Senior Stories: Wilmer, Becoming a Hard Worker

Wilmer ran his first LA Marathon in eighth grade and although he wasn’t satisfied with his finishing time, he kept running and training despite almost losing motivation. Wilmer was able to run the LA Marathon his senior year and beat his record by more than two hours. He thanks his team and family for their support as it helped him when he needed it most. Wilmer will be attending Pasadena City College this fall to study Filmmaking and Theater Arts.

SRLA has influenced me to become the hardest working person I can be. To me, hard work is an important part of the program because as a runner you have a lot to commit to, from keeping your body healthy, to waking up at 4 am in order to attend the races and long practices. However, it does get difficult to stay in that goal oriented, hungry mindset but that's what teammates and family are for, to push you and motivate you when you need it the most.

Speaking from experience, I began to lose motivation around halfway throughout the season because I was stressed about maintaining grades and college admissions but I talked to my step dad about it and told him I wanted to quit and he told me why, if I was so close to the marathon, why should I quit now? So I kept that in mind. I pushed myself to run even if I didn't feel like it at times, even when I missed 20 mile practices with the team I made myself get up on the weekends and make it up.

Safe to say I am glad I made it to the big race and when that day came I beat my record of my previous LA Marathon by more than 2 hours coming in about 4 hours and 17 minutes when my last record was at 6 hours and 30 minutes. I felt very strong that day and proud of how fast I went. Even my coach came up to me around the end of the route and told me I could do it and to keep going. If it weren't for my team and family I would have never gotten to that point.

Rapid Fire!

My favorite race has been …
The LA Marathon because the whole day was filled with an encouraging environment from people cheering you on to reassuring yourself that you can cross that finish line!

Something I can’t run without is…

My earphones because to me music is crucial in any type of activity and can really set the mood for a long run.

A special SRLA memory was when…

I was hanging out with my teammates and coaches at the Los Angeles Marathon Health and Fitness Expo 2022.

Favorite post/pre run snack…

Any type of gummies.

Someone/something that inspires me to run…

Definitely my family because they have always supported me in every way possible and SRLA is no exception.

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