From our little town of Fillmore there are eight high school aged youngsters that began in September to prepare for the 2011 L.A. Marathon on March 20, 2011. They practiced here in Fillmore and in the Valley on some challenging practice runs. They participated in practice organized runs throughout Los Angeles and Orange County. They started with a 10K in La Puente; 9 miler in Encino, two half marathons in Pomona and Irvine; 18 miler at Hansen Dam in the Valley and then the L.A. Marathon. They ran these with SRLA (Students Run L.A.); yes they were out there with all those other kids with the bright green singlets that you saw on T.V.

These students ran the marathon under conditions that the L.A. Times stated “on what is believed to be the stormiest day in L.A. Marathon history”. Alexander Frias (16) has run the LA Marathon 4 other times, this was his 5th L.A. Marathon; Nico Frias (14) ran it one other time, this was his 2nd L.A. Marathon, missed the first one due to a broken arm; they are brothers. They have been trained for these last years by their dad, Joel Frias, who has been an SRLA leader for 11 years now. Sammy Martinez (16), friend to Alexander, ran it with him last year and this was his second L.A. Marathon. The following ran it for the first time: Vincent Chavez (16), Isaac Gomez (15), Anthony Rivas (15), Jovani (Geo) Rubio (18) and Carina Silva (18).

These outstanding young people deserve our congratulations and respect for their accomplishment of hard work and planning to complete an awesome goal of running a marathon (26.2 miles) (it’s like running from Fillmore to Ventura) and under such harsh conditions! Way to go!