La Puente 10k

Thomas 7^th, Mayra 8^th, Darling 8^th

Camino Nuevo Charter Academy

Today was the day of the Halloween run for SRLA!  We have been training for months, and we have collected a lot of bottles for SRLA Cares.

We got to school early in the morning, when it was still cold and dark.  Everyone was waiting outside for the bus to arrive, and we were very excited for it to come. 

We picked up kids from a high school, and we saw Angel!  He was on our team last year, but is now in 9^th grade.  He is learning to play the viola!

When we got to the race, we got out of the bus and went to warm up.  We waited in line for the bathrooms for a very very long time.  Then we warmed up and went to line up for the race.  Some teams do better stretches than us, and our coaches told us we could learn them for next time.

Today is my first race, and so I was very surprised to see how many people were there.  We turned the corner, and all I could see was so many people.  I could also see a very big hill!  That is where we ran when we started the race.

 

After we ran up the big hill, we ran past houses and people cheering for us!  There are some houses dressed up like haunted houses.  Those were cool.

When we got to the finish line, we ran around again.  We did not want to get disqualified for only running 5 Ks.

When we got to the end, everyone cheered for us!  We got a really cool medal, and a purple t-shirt.  We can wear them to school tomorrow instead of uniform!!

Then we got on the bus to go home.  That was fun, too.  We ran 6.2 miles today, and we spent time with our friends and donated bottles and had fun!

Today was a really fun race.  I am excited to run the next one at Universal Studios!!

 

Say No To Drugs 5K

Javier

12th Grade, Locke High School

       The 5K was one of the best runs that I have done in my life.  I felt really proud of myself. I liked the experience because I really haven’t done that in my life. For it being my first time I did very well because I finished under 30 minutes, the goal I wanted. Many people were proud of themselves because it is life changing. For me it is a life changing experience because I am one step closer to something I have always wished for, my goal to finish the marathon. Personally I felt good about myself because it was my first time running a race. I really believe in myself because I love to run and I have a lot of motivation.

Jacqueline

10th Grade, Locke High School

        I joined Students Run Los Angeles primarily because I want to lose weight and I have no extracurricular activities to put on a college application. My teacher, Coach Lugo, told my class that one former runner lost over 40 pounds in the program so, I knew it would be a challenge for me I just didn't know it would be so hard.

       Yesterday I had the privilege of attending my first event, the 5K at Dockweiler State Beach. I expected to feel extremely tired, but like Coach Covarrubias said, my body could do a lot more than I expected. Not only did I feel immense pride in finishing the run, but it was truly inspiring to see so many students and teachers of all ages come together. I found myself bonding with complete strangers from other schools and listening to people I didn't even know cheer me on. I've only been in this program for about a month and, although at times it may be painful, I've come to realize that it's not just a program... It's like a family.

Ivonne 

12th Grade, Locke High School

2nd Year Marathoner in Training

       The first race of SRLA started off with three miles at the beach, full of both new and returning runners for the season. I woke up early to meet with the team at Animo Locke High School to wait for the bus to take us to the race. When we arrived at Dockweiler Beach we were all excited. Within minutes the team began to stretch. We all encouraged each other and wished each other good luck. Throughout the race we were encouraged not only by our fellow teammates but by other runners, supporters, and leaders. The best thing about this program is that throughout our practices we have become closer to each other to really create a school family. When it comes to the races we get to meet new people from different schools trying to achieve the same goals. When we finished we waited on our teammates to finish. We cheered each other and when we were all done, we did our chant full of happiness. As we went to the bus to head on home we smiled and were proud of what we had accomplished. 

SRLA Collects Over 18,000 Shoes!

SRLA Collects Over 18,000 Shoes!

On Saturday, August 9th, SRLA collected and counted 18,302 shoes, which appears to break a Guinness World Record for "Most Shoes Collected for Recycling." SRLA spoke with Harry Shabazian, co-founder of SRLA and the man who came up with the idea!

Q: Tell us about the Guinness World Record that SRLA is trying to set?

A:  The old record, which was set by National Geographic Kids based in Washington DC in 2013, was 16,407 individual shoes collected at one time for recycling.  SRLA set a new mark of 18,302 individual shoes collected for recycling.  (Record is not officially broken until authenticated by Guinness World Record).
 
Q: How did the idea for this record come about?

A: I was browsing through the Internet and I came across an article about what the kids from National Geographic had done.  The impression that I got was that they collected shoes primarily through the mail because they reached out to celebrities.  Our approach was much more grass-roots and was much more involved because our students participated in physically gathering the shoes.  After I read the article, it was a no-brainer because doing these little events adds more layers to the experience of our students being involved with SRLA. A criticial component is character deveopment and events like this allow for that to take place.

Q: What were some of the ways in which the shoes were collected?

A: Groups went out and spread the word amongst their given sites.  They had shoe drives and encouraged classrooms to collect shoes. At the end of the year, many of the shcools did locker room cleanouts and shoes were collected.  Runners were also encouraged to look at what they had at home and also spread the word in their communities. Many of the local running stores were also involved with spreading the word to their customers, and they collected over 300 pairs. A few of our Leaders put together makeshift boxes with flyers and gave them to friends who owned local businesses to put out.

Q:  What was your biggest challenge?
Transportation of the shoes was definitely the biggest challenge. It took a fairly lengthy period of time (8 months) and a lot of logistics to get all the shoes to Belvedere Middle School.  I literally transported most of them myself with my little station wagon.  I'd transport 200 pairs at a time and I probably made 45-50 trips with my car filled to the brim each time.

A. How do you top this success?
From what I saw, everyone who was involved was really stoked about what took place.  When I have a goal I know what I'm capable of doing. I had that level of confidence that we could pull it off. It wasn't a difficutl thing to do, but very time consuming. Given that I'm retired, time was on my side.

I saw the level of excitement at the event and it kept growing and growing. When we pulled off the stunt, everyone was really pleased with the end result.  Everyone was saying "What do we do next?"  We will likely see a bit of a spike in our SRLA Cares projects that we do.  Many of the groups are creating their own dynamic and energy and it's infectious, and groups that are not participating will be more apt to jump on board.

Q:  What does SRLA Cares have planned?

SRLA Cares is the facet of our program that each year encompasses a set of events that allow for greater development of awareness amongst our runners.  The awareness is primarily social and environmental needs in which our students can make a positive contribution.

We're planning to do the same projects as last year.  We'll collect pennies for an organization for kids with celebral palsy.  Our canned food drive used to focus on tuna, but this year we'll focus on all canned food. We'll still do clothing drive, toy drive, and recycling stunt, where proceeds will be used for a senior run at the end of the year.   The full list of projects is on our website at www.srla.org/srlacares

Q:  What is your hope for how SRLA can channel this energy?

A:  Our students are remarkable.  I hope that they'll channel this energy to make changes within their own communities.