02 · The Marathon
Training log
Where I am now
Every run, walk, and bike ride below syncs automatically from Strava — no manual logging. This is the live picture of the road to March 7, 2027.
Weekly long run, Aug 2026 – Mar 2027
Saturday/weekly long-run mileage, every week of the training block. Darker bars are cutback weeks, the pale bar is taper week, and the red bars are race day. Hover or tap any bar for the date and note. Full log, newest first, below.
The road ahead
Smart over stiff
As of October 10, 2026, I'm in taper week heading into my next race — the SLO Half Marathon (13.1 miles) on Sunday, October 18. Today's run was an 8-mile taper, just keeping the legs fresh.
My current routine: running 5 days a week on top of roughly 10 miles of walking at my job, 5 days a week — about 50 miles of walking before I even lace up. Friday and Sunday are off from running on purpose, so running-specific endurance can build without overloading legs that are already walking a half-marathon's worth every single week. Weekdays stay easy — 2 to 4 comfortable miles, Monday through Thursday — and Saturday is the one day that actually builds anything.
Training with epilepsy, three brain surgeries, and a DBS implant means my body gets the final say over any number on a schedule. A few rules I don't break:
- The Kevin Rule. The schedule is a guide, not a debt. If work's exhausted my legs, I shorten the run. If recovery's poor, I rest. If I have a seizure, I recover first and follow the return-to-exercise plan I built with my medical team — not the training plan.
- The golden rule. Never make up missed mileage. Never cram two long runs together. The goal is arriving in Los Angeles healthy enough to finish all 26.2 — not a perfect log.
The Saturday long run is where the real work happens, following a simple cadence: build, build, cutback, repeated — never two hard weekends in a row without a breather. Full log below, newest first.
| Date | Workout type | Mileage | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun, Mar 7 | Race day | 26.2 mi | LA Marathon — race day |
| Mar 1–6 | Long run | 4 mi | Race week — carb-load & rest |
| Feb 22–28 | Long run | 8 mi | Official taper phase begins |
| Feb 15–21 | Long run | 14 mi | Final solid long run |
| Feb 8–14 | Long run | 12 mi | Early taper transition begins |
| Feb 1–7 | Long run | 20 mi | Optional peak 20-miler, condition permitting |
| Jan 25–31 | Long run | 12 mi | Mid-block recovery |
| Jan 18–24 | Long run | 18 mi | Peak long run #1 |
| Jan 11–17 | Cutback | 10 mi | Cutback week |
| Jan 4–10 | Long run | 16 mi | Maintaining peak endurance |
| Dec 28–Jan 3 | Long run | 16 mi | Entering peak endurance phase |
| Dec 21–27 | Cutback | 10 mi | Holiday week / cutback |
| Dec 14–20 | Long run | 15 mi | Extending long-run threshold |
| Dec 7–13 | Long run | 14 mi | Consolidating base distance |
| Nov 30–Dec 6 | Cutback | 8 mi | Cutback week |
| Nov 23–29 | Long run | 14 mi | Peak volume for November |
| Nov 16–22 | Long run | 12 mi | Long-run progression |
| Nov 9–15 | Cutback | 6 mi | Cutback week |
| Nov 2–8 | Long run | 10 mi | Building aerobic base |
| Oct 26–Nov 1 | Long run | 8 mi | Resuming base building |
| Oct 19–25 | Long run | 4 mi | Post-race recovery |
| Sun, Oct 18 | Race day | 13.1 mi | SLO Half Marathon |
| Oct 10 | Taper | 8 mi | Taper into the SLO Half |
| Oct 3 | Long run | 11 mi | Build week |
| Sep 26 | Cutback | 8 mi | Cutback week |
| Sep 19 | Long run | 10 mi | Build week |
| Sep 12 | Long run | 9 mi | Build week |
| Sep 5 | Long run | 8 mi | Build week |
| Aug 29 | Long run | 8 mi | Base week — training block begins |
The peak-run rule: 18 miles the week of January 18 is mission accomplished. The optional 20-miler in early February only happens if recovery and energy are genuinely good — twenty isn't a test I have to pass before running a marathon.
March 7, 2027 · ASICS Los Angeles Marathon
Stadium to the Stars
From Dodger Stadium to Avenue of the Stars in Century City — a USATF-certified Boston Qualifier, point-to-point through Chinatown, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Brentwood. On paper it’s a net downhill. In practice, it’s a rolling-hill race that punishes anyone who believes the brochure.
How the course actually runs
Miles 1–3 dump you out of Dodger Stadium on a steep downhill — the trap that burns people who go out too hot. Miles 4–6 answer with short, sharp rollers through Echo Park and Silver Lake. Miles 10–18 roll through Hollywood and West Hollywood: mostly flat with a short climb around mile 12, then a cruise toward Beverly Hills.
The fight is late. Miles 20–24 — the San Vicente out-and-back — drop hard (nearly −5% in places), then climb back. That’s the quad-buster where most PR attempts are won or lost. Hold something for Brentwood, or Century City will feel like a different race.
Course data from Find My Marathon.
Plan your race Mile-by-mile elevation & grade-adjusted pace calculator
Pick a goal finish time and this redistributes it across all 26.2 miles using the actual energy-cost-of-running math (Minetti et al., 2002) — slower on the climbs, faster on the drops — instead of just dividing your goal by 26.2.
Illustrative mile-by-mile elevation shaped to match the course's published profile (steep drop from Dodger Stadium, rollers through Echo Park, a long flat stretch through Hollywood, the San Vicente dip-and-climb late) — not a surveyed GPS trace. Tap or hover any point for exact mile/elevation.
| Mile | Grade | Split pace | Cumulative time |
|---|