Browse the Tier List: https://organizations.nyrr.org/sites/organization_sites/07a100ee6605183fc2df/pages/2026_tcs_new_york_city_marathon
- 9+1
While this method takes the most time and effort, it’s also incredibly rewarding and will fully guarantee your marathon participation! To finish 9+1, a runner must complete 9 NYRR races from a pre-selected list. These races range from 5ks, to 10 milers, to half marathons. The TCS marathon actually counts towards 9+1 for the next year! The downside to this approach is not only the financial commitment that comes with paying for sign ups, but the time commitment that goes into commuting to these events or even getting a spot in the cutthroat sign up process. In addition to the races, 9+1 participants need to volunteer at 1 NYRR event.
Read the 9+1 Rules:
https://www.nyrr.org/run/guaranteed-entry/tcs-new-york-city-marathon-9plus1-program
Happy running!