“From the stadium to the sea” is the slogan for the annual marathon held in Los Angeles, and this year Claire Taylor (11) ran this race for the first time. She shared her experience with The Express.

The race is a strenuous 26.2 mile journey from Dodger Stadium to the Santa Monica Pier. The track may have been long, but it took the racers throughout the scenic paths of of Los Angeles. Claire said, “It was 26.2 miles and each mile had a landmark so two mile was Chinatown mile 17 was Rodeo Drive.”

Much training is required to prepare for a marathon, but this did not phase her and she signed up regardless. The decision to participate was really last minute, leaving her little time to train.

“We decided 50 days before the marathon that we wanted to run the marathon like, ‘Hey we’ve done this before so why not?’ My friend has run two marathons before and I’ve ran one before so we decided to do it,” said Taylor.

Of course the training did not come without complications. “Three weeks before the marathon I hurt my knee really bad, and we had only gotten up to a half marathon, which was 13 miles, and that’s all we’ve really done. I was still very optimistic though like, ‘we can do this!’”

Not only was there the cost in physical terms, but there was also a fee to participate in the marathon. Claire said, “

This statement is not surprising considering the record breaking heat temperatures during the weekend of the race. “It was the hottest recorded weather in the history of the marathon,” said Claire, but there were volunteer firefighters posted alongside the path to spray participants with the water hoses to lessen the intensity of the 96 degree weather.

Claire finished the marathon in 6 hours and 24 minutes, which is very impressive considering that she did not train for months much prior to the race like many people do.

She said, “I don’t condone not training, but I think it was a testament that running a marathon is not some impossible, elite thing. I mean it can be if you plan on doing it in 3 hours, but if you just want to go run a marathon anyone can do it.”

Running a marathon is a huge accomplishment, and for many people it is a once in a lifetime experience.

“I think it’s like mentally if you want to finish it you will. So I think we all learned something from that experience. Don’t do what we did next year we’re training!” said Taylor.

After participating in this event Claire was flooded with many different emotions. The most prominent one being pain, but also a sense of accomplishment.

“I feel like pain is temporary. It’s the feeling of accomplishing something that lasts. But it was all worth it,” she said.