Truett Hanes ran 2:36:56 at the Austin Marathon on Sunday. In jeans. Again.
Official results show 2:37:05 gun time, 2:36:56 chip, averaging 5:59 per mile. He finished 11th overall and won the M25–29 age group outright.
Joseph Whelan took the win in 2:13:18, followed by Elisha Barno (2:14:27) and Benard Rotich (2:23:34). Kellyn Taylor won the women’s race in 2:33:29.
Hanes crossed more than 23 minutes back from Whelan, but here’s the thing—2:36 in a major city marathon is legitimately fast. Factor in the chafing potential, heat retention, and range-of-motion restrictions that come with racing 26.2 miles in denim, and it becomes even more remarkable that this keeps working.
By now, the jeans aren’t a one-off publicity stunt.
Hanes has built his entire running identity around denim marathoning while staying comfortably under 2:40. It’s polarizing.
Some runners see it as a statement about mental toughness and raw durability—proof that fitness matters more than gear. Others think the spectacle undercuts what could be a more straightforward pursuit of elite-level performance.
Which brings us to the tension at the center of Hanes’ racing: he’s been increasingly vocal about chasing an Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier.
The current U.S. standard sits at 2:16:00. That’s a 20-minute gap from Sunday’s effort. Not impossible to close, but it would require a level of focus and marginal gains that don’t typically coexist with novelty racing gear.
Austin’s course isn’t easy, either. It rolls enough to cost time, and conditions were typical for February in Texas—meaning not ideal. Breaking 2:40 remains a benchmark most competitive marathoners never touch, jeans or otherwise. So the speed is undeniably real.
The question isn’t whether Hanes can run fast. It’s whether the denim stays part of the equation if the goal becomes truly performance-driven.
Every second starts to matter when you’re hunting down a 2:16. Aerodynamics matter. Thermoregulation matters. Comfort over 26 miles matters.
But for now, the approach is clearly working. Hanes showed up in full denim, ran nearly six-minute pace for the better part of three hours, and walked away with an age group win and a top-15 overall finish in a competitive field.
That’s not a gimmick. That’s just fast.
Congratulations, but if he wants to seriously shave off minutes he has to ditch the jeans and get into shorts. BTW what’s he wearing for shoes? The reporting on this guy is wanting, because a critical piece of information, his shoes, isn’t mentioned. So he has to decide between publicity stunts and getting really competitive. I am betting he sticks with denim and attention.