EMMA GRACE HURLEY is on quite the roll in 2026. The 28-year-old Furman grad started the year setting ARs over 8K (24:29) and 10 miles (50:42), then in the summer won the USATF 25K (1:22:52) and finished 4th at the 54th running of Falmouth, August’s 7-mile Massachusetts road classic.
Better yet, on September 20 she ran a PR 66:23 half-marathon at the World Road Running Champs finishing 5th to lead the U.S. squad to the silver medal.
Such is Hurley’s high level of fitness that 3 weeks later she just rolled through a 2:20:47 U.S. marathon debut record in Chicago. Her smiling post-race assessment? “I just had a lot of fun out there today.”
“It was a great day,” Hurley says. “I had so much fun in the first half and then got a little bit serious after that. I felt really good through 20 [miles], then I got a little hot and started really feeling it around 22. Fortunately for me I had some women to chase, and I had fun the whole time.”
On her way to that new high water mark for debutante Americans, she finished 7th in a field deep with fellow Americans. Dakotah Popehn (2:24:00) and Elena Hayden (2:24:57) finished 12th and 13th.
“I feel really happy with the place,” Hurley says. “In my head, I really thought top 8 would be a good goal. As far as the time goes, we put it out there to hopefully run a bit quicker, but it was a little toasty over the last 6 miles, and I lost it a bit. That’s okay. It’s a great place to start. I’m very happy with it.”
She says the 3-week turnaround from the world championship half in Copenhagen to her marathon debut was no problem: “It was always going to be when we were ready to really go for it. So, I don’t think it changed the plan more than affirmed it.”
More than ready to get after it EGH sped through the opening 5K in 16:24, a robust 2:18:24 pace. Easing back through a 16:34 second 5K, she crossed 10K In 32:58 (2:19:06 pace) but found herself between pacing groups.
“I would have liked to go with the women’s field for the majority of the race,” she acknowledges. “I did have my own pacer here [Caleb Kerr]. He took me to about 20. So, I was on my own with the other women, but not on my own.”
Indeed, Kerr provided solid pacing, stringing together two 5K segments of 16:39 and 16:35 to cross halfway in 69:50, then 16:28 and 16:43 to finish his job. That set Hurley at 1:39:23 at 30K — 2:19:47 pace.
Kerr’s departure combined with sunny and humid conditions made for a challenging final 10K and despite her roll Emma was not spared some true marathon fatigue.
“The sun was noticeable once we got to 20, more than I anticipated. I had a hard time from maybe 22 to 24, that was the toughest stretch. Then once I saw some women in front of me, I got competitive, and all of a sudden, I felt a lot better.”
Hurley steadied herself running 5K segments of 17:02 and 16:59 and finished her U.S. first-timer record in 2:20:47 — 1:23 faster than Fiona O’Keeffe’s audacious ’24 Trials triumph.
Post-race, Hurley was already assessing her first marathon experience. “I think one thing I could have done better was when I felt good at 18, I could have waited maybe till 20 or 22 to start even mentally pressing. I think I could have waited a little longer to maybe drop it down below 5:20, because I think I potentially suffered from the 5:15 I threw in at mile 19.
As for her focus, Hurley admits, “I feel stronger at the half-marathon, so for that reason, I’ll keep it at the half for right now, but I do anticipate it changing in a couple years.
“I’m excited for the marathon. I was kind of excited before the race and I’m even more excited after today. So yeah, I can’t wait. I’ll probably only do one next year, but I’m excited to see what I can do, go home and improve on it, then come back and do this again.”
Hurley has an intriguing back story. A solid conference runner at Furman, she ran PRs of 4:24.27/9:22.82/15:57.23 and competed in three NCAA Cross Country Championships, with a best placing of 51st in the 2018 snow-dusted race at Wisconsin.
After COVID wiped out her senior outdoor season, Hurley moved on to real world jobs, but that lost season left her wondering. She eventually found her way to the Atlanta Track Club and began working with coaches Amy and Andrew Begley in November of 2021.
Hurley’s hunch paid off as she ran PRs of 4:14.49 and 8:51.34 in ’23. She also began taking on road races on the USATF circuit — and fared well over longer distances including a 52:41 time for 10 miles in the ‘23 Cherry Blossom.
In 2024, Amy Begley took a USATF National Office position in Indianapolis — she is currently the federation’s General Manager of High Performance — and Andrew set up camp in Indiana founding the Heartland Track Club.
Hurley made the move to join the team while also moving up in distance. She improved to 51:04 for 10 miles and elevated her half-marathon best to 67:35 in her second outing over the distance in 2025.
Hurley’s whole career seems to have been on a mission creep — and with absolutely nothing “creepy” about it. She has surely and steadily moved up in distance and up the ranks of the top U.S. road racers, all leading to her breakout year and marathon debut in Chicago. Watching the ease and speed with which EGH moves down the road, the marathon seems to be a great fit with the LA28 Olympic year just over the horizon.
