Upper Cumberland Haunted Half Marathon 2026 — Cookeville, TN

Join us for the 19th annual Haunted Half Marathon, Relay & 5K October 24th! Runners will enjoy seeing the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains of eastern Tennessee, this Halloween-themed race takes runners on a loop course through the small city of Cookeville, where runners and walkers will start the race on the campus of Tennessee Tech University. From the starting line near the intersection of North Dixie Avenue and B Street on the Tennessee Tech campus, runners head south on what is basically a clockwise loop through the city’s downtown and out into some of the more rural areas just outside town. Runners make their way through mostly city streets and retail shops in the first couple of miles and then head into more residential neighborhoods in the later miles. As mentioned above, the Haunted Half Marathon, Relay & 5K is open to both runners and walkers, provided they can reach the finish line within 3 hours — which means for half-marathon and relay teams they’ll need to maintain a pace of 13.8 minutes per mile or better. The race route will be closed after 3 hours, which means no police or ambulance services will be present on the road route. The finish line will stay open till 10:30 am. This requires a 13.8 minute-per-mile page or faster. Runners who don’t want to cover all 13.1 miles of the race themselves should know the race also features a three-person relay event. The first leg of the race is 4 miles, followed by the second leg (4.7 miles) and the third leg, which is 4.4 miles. If you prefer a 5K run, we have that too! 5K runners will start from the same start line and finish line, as well as the first mile of the half marathon. Entrants must be at least 12 years of age on the day of the race to participate in the half marathon or 10 years of age on the day of the race to participate in the 5k and have a guardian sign the race liability form. Race Weather & Climate Located along the Upper Cumberland Plateau of eastern Tennessee, about 80 miles east of Nashville and roughly 100 miles northwest of Knoxville, Cookeville typically sees mild to moderately warm weather in October, while rainfall totals average just over 3.4 inches for the month, making October the city’s driest month of the year. On race day (Oct. 24), the average low is 42ºF and the average high is 69ºF.