More than 23,000 runners participated in the 26th annual Los Angeles Marathon on March 20. Only 19,500 of them actually completed the grueling 26.2-mile event, including local 18-year-old Sara Schmidt.
“It was my first marathon ever,” said Schmidt, who trained by running almost every day for six months prior to the race.
Before making the jump to marathon running, Schmidt started off with 5Ks, 10Ks, triathlons, and half marathons.
“I had a friend that was doing a triathlon and asked if I wanted to do it, so I did it—and got hooked on it,” she said.
Schmidt knew there’d be many obstacles on her journey from Dodger Stadium to the Santa Monica Pier, but rain wasn’t on her list of expectations. The first six hours of the marathon saw almost an inch of rainfall. Everything was ugly and cold, but Schmidt and her 20,000-plus cohorts continued.
“It was raining so bad that we had to run in the medians in the middle of the road because all the streets were flooded,” Schmidt explained. “It was windy and rainy and horrible, but it was an experience.”
Schmidt had no desire to sit out the race after her months of training, despite the awful conditions. Thankfully, she wasn’t one of the 25 runners hospitalized for hypothermia.
Schmidt plans to attend Arizona State University or Cal Poly next year and wants to keep running. Her hobby demands time and dedication—but so does everything worthwhile, she said
“It’s really hard sometimes to take five-hour breaks out of my life to go on a run,” Schmidt explained. “It’s what I like, so I’ll find the time to do it.”
This article appears in Apr 7-14, 2011.