On March 8, the L.A marathon took off for more than 27,000 people and SRLA students at Southeast Middle School. Students at Southeast Middle School trained for months before race day with races like the 5k and 10k to help.

Students from Southeast Middle School join through SRLA to complete a 26.2-mile race and reach a major goal.

Eighth grade SRLA runner Dylan Avonce spoke about his experience in the marathon, saying, “One of my strategies was to never stop and keep a 15-minute or below pace because when you stop you get fatigued.”

Beginner runners often want to stop running when they feel tired. While running, people tend to go slow; someone in SRLA does this, Eduardo Esparza.

Eighth grader Eduardo Esparza slowed down whenever he felt tired and or a little out of breath: “Whenever I felt tired, I slowed down to get back my tiredness, and I used the saying from Nemo like ‘Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming’ which made me keep going.”

Seventh graders Diamonie and Vannessa both ran the marathon alongside eighth graders. Both students said that they thought they would never run the marathon when they joined SRLA. 

“I joined SRLA because of my friend, and we both thought it was impossible to finish the marathon in the beginning,”- said Diamonie. “But when the Marathon came, we both didn’t feel nervous by the 26 miles because we had done the 5k, 10k, 15k, and the half marathon,” said Vanessa

The heat reached 90 degrees, and because of that, an option of 18 miles to finish the marathon appeared. Next year will feel different. Runners have to face the heat, and may need to face the same type of weather next year.

Hopefully, next year students or SRLA runners will use some of the strategies and get courage from this article.