On March 24, Los Angeles held its 34th annual marathon where more than 25,000 people participated. Among those people were 13 from Venice High School who are a part of Students Run LA (SRLA) lead by teacher and coach Mr. Michael Smith. SRLA is an organization focused on goal-setting, character development, and adult mentoring to reach a common goal: the LA Marathon.

With running a marathon comes hard work and determination.

“We’ve been preparing for this since August,” said coach Smith. Students and coach Smith had to run a distance of 26.219 miles, starting at Dodgers Stadium and ending in Santa Monica.

Out of the 13 students from Venice High School, only 12 of them were able to finish. Jasmin Hernandez was unfortunately unable to finish the marathon due to an injury at mile 19.

“ She made a good judgment call for herself,” said coach Smith. “She’s a junior, so she’ll be able to do it next year.”

After running a marathon, coach Smith and students felt a huge feeling of rejuvenation and Smith is proud of all of his students for participating.

“To be honest I felt like crying towards the last few miles because it felt endless,” said runner Jacqueline Garcia. “Regardless of the pain, it was a good experience.”

Participating members were Sophia Coon, Mercedes Corona, Ashly Garcia, Jacqueline Garcia, Luis Garcia, Jasmin Hernandez, Julissa Hernandez, Estefany Huerta, Lizbeth Lopez, Josue Menchu, Marai Rojas, Elizabeth Wong, and Joshua Young.

To join SRLA, students have to attend informational meetings that are held at the beginning of the new school year to obtain an application.