King wins fourth AFS title, Navy teams earn top honors

WASHINGTON — Marine Corps Maj. Kyle King prepared for one of his toughest challenges at the 2026 Armed Forces Marathon in Washington D.C. Oct. 25.

King, the only Marine to win the overall Marine Corps Marathon multiple times, faced Navy Ensign Murphy Smith, who clocked a personal record of 2 hours, 8 minutes and 58 seconds at the 2026 Boston Marathon and had just raced at the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 11.

“His PRs are way faster than mine,” said King who has a PR of 2 hours, 14 minutes and ten seconds. “So from my point of view, my only chance of beating him was if he was going to be tired from Chicago.”

However, after holding an early lead over King, Smith could not finish the race and had to leave due to illness. Suddenly King found himself alone, and jogging several minutes ahead of the leaders.

“I hit the full spectrum of emotions,” King said.

Despite struggling with fatigue, King won his fourth Armed Forces Marathon and Marine Corps Marathon title, finishing with a race-best 2:17:31. King, a veteran marathon runner, previously won the 2022, 2024 and 2025 Marine Corps Marathons.

After commissioning into the Marines in 2014, King has competed at the 2019 World Military Games in Wuhan, China, and qualified for the Olympic trials twice. The artillery officer credited his preparation and changes to his diet for his continued success in the race.

“One thing that I’ve learned about myself is how to prepare to give your best,” King said. “And I have a lot of respect for the marathon. Every marathon I come to, I don’t necessarily expect to win, but I do expect it to hurt really bad and in order to win I’m going to have to have really great execution.”

King’s plan: run fast and push the pace early. His strategy almost worked too well.

King said he clocked in at about 1:08 at the race’s halfway point. He wanted to be closer to 1:09 to conserve his energy for the rest of the 26.2-mile course, which winds past Arlington National Cemetery into downtown Washington D.C. and before finishing near the Marine Corps War Memorial.

The Marine grew concerned that he had used too much energy in the first half of the race, trying to keep pace with Smith.

“I started to feel a little sorry for myself because, I was like, ‘man, I got a long ways to go,’ and my legs are already hurting,” King said.

Fortunately for King, cheers from the crowds at the National Mall gave him the energy needed to get through the race. He said seeing his 10-month-old son and his partner standing at the side of the racetrack further inspired him to reach the finish line.

“I saw my partner and my son out there, and yeah, I started to feel a little better and started to have a little more fun again,” King said. I was like, ‘all right, you know, we're just racing.’ It’s not life or death. We're just out here trying our best.”

WOMEN: Navy Lt. j.g. Bowman Shaughnessy of Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, set a personal record to become the first military female to cross the finish line, finishing with a time of 2:49:49 to finish fourth overall.

Shaughnessy credited her Navy teammates with helping her reach the new milestone.

Shaughnessy and her three Navy teammates, Jaqui Sheedy, Ellie Leonard and Camille Herhusky ran together for the first 13 miles, setting the pace for each other, while also working together on drafting and spotting potholes.

“I feel like it couldn't have been a more perfect day,” Shaughnessy said. “The weather was beautiful, and there were so many crowds cheering for you. The four of us [Sailors] just ended up sticking together ... it was just so amazing to have the support from my fellow Navy teammates. I couldn't have asked for a better race.”

The Sailor tries to run about 60-70 miles per week to build her endurance for marathons. Shaughnessy, who has been running marathons since age 12, set her previous PR at the 2026 Boston Marathon earlier this year.

TEAM TITLES: Despite the loss of King, the All-Navy men’s and women’s marathon teams both won the overall team title on Sunday, highlighted by a third-place finish from Navy Ensign Joe Reimann, who clocked in at 2:23:28. “Everybody did so well,” Shaughnessy said. “Everybody put out their best effort today. I think three out of the four of us got PRs, so everybody absolutely crushed it and I'm proud of all my teammates.”

The All-Marine Corps men’s team finished in second place, while the All-Army women’s team also took silver.

Army’s Monika Horoho became the second military female runner to cross the finish line, finishing tenth overall. Air Force 1st Lt. Corinne Yorkman, also a triathlete, was the third military female to finish.

The Armed Forces marathon teams from each military branch competed amongst more than 30,000 runners from across the world.

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