18 Mile Friendship Run

Yesterday, February 10, 2013, 18 J-Town Runners successfully completed the 18 mile Friendship Run at Hansen Dam.  We were lucky to receive a discount in race registration from the event coordinators, THANK YOU SRLA!  The discount provided for us to get all the students to the race in two vans.  Students were up early and we hit the road at 5AM to travel to the race.  Both Sandra Del Cid and I got to drive the big party vans.  This kids were comfortable and had a good time.  We arrived in Sylmar before the sun and had some time to relax and prepare for the race.  It was a cold morning and the vans were cozy.  We were able to drag them out of the vans in time to stretch and warm-up before race time.  The race is put on by SRLA and we ran with a few thousand other teens who are also training for the LA Marathon.  It is quite inspiring to see so many kids out there.  It's good for our students to see that they are not the only crazy ones putting in the miles.  =)

This was our longest training run so far and the kids certainly felt the difference.  The race is two 9 mile loops and there are some nice steady hills at miles 3-5 and 12-14.  We were all made quite aware of our calf muscles!  It is always fun to talk with the students after the race about how we felt, what hurt, who we saw, and how we did.  There was lots of success to celebrate.  Jennifer took off over 20 minutes from her time last year and broke 3 hours!  Marisol took off 10 minutes from her time last year!  Ms. Del Cid PR'd  and broke 3 hours!! And Ms. Gomes took off over 25 minutes from her time last year!  The rest of the runners are new this year and all did well.  Luis and Eduardo both finished under 2:30!  All students supported each other throughout the race cheering and pacing one another.  It was great to see them cross the finish line together and talk about how the others kept them going.  LA is only 5 weeks away and the excitement is building!!

We have received many donations in the past couple weeks and are beyond grateful for the support.
THANK YOU!!

We currently have $1500 towards our $3500 goal.

We continue to work hard fundraising and working with the community to get these amazing students across the Los Angeles Marathon finish line.
If you have not donated and would like to, the link below will take you to a secure page for online donations.

 http://wocompassion.org/?page_id=654

Donations can also be sent to:
Whitney Gomes
Jordan High School
6500 Atlantic Avenue
Long Beach, CA 90805
Make Checks Payable to: J-Town Running Club

Thank you for your support.