Students and teachers gear up for the LA Marathon

By Angel T.

With the Los Angeles Marathon right around the corner, students and teachers who are part of Students Run Los Angeles (SRLA) are getting ready for their longest and most challenging run yet.

SRLA gives public school students across Los Angeles the opportunity to prepare for the LA Marathon by promoting good health habits, training, and, most importantly, goal-setting for students. The organization’s aim is for students to complete the LA Marathon.

Various members of the SRLA team are returners who had run the LA Marathon in previous years like Mr. Banda, an SRLA  coach and TSP Coordinator for Public Service, has run numerous marathons in the past. “This will be my 13th consecutive year running the LA Marathon, my 16th overall marathon,” he said.  

The LA Marathon will be on March 19, stretching 26.2 miles throughout all of Los Angeles. Training for the marathon starts back in August. The team meets every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to run. The team initially starts off with a few miles to prepare for the first race, which is a 5K. Every month, the team has a new race that they must prepare for and the distance increases for each race. They start at 5K then 10K, 15K, two half marathons, 18 milers, and finally the LA marathon. Public Service student Silvia T., team captain of SRLA, says that she enjoys running the races and “especially for the medals after a race.”

Every year SRLA gets many new members. This year is no exception. Mr. Monteon, Graphic Design teacher, joined the team. He had mentioned to his students that one of his goals was to run more, so then, a member from SRLA had heard that a coach was stepping down and asked Mr. Monteon to join. He said “it was a sign from universe.” When the coaches approached Mr. Monteon about becoming a coach he said, “There’s nothing to think about. This is the universe calling me to, you know, run the marathon.”

Mr. Monteon has only ran two half-marathons in the past and March 19 will be his first-ever full marathon. He added that being ready mentally for the race and ready physically are two different things. “You have to adapt to every race,” he explained. However, he admits he has a love/hate relationship with running.“I hate running,” he said, “but that’s what I love about it, it reminds me of life, like the times that I have fallen and the fact that I’m able to get up and continue pushing.”

“There’s nothing to think about. This is the universe calling me to, you know, run the marathon.”

– Mr. Monteon

The LA marathon is one of the best marathons out there as there are people along the whole race cheering you on and, as Mr. Banda states, “I’ve been in other marathons where, you know, it’s very quiet and very lonely.”

An interesting fact about this year’s SRLA team is that half the team is made up of students from CATS.