On Sunday morning, March 15th, I ran the LA Marathon. It was my first ever marathon and I was carrying on my grandparents' legacy of marathon running.

During the beginning of the run, there were so many people in one place! It was interesting to see all these people running the marathon. We also ran through Chinatown, where people were dressed in dragon costumes and danced on the side of the course. Later on, there were drummers gathered on the right side of the course banging their drums in unison. All these things made the run entertaining and fun during the first miles of the marathon. From mile one to thirteen the run was easy, especially with all of the hydration stations along the way.

They let us go once we reached the halfway mark at 13.1. I ran with two other kids in my team until about mile 21 when I started to get minor cramps. I told them to keep going while I had to decrease my pace. I managed to keep up with them for a while until eventually the cramps worsened. Even so, I pushed through those. At mile twenty three I got a major cramp in my left leg. This one I couldn't run through. For a short while I was on the side of the course massaging my leg so the cramp would go away. Other runners that were passing by said things like, "You got this!" and I appreciated their motivation.

Eventually the cramp went away and I carried on. The path seemed to continue on and on as pain shot through my legs. Soon I reached mile 24 which felt REALLY long. There seemed to be less and less hydration stations, yet that wasn't an issue too much since I hydrated pretty well on the run. By then my pace had dropped quite a bit because of the cramps. Despite this, I carried on and reached mile twenty five. This was basically the last mile, since the marathon was 26.2 miles long. Knowing that the finish line was near, I was filled with renewed motivation and carried on, picking up my pace again a bit.

Finally I made on last turn around a corner and I saw the finish line. It was right there. Right there! I had less than a mile to go, but that last straightaway felt like the hardest part of the run. My legs were hurting, yet I kept running to the finish line. At last I crossed the finish line and a smile appeared on my face. I completed the marathon.