BestRacesThe live Texas rankings are updated every day. This piece looks at the list as it stood on October 13, 2026.
Texas has 510 races in our index, second only to Florida’s 535. Of the 327 still to be run, 27 clear the bar for our state rankings. That is 8.3% — the lowest share of any of the seven largest state lists. Florida ranks 14% of its upcoming races, Georgia 18%, New Jersey 25%.
Texas does not have worse races. It has races we know less about, and our formula refuses to rank what it hasn’t measured.
The Texas twelve
| # | Race | City | Date | Distance | Field | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Houston Marathon | Houston | Jan 17, 2027 | Marathon / Half | 9,257 | 77.6 |
| 2 | Austin International Half Marathon | Austin | Jan 17, 2027 | Half | 4,619 | 60.6 |
| 3 | Tyler Turkey Trot | Tyler | Nov 26 | 5K | 2,701 | 55.9 |
| 4 | Art Car IPA 5K | Houston | Apr 4, 2027 | 5K | 3,755 | 55.1 |
| 5 | Athens Thanksgiving Turkey Trot | Athens | Nov 26 | 5K | 186 | 51.0 |
| 6 | Blue Bell Fun Run | Brenham | Apr 3, 2027 | Half / 10K / 5K | 825 | 51.0 |
| 7 | Bayou City Classic | Houston | Mar 6, 2027 | 10K / 5K | 728 | 50.6 |
| 8 | CFISD Superintendent’s Fun Run | Cypress | Mar 6, 2027 | 5K | 2,228 | 50.6 |
| 9 | Run in the Park | Houston | Nov 14 | 5K / 10K | 433 | 50.5 |
| 10 | DRC’s The Half | Dallas | Nov 1 | Half / 10K / 5K | 627 | 50.2 |
| 11 | Jingle Bell Run | Nacogdoches | Dec 5 | 5K | 133 | 50.0 |
| 12 | Annual Long Run 5K | Dallas | Apr 8, 2027 | 5K | 364 | 48.7 |
The other 15 are on the full Texas ranking. Eight of the 27 fall inside the Houston metro, which has its own list: Best Races Near Houston. Dallas–Fort Worth has four, San Antonio three, Austin one.
Look up the weather before you train for Houston. The high on January 17 was 81°F in 2023 and 44°F in 2024, and the Houston Marathon page shows it year by year. The same page’s pacing plan turns your goal time into mile splits.
Four things the list tells you
Two races are fully measured, and they run the same morning. Houston and the Austin International Half are the only Texas races we have scored on all four of our components — field, history, credentials and character — and both are listed for January 17, 2027. Houston is also the only Boston qualifier in the Texas index, all 510 races. Its 9,257 runners are 29% of the 32,328 who start the 25 listed races with a known field size. The median field is 433.
Everyone else is ranked on two signals. Of the other 25, 22 are scored on exactly two of the four components and three on three. Two signals is the minimum our formula accepts, and a race measured on half the formula is pulled toward a neutral 50 — which is why ten of the twelve races above sit between 48 and 56. Read the middle of this table as a cluster, not a ladder.
Texas certifies at the national rate. Fourteen of the 27 are USATF certified, 52%. Across every state list, 246 of 484 races are, 51%. For nine Texas races the certificate is one of their two signals, and that buys admission, not position: on its own it scores 40 of 100 on our credentials measure, below the neutral 50.
The Texas calendar is a fall-and-winter calendar. Sixteen of the 27 run between October and December, nine of them in November, and four of those on Thanksgiving morning — Tyler, Athens, Bulverde and Lake Jackson. One race on the list falls between June and August: the Flag Run 5K in Boerne, on July 4, 2027. Fifteen lead with a 5K. The only other marathon is the San Antonio Marathon, at No. 18.
Age, mostly by edition number
Twenty of the 27 earn a longevity score, but only four have a founding year on record. Houston’s is 1972. Most of the rest carry their age in their name: the Athens Turkey Trot and the Nacogdoches Jingle Bell Run are both 30th editions, the Leatherneck Run in Woodway is in its 25th, and Tyler’s Turkey Trot is in its 24th. That is how a 133-runner 5K in Nacogdoches lands at No. 11.
What is missing
Most of Texas. Of the 300 upcoming races that miss the list, 194 have no measured signal at all and 105 have exactly one — for 71 of them, a field size with nothing to pair it with. The last one is the TriWaco Triathlon, which scores on our separate multisport scale and ranks on the triathlon list instead. Another 183 Texas races are past editions, which sit out the rankings until their next date is listed.
A race that has posted results for decades but never said when it started looks, to our formula, exactly like one that started last year. Claiming a listing is free. It lets an organizer add a founding year or a certification, and it cannot buy a better rank — only a more complete one.