Organizers of the Marine Corps Marathon announced today significant changes to the 2008 marathon course. The new route will take runners through Hains Point at miles 12-14, nearly five miles sooner than the previous course. "Hains Point is always a challenge for runners at such a late point in the race," said Rick Nealis, Race Director. "Now runners will reach the Point while they are still fresh, and will be rewarded with the energy of the crowds on the National Mall during the later miles."

For 2008, runners will return to the spectator-filled M Street in Georgetown and are sure to be dazzled with a breathtakingly close view of the Capitol Building on Pennsylvania Avenue past 3rd Street. Both sections were removed from the 2007 course.

The USATF-certified route starts in Arlington, VA and winds its way through Rosslyn along Lee Highway before turning on Spout Run and the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Runners will experience a climb on Lee Highway in the first few miles of the new course, but are rewarded with a descent along Spout Run and the Parkway. After crossing the Key Bridge into Georgetown, runners will be on familiar territory through the District of Columbia. The course returns to the Palisades Community for a scenic view of Canal Road, returning to Georgetown.

Runners will enjoy traveling down M Street, turning on Wisconsin Avenue and then K Street. For the first time, the course will then pass the Kennedy Center and take runners into Hains Point at approximately the halfway point of the race. Afterwards, runners pass the Jefferson Memorial before entering the National Mall and pass numerous monuments, memorials and landmarks, such as, the Lincoln, FDR, Korean War and Vietnam Veterans' Memorials, the Washington Monument, and the U.S. Capitol.

Runners return to Virginia via the 14th Street Bridge and are sure to enjoy the exciting sights and sounds of Crystal Run in Crystal City, VA along miles 22 and 23 of the course. For the final miles, runners will return past the Pentagon and along Route 110 before reaching the legendary Marine Corps War Memorial finish line.

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