Students Train for Marathon, Life
Lisa Coffey Mahoney, Times Staff Writer
Posted in The Piedmonter and West County Times
February 1, 2005
As a freshman at Oakland’s Castlemont High School, Sergio Tejeda lacked motivation in class or for extracurricular activities.
By the time he was a senior, he was ready to run a marathon. He also was taking advanced placement and language classes, was president of his class and headed the school’s Latino Knights Club.
Now a student at Laney College, Tejeda, 18, attributes the change in his attitude to a program called Students Run Oakland.
“Before, I was doing average in everything,” Tejeda said. “(The program) showed me how to go beyond that - to go the extra mile.”
Tejeda is now a volunteer with the nonprofit program, which uses the physical challenge of marathon training to teach at-risk youth the values of goal-setting, discipline and commitment.
Launched in 1999, Students Run Oakland is modeled after a longstanding successful program in the Los Angeles area.
Teens participating in Students Run Oakland commit to a five-month regimen. They run three days a week after school, with one longer run each weekend. The students also cross-train at the downtown Oakland YMCA once or twice a week.
Under the guidance of experienced coaches and other volunteers, the students begin running in the fall and gradually increase their mileage as they prepare for the Los Angeles Marathon, scheduled for March 6 this year.
On Jan. 15, about 50 students participated in a mandatory time trial held at Lake Merritt. To be considered for the trip to Los Angeles, students had to run around the lake four times - about 14 miles - at a 14-minute-per-mile pace.
Edgar Moreno, 16, a student at University Preparatory Charter Academy in Eastmont Mall, finished first, covering the distance in 1 hour, 45 minutes. Training for his second marathon with Students Run Oakland, he hopes to improve on his 2004 marathon time of 5 hours.
Health concerns spurred Moreno to become involved with Students Run Oakland.
“There’s a lot of people in my family that have diabetes,” he said. “I want to stay healthy.”
Moreno said he sees other benefits in running.
“It’s like meditation, almost,” he said. “You have so much time to think on your own and reflect.”
Piedmont resident and volunteer Christine Chapon runs with students Saturdays, and helps with fund raising.
She said many local companies, including Transports on College Avenue in Oakland, have been generous to the program, providing discounts on running shoes and custom fitting each student runner, sometimes opening before regular store hours to accommodate their schedules.
Students do not have to pay for their running equipment or marathon expenses. Corporate and individual donations cover the estimated $1,500 that Students Run Oakland spends per student each season.
Lake Merritt-area resident Spencer Hooper, the program’s previous executive director who will soon take the position again, the student transformations are inspiring.
He recalled going to a local school to recruit runners two years ago.
“This little kid walked up to me and said, ‘I want to do it.’ But he never looked up at me: The whole time he talked, he looked down,” Hooper said.
The boy trained and completed a marathon, then stood before a group of about 60 people at a banquet to speak about his experience.
“He said that if it wasn’t for this program, he never would have been able to stand up there,” Hooper said. “That’s the kind of stuff that keeps me going. It isn’t about the running so much as it is about the whole life-teaching thing.”