The Taco Bell 50k Race Is Back in 2026, Here’s What's Involved

If you were craving reading about something today that immediately induces indigestion, then we’ve got just the story for ya: The Taco Bell ultra-marathon is back for another year. Yep. This is the world that we live in, people. This 50-kilometer race is due to return on Saturday, October 3, and if you’re brave (or foolish) enough to take part, you get to wear your legs out while having to eat a minimum of nine Taco Bell items en route.

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Might sound like something that not that many people want to do, right? Well, last year, around 500 of them did – including a nine-year-old. Here’s everything we know about this slightly dystopian race.

So, What Is This Race, Exactly?

The Taco Bell 50k, also known as the Weirdest Ultra Marathon Of Them All (not the official title, just ours), takes place in Denver every year, in conjunction with International Taco Day. Racers have to run the full 50-kilometer route, which flows in a rough square around the city, and stop at 10 Taco Bells along the way. Of the 10 they stop at, they have to eat a menu item at all but one.

These menu items, Taco Bell says in its terms and conditions, are pretty specific. Drinks don’t count, so it has to be physical food. By the fourth stop, you have to have eaten either a Chalupa Supreme or a Crunchwrap Supreme. By the time you get to stop number eight, you have to have chowed down on one Burrito Supreme or one Nachos Bell Grande. Taco Bell does make concessions to dietary restrictions, though. Plus, there’s really no way to sidestep any of this, as you have to keep your receipts to prove that you ate at each stop and show them at the end of the run. You have 11 hours to finish the whole race, eating time included.

Last year, of the approximately 500 that took part, almost 430 finished, with the youngest being just nine years old. We would hope that kid didn’t take part in the additional challenges that Taco Bell “offers” along the way: You can complete the Diablo Challenge by eating all of your items with Diablo Sauce and doing a Diablo shooter to finish, or a Baja Blast Challenge, in which you have to drink 2 liters of Baja Blast en route, and not throw up. Look, call us old-fashioned, but none of this sounds that exciting to us. We’ll just stay at home with the cat.

…And Why Does Taco Bell Do This? Why Would Anyone Do This?

We don’t know. Bragging rights? Taco Bell promises that you get a “commemorative item after successful completion of the run,” which reeeeeeally doesn’t feel worth it. At the end of its terms and conditions, it finishes with “Congratulations,” which gives us the impression that it knows exactly how silly this whole thing is. But hey. If you’ve ever wanted to have heartburn for a solid year after a race, we know exactly the way to do it.