Runners High

Staying on track isn't easy in East Oakland, California. While kids watch their friends get in fights, go to jail, or get pregnant, Student Run Oakland (SRO) reinvigorates hope in one of the roughest neighborhoods in the country. In a four-month program, SRO trains student recruits from around the area to run a marathon (26.2 miles). The incentives: free shoes and an all-expense-paid trip to the Los Angeles Marathon. The prize: if you can finish a marathon, you can do anything. Justine Jacob and Alex D. da Silva's RUNNERS HIGH follows four hopefuls-Ebony, Fred, Marvyn, and Alma-through this long and grueling process. From two laps to 20 miles, the training is by no means easy, and the students face their fair share of physical and personal problems along the way. But with the encouragement and commitment of the volunteers of SRO, including Coach Alphonzo and Executive Director Spencer Hooper, the runners learn that they have responsibility for their future – to cross a finish line and to achieve a dream. – E.J.B.