The Seattle Marathon is an annual marathon

Marathon

The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...

 held in Seattle, Washington on the last Sunday in November. Currently sponsored by Amica Insurance (Amica Mutual Insurance

Amica Mutual Insurance

Amica Mutual Insurance Company is an American mutual insurance company which sells automobile, homeowners, marine and personal umbrella liability insurance, founded in 1907. It employs 3,234 people in 40 offices across the United States, and is headquartered in Lincoln, Rhode Island...

), the marathon was established in 1970 when a group of 38 runners attempted to run the 42.195 kilometres (26.2 mi) challenge. Thirty-one of them managed to finish.

The present course begins on 5th Avenue N. between Harrison and Mercer Streets in front of the Experience Music Project

Experience Music Project

The EMP Museum is a museum dedicated to the history and exploration of both popular music and science fiction located in Seattle, Washington...

 on the eastern edge of the Seattle Center

Seattle Center

Seattle Center is a park and arts and entertainment center in Seattle, Washington. The campus is the site used in 1962 by the Century 21 Exposition. It is located just north of Belltown in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood.-Attractions:...

 campus, follows 5th Avenue through Downtown and the International District

International District, Seattle, Washington

The Chinatown-International District of Seattle, Washington is an ethnic enclave neighborhood and is the center of Seattle's Asian American community. The neighborhood is multiethnic, consisting mainly of people who are of Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino ethnicity...

 to Interstate 90

Interstate 90

Interstate 90 is the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It is the northernmost coast-to-coast interstate, and parallels US 20 for the most part. Its western terminus is in Seattle, at Edgar Martinez Drive S. near Safeco Field and CenturyLink Field, and its eastern terminus is in...

, follows I-90 across Lake Washington

Lake Washington

Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle. It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It is bordered by the cities of Seattle on the west, Bellevue and Kirkland on the east, Renton on the south and...

 to Mercer Island

Mercer Island, Washington

Mercer Island is a city in King County, Washington, United States and the name of the island in Lake Washington on which the city sits. The population was 22,699 at the 2010 census....

, turns around and heads back across the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge

Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge

The Third Lake Washington Bridge, officially the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge, is the fifth-longest floating bridge in the world, at 5,811 feet...

 to the shoreline, follows Lake Washington Boulevard S. to Seward Park

Seward Park (Seattle)

Seward Park is a 300 acre park in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A., that occupies all of Bailey Peninsula, a forested peninsula off south Seattle that juts into Lake Washington....

, loops Bailey Peninsula, and follows Lake Washington Boulevard S. back up the shoreline to McGilvra Boulevard E. in Madison Park

Madison Park, Seattle, Washington

Madison Park is a neighborhood in east central Seattle, Washington, USA, named after the city park at the foot of E. Madison Street on the Lake Washington shore. It is bounded on the east by Lake Washington; on the south by the intersection of Lake Washington Boulevard E...

. From there, the course follows E. Madison Street southwest to the southern entrance of the Washington Park Arboretum

Washington Park Arboretum

Washington Park is a public park in Seattle, Washington, USA, most of which is taken up by the Washington Park Arboretum, a joint project of the University of Washington, the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation, and the nonprofit Arboretum Foundation. Washington Park also includes a...

, turning north on Lake Washington Boulevard E. to E. Interlaken Boulevard. The course follows Interlaken northwest out of the Arboretum and through Interlaken Park

Interlaken Park (Seattle)

Interlaken Park is a park in Seattle, Washington. A heavily wooded hillside and ravine, it forms the division between Capitol Hill to the south and Montlake to the north. Interlaken Drive E. runs through the park north to south, and E. Interlaken Boulevard, part of which is now closed to traffic,...

, then west across Interstate 5

Interstate 5

Interstate 5 is the main Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific Ocean coastline from Canada to Mexico . It serves some of the largest cities on the U.S...

 to Boylston Avenue E. Heading south, it follows Boylston back under the freeway, where it becomes Lakeview Boulevard E., then follows Lakeview south, once again over the interstate, to Eastlake Avenue E. The course turns west on Republican Street through Cascade

Cascade, Seattle, Washington

Cascade is a small neighborhood abutting Downtown Seattle, Washington, USA; it constitutes the eastern portion of what has come to be known as South Lake Union...

 to Dexter Avenue N., where it jogs north one block to Mercer Street, then turns south on 4th Avenue N. and finishes within Memorial Stadium

Memorial Stadium (Seattle)

The Memorial Stadium in Seattle, Washington, is located in the northeast corner of the Seattle Center grounds. The stadium currently seats approximately 12,000 people. This was expanded to 17,000, during 1974-75, while the Seattle Sounders, of the North American Soccer League, played at Memorial...

in Seattle Center.