04/20/2026
See you May 31!
Hello - I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for their patience and understanding throughout the last few days. It's been hard on us, and I know that it's been even harder for many of you. I'm hoping that I can tell you a bit about why we made the decisions that we did, when we did, and what goes into decisions like these; my goal is to be completely transparent so that you can make an informed decision regarding our event and whether you want to run with us in May, defer to 2027, or convert your registration to virtual. I'm a big fan of transparency and radical candor, and I think you, who spent your hard-earned money and your time training for our race, deserve that.
First -- the weather on Saturday was, in a word, gross. We likely would have had to delay the start by an hour or so, but we could have run the event safely. That's the benefit of hindsight.
So why did we postpone so early (Wednesday afternoon)?
Starting on Saturday (April 11), the forecast looked really bad for race day; widespread lightning in the morning, followed by damaging winds and hail in the afternoon. We need a window from about 6am - 3pm to produce a safe event, as we have runners near the start/finish line or out on course throughout that window. The forecast didn't improve from Saturday, to Sunday, to Monday, to Tuesday...if you're from Indiana, you know that the forecast changes all the time. So when it looks dangerous for a few days in a row, that's a pretty good sign that it's going to be ugly. We were in constant contact with a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, who was helping us to stay informed. As of Wednesday morning, the threat of hail and damaging winds had subsided, but we were still looking at heavy, widespread lightning between 7-11am on race day. We simply won't run in lightning. I know that some runners have a "hell or high water" mentality -- that's great. Our event isn't for you. We'll run in cold, heat, rain, snow, wind...but we won't put people in potentially deadly situations. That won't ever change.
We made the call when we did for a few reasons:
1. We are no longer a small town, local race. We had runners registered from 46 different states and 12 different countries. Bringing those 1,000+ runners in, just to risk a late cancellation, felt selfish. We wanted to make the call in time for runners to cancel or adjust flights, hotels, rental cars, and other travel plans. And, for many, it worked and was well-received.
2. We respect that you've trained and tapered for an event on April 18th. Making the postponement call when we did allowed many of you to find another event in the region this weekend or next to take advantage of your fitness. As much as I wish it would have been in Carmel, I'd rather you at least have the option to run on race weekend, even if it's somewhere else.
3. We had a deadline of Wednesday at noon to make a decision to postpone or move forward. This event has a huge footprint and relies on over 80 off-duty police officers and nearly 500 volunteers. We rent tents, equipment, trucks, portalets, etc. We buy some things early (shirts, medals, etc.), yes. But a huge chunk of our expenses come in those last three days before race day. When we cancelled the event on race morning in 2025, we still had all of those expenses; we still paid the police, still rented all of the equipment, still made donations to our volunteer groups. I don't expect anyone to care about the financial success or failure of our event; you should care about your race and your experience in Carmel. But the reality is that once we got to that Wednesday deadline, we had a choice; we move forward and risk a late cancellation, or we postpone and at least give ourselves a chance to run in 2026. We simply can't produce two race weekends, short of charging significantly higher entry fees.
With the information we had by Wednesday afternoon, we made the best choice we could, which we felt benefitted the greatest number of runners. I would have loved to wait until Friday to watch the forecast change, but risking another late cancellation felt irresponsible and selfish.
So why not just run on Sunday (4/19)? Or push it back a week?
For a number of reasons, a short postponement was never an option. We spend several months planning for an event of this size, recruiting police and volunteer support, securing permits, etc. We have to start much of that work over now, in order to be ready for May 31st. There is no scenario in which we could produce a safe event with such a short turnaround as a day or a week. Creating two separate plans -- one for the original date and one for the next day (or even the next week) -- doesn't work for our vendors, partners, police and city partners, and volunteers. So when we postpone an event, it has to be pushed out far enough that we can start over and have time to do all the things needed to create the safe event you deserve.
I know that many of you had trained and tapered for Saturday, and holding that fitness for six weeks doesn't make sense. That's the reason we offered free deferrals to 2027 and a virtual option. Of course, neither of those options can replace running the event we all wanted to run. We're allowing all runners to make their decision up until May 30th; so you can defer to 2027 or switch to virtual and take the time you need to decide.
So what's the plan for May 31st?
I know that some of you have deferred to 2027 or switched to the virtual option. For those of you running with us in May, we've been working feverishly since Wednesday afternoon to make sure that we can provide a safe and enjoyable experience. We have plans in place for potentially warm weather; we have an ice plan to make sure that there will be cooling methods on course and at the finish line. We're bolstering our medical staff and adding additional support, including the addition of nearly 30 AEDs on course. We've moved the start time up from 8am to 7am to get an early start and avoid the hottest part of the day. We're adding more tents to the post-race party to provide shade in case it's warm and sunny. We're adjusting our aid station plans to make sure we have more Gatorade and water than usual. Our commitment to putting your safety first is something that we take seriously, and we'll continue to look for ways to do that over the next six weeks.
You may have also noticed that May 31st is a Sunday, and our expo / packet pickup will be on Saturday, May 30th. This allows more flexibility for those traveling from outside the area and those who are normally unavailable on Friday due to work or other obligations.
We order our shirts and medals over three months before race day -- so your shirt and medal will still have the April 18th date on them.
Otherwise, you can expect the event to look the same as it has; same courses, same post-race pancakes and beer garden, live music, and all of the things that make the Carmel Marathon Weekend what it is.
What about 2027?
Now that we've been burned two years in a row, we're looking at all potential dates in 2027. That includes a potential move to late March. We're working with city officials and will announce the 2027 date as soon as it's finalized. Going forward, we will also have a published weather plan so that you'll know exactly what to expect from us should the weather be uncooperative.
This is, of course, not how we wanted the event to go this year. We're doing everything we can to provide you with the best experience possible in light of the circumstances. If you have questions or want to provide feedback, or just want to be heard, you can email us at info@carmelmarathon.com.
- Jay
