L.A. comes together as one for 26.2 miles
Supporters help runners keep going, with bananas, first aid, cheers, high-fives and cowbells Nonprofit offers free marathon training and mentorships to underserved students
Along with the more than 25,000 participants in Sunday's L.A. Marathon were also more than 200,000 spectators who lined the 26.2-mile route. Between participants and the spectators, there was a lot of goodwill.
There were the strangers encouraging runners to keep going. “You've got this.” There were the relentless displays of resilience and the age-defying moments of awe. There was even the occasional tweaked lunch plan, because, well, it's a marathon.
All told, Sunday was quite a day in L.A., where tens of thousands of people united for a common goal. In the process, the moment often brought out the best in people, from the church group offering bananas to emergency workers tending to first aid. Here are a few voices, and images from a unique day.
For Masako Higuchi of Glendale, Sunday's L.A. Marathon could be her last. The 82-year-old finished last year's race in 11 hours, 36 minutes. But the knee and back pain she suffered this
At only 16 years old, Justin Martinez spent Sunday running his second Los Angeles Marathon — and he sprinted across the finish line in under three hours.
“It was challenging, but being able to share this experience with the whole community was fun,” said Martinez, a student at Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School in Lincoln Heights. “It's wonderful to be able to share it with each other, how much we all love running.” Martinez ran the 39th annual Los Angeles Marathon alongside more than 3,500 students from throughout the region — from the San Fernando Valley, coastal communities like San Pedro and inland areas including San Bernardino County — as members of Students Run L.A. (SRLA). The nonprofit offers free marathon training programs and mentorships to students at some 200 public schools.
The students made up part of the marathon's massive field of about 25,000