Sebastian: My Life Changed for the Better

Sebastian is a senior at Harbor Teacher Prep Academy. He has been running with SRLA for two years and will be completing his third and final Los Angeles Marathon this March. In this week’s blog Sebastian reflects on his first two marathoners and looks to the season ahead.

My history with my SRLA team definitely goes way back to my first year in high school. I was always a bit of an irresponsible child and never had any friends I could consider close. Going into HTPA, meant a brand new beginning for me. However my “new beginning” didn’t start off too great, there came a point within the first few months of being in high school where I just felt like everything around me was beginning to be a problem. I cried for days and nights, telling my parents no one understands me and my feelings of loneliness and anxiety were building up inside of me, and I felt like I had no one to explain what I felt.  However, all of this changed within a span of one day.

Sebastian with his sister after completing his second Los Angles Marathon.

My sister graduated from Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy in 2016 and she also knew Dr. Serna, my sister talked to Dr. Serna and it was Dr. Serna who recommended a sport to keep me busy and active, henceforth I was introduced to the sport of SRLA. At first, of course, I did struggle to keep my commitment to the team, given that it was a sacrifice of my weekends and weekdays. I didn’t officially join the SRLA team, until my sophomore year.

Fast forward 2 years later and SRLA has become more than just a sport for me. SRLA is an incredible help to me. It has shaped who I am as a person today.  SRLA has introduced me to an entire different lifestyle, and it makes me feel extremely confident to know that I have ran two marathons all by myself. When they give us our medals, all of my feelings of sadness go away, and all I can think about is the accomplishment that I did for myself and how much I worked for it till that point.

Apart from boosting my confidence, it has helped me create many friendships that I didn’t even know I could make until today. SRLA changed my life, and I am extremely humbled to say it has also caused my parents and my sister to join me on this journey. This never ending but beautiful journey. In these 2 years that I have completed in SRLA, I have made more friends than before, I love myself and try my best to wake up with a positive mindset, it helps me manage my time for the better, but most of all, it has helped me prove to myself that I can do anything I want.

Sebastian (center) after completing his first Los Angeles Marathon.

The world is too small to be laying around and hiding yourself from opportunities Like SRLA, and SRLA is a door that I’m glad to have opened. The fact that this is my last year in SRLA truly breaks my heart, but I know that I will enjoy what is left of it and I will always be thankful for giving me two years of my life that were so much more than just running races.

SRLA is my home, my family, where my life changed for the better, and all it took was a little bit of encouragement. Thank you SRLA,  and thank you to my sister who pushed me through and Dr. Serna for pushing me to do better and run faster than what I thought I could.

You can help students like Sebastian and his teammates at HTPA to cross the marathon finish line this season and discover: “If I can run a marathon, I can do anything!” by making a donation at srla.org/donate.