51 Students Complete the 26.2 Mile L.A. Marathon as Part of Students Run LA
Mountain View School District’s Students Run LA (SRLA) teams from Monte Vista, Parkview and Twin Lakes Schools were recently honored by MVSD’s Board of Education for their athleticism, dedication, perseverance and strength in completing the 39th Annual Los Angeles Marathon on March 17.
A total of 51 students conquered the 26.2 mile marathon, showing great endurance, determination, mental toughness and fortitude. Joining 3,500 other SRLA members from throughout Los Angeles County, and 25,000 total runners participating in the LA Marathon this year, they ran the “Stadium to the Stars” course from Dodger Stadium to Century City.
Eighth grader, Zairy Rosales, a second time marathon finisher from Twin Lakes likes being in SRLA because it feels like a family.
“I’ve really enjoyed being part of the Twin Lakes SRLA team the past two years,” said Rosales. “I’ve met some wonderful people along the way and I’m very grateful to our coaches. All of the training and completing the marathon twice has taught me that I can accomplish anything I set my mind to.”
Led by their school coaches, Jorge Jimenez from Monte Vista, Marcos Garcia from Parkview and David Dorf from Twin Lakes, as well other assistants and volunteers, the student teams trained for 7 months, logging over 500 miles with practices, races and mini-marathons leading up to the March 17 marathon.
“SRLA is the hardest working program on campus,” said Garcia. “It takes enormous dedication to attend every practice, give up Saturdays and holiday breaks to train, keep their grades up, have good behavior, it’s a lot to ask and all of them have accomplished it all successfully. We start with baby steps at the beginning, one mile then two and on up. They build endurance and stamina that hopefully will carry over into other things in life. It’s an honor to work alongside them and see them get stronger and I know if they can do this then they can do anything!”
MVSD has offered the SRLA program to middle school students for many years. The SRLA organization provides students in the program with new sneakers and race day uniforms, as well as entrance into mini-marathons and other races prior to the L.A. Marathon.
“Being a part of SRLA has been great,” said Alvin Lim from Twin Lakes. “It was very difficult at the beginning but I improved as we trained and my running skills got better. I met new friends and even though it was a long journey and a challenge it was worth it. I’m proud to be able to say I finished a marathon and now I’m ready for any long distance.”
Coach Jimenez was thankful for the opportunity to coach such an awesome group of students at Monte Vista.
“It’s a lengthy season in SRLA and not a lot of downtime in our training, but each one of our student runners worked extremely hard and achieved their goal of finishing the 26.2 miles. I’m so proud of them.”
For Coach Dorf, SRLA is literally a family affair with his wife Kristi and daughter Hannah sharing coaching duties.
“These kids did a fantastic job training and each one of them finished the marathon,” said Dorf. “I am extremely proud of their efforts and perseverance and I appreciate the great support of our coaches, volunteers and parents. We are an SRLA family at Twin Lakes and this year we had four of our parents also train with us and complete the marathon.”
The Mountain View School District is extremely proud of its SRLA teams for their success and for exceptionally representing their schools and the district throughout the marathon season.
“Congratulations on achieving your goal of finishing the marathon,” said Dr. Raymond Andry, MVSD Superintendent. “Your dedication, hard work and grit are impressive. You all achieved something remarkable, that many don’t even attempt to achieve. I commend our coaches, volunteers and parents for their efforts, and for providing such an extraordinary experience for our students.”