Evan Kim isn't sure what she wants to do when she grows up. Maybe you want to become a primary school teacher. Or maybe an Olympic long-distance runner.
It is running on run command
The 5-foot-6 sixth-grader placed second among all girls and women at the Ventura Marathon in February when she ran 26.2 miles in 2 hours and 58 minutes, averaging just under 7 minutes per mile. Her goal this year is to run the fastest marathon on record for a 12-year-old girl of either gender – and she's just four minutes away. Her coach (aka her father, who goes by the name MK) says the formula is simple: Just follow the workout plan and her record will be hers.
In some ways, Evan was destined for a life of long-distance training. Born into a family of athletes in 2012, she was named after Cadel Evans, the cyclist who had won the Tour de France the previous year. Her father, MK, 49, was a pole vaulter at Duke University and now coaches runners. He has run a 2:51-minute marathon himself, but his daughter will likely pass him this year when she attempts a 2:48 time at the California International Marathon in December. Her older brother Cole and sister Haven also run marathons.
To be a 12 year old marathon runner, you need a level of determination that many 12 year olds lack.
Evan Kim, 12, front, runs with family members and a running group to train for marathons on March 10, 2024 in Irvine, California. She ran 2:58 at the Ventura Marathon recently, making her the fastest 1-year-old girl or woman. -19 and the second fastest overall.
(Gina Ferrazzi/Los Angeles Times)
For example: When Evan Kim was running the Ventura Marathon and trying to achieve her goal of 2:58, she developed a foot cramp around mile 20 that lasted a few miles. She wanted to give up. She wanted to stop running. But she didn't do that.
“Give it up,” she told herself over and over again, repeating the mantra to help her complete the marathon and beat all the female runners under the age of 20 by a full hour.
Evan's goal is to qualify for the 2028 Olympics. To qualify for the 2024 U.S. Olympic team in the women's marathon, she would have to run a 2:37 marathon, which is a bridge too far, even for someone whose record is as impressive as Evan's. Kenyan runner Perez Gebchirchir captured the gold medal in the women's marathon at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with a time of 2:27:20.
How ridiculous are Ivan's times? Consider this: Only 21% of women finish a marathon in less than four hours. Only 1% of women finish school in less than three years. The fastest marathon has been run by a 12-year-old of either gender, according to ASSN. From road racing statisticians, a time of 2:54 was run by German runner Manuela Zipse in the 1986 race.
MK says what separates Evan from her siblings is that Evan started at a young age. She's not particularly physically gifted. She does not have a larger lung capacity than other children. She only has a reserve of strength built from years of training seven days a week. When the MK children were young, they would all go for morning walks, and the walks eventually became running. Cole was 11 years old at the time. Ivan was six years old. He started with a mile, then two, and gradually built until Evan asked what any 10-year-old would ask his father: permission to run a marathon.
Well, maybe not just any 10-year-old.
“I wanted to run because my brother ran,” Evan explained. “It's fun to compete, and I wanted to race like Cole did.”
Evan competes with Cole, who beat her by one minute at the Ventura Marathon. “I'm a little jealous,” she admitted, but said she expects to “hopefully” beat him soon.
Evan ran her first marathon at a glacial pace of 3:50—a glacial pace for 12-year-old Evan.
Evan will not run the Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday, although her father and sister will, because she is still recovering from the Ventura Marathon. She will eventually begin building her base again before getting back in shape to run the California International Marathon in December, where she hopes to break the 12-year-olds' record.
MK fights for his daughter to break a barrier in a different, more prestigious race than the Los Angeles Marathon. He wants the Boston Marathon to allow his daughter to participate in April, even though the minimum age is 18.
So far he has received no responses to his appeals for his daughter to join what he calls the greatest race on Earth.
“We feel discriminated against because Evan has proven he is more than capable of competing safely in this event by completing four marathons and qualifying for Boston in three of them,” MK said. To qualify for the 2025 Boston event, an 18-year-old woman will need to finish a marathon in 3:30 between September 2023 and September 2024.
The rule barring younger runners is similar to what women faced before the Boston Marathon became co-ed in 1972, MK said.
Boston Athletic Assn. He did not explain the reason for his age requirements.
“Athletes must be 18 years old on race day to run the Boston Marathon. This age requirement is consistent with the age requirements at all BAA collegiate races, where athletes must be 14 years old to run the Boston Half Marathon; Email: “12 for the Boston 10K, 10 for the Boston 5K.”
Pediatricians say there's not enough information to say definitively whether marathons are safe for children whose bodies are still developing. There are two main concerns for children's marathoners. First, is it physically safe for children to participate in marathons? Second, can the kids mentally handle the physical stress of racing?
A Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine study of the Twin Cities Marathon between 1982 and 2007 found that of 310 minors ages 7 to 17 who finished the race, only four had “medical encounters,” a lower rate than adult winners. None of the injuries were serious. MK says Evan was not injured at all.
The risks to a child running a marathon depend on many factors, but it can be okay as long as the child is closely monitored and running lengths are increased gradually, said Dr. Brian Krabak, a sports medicine physician.
Another important factor, he said, is that “it is the child who is motivated to do it, not just the adults around him. This is a key element in general.”
Although Evan's marathon accomplishments have so far remained under the radar, other instances of children running marathons have gone viral and led to an online debate about whether children should participate and whether they understand what they are doing.
In 2022, 6-year-old Renee Crawford finished the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati. But when his parents posted a documentary about his running on YouTube, his family became the target of intense scrutiny.
Olympic marathon runner Kara Goucher commented on the issue on Twitter previously, saying: “A six-year-old doesn’t understand what it means to embrace misery.” Six years [old] Someone who is 'physically struggling' does not realize that they have the right to stop, and they must do so.”
Ivan is brave.
When the Kim family took an informal seven-mile ride Sunday on the trails and bike lines in Irvine, going at a pace of 9 minutes per mile, people recognized the running family and waved as they passed. MK, a single father, has been running a daily vlog documenting the family's journey for over a year.
Evan is honest about her competitiveness and the fact that she didn't always love running. But sports taught her that just because something is hard doesn't mean it's bad. Just like running, telling the truth can be hard, doing all of her homework can be hard, but she still does these things.
“During the race, it was pretty bad, but after you finish it and have everyone cheering you on and seeing each other at the end, it feels really great,” she said.
