<p>Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud, and how does it relate to the person you are?</p>
<p>*Can talking about how you ran the marathon and how it helped you with your weight be a good way to answer this question?</p>
<p>Sure, running the marathon is an experience, after all. Or you can look at it differently. Did the marathon bring out a personal quality over of you, say, show your good endurance? That could work too!</p>
<p>I find it’s best to use an experience like running a marathon to showcase a quality, like perseverance or something. Then you have a good chunk of stuff to talk about :)</p>
<p>Yes, for sure! But go deeper than the weight; what it did for your confidence, if there was any difference in you before and after the marathon, how preparing the marathon taught you something, and if possible relate it to what you can offer at UC, both in your studies and in campus activities.</p>
<p>Good luck! :)</p>
<p>Okay so this is what I have so far…</p>
<p>Throughout many years of my life, I struggled to have a healthy weight. I was always either too thin or too heavy, but I did not realize the problem I faced until my early teenage years. During my 7th grade year, I decided that I would join a running program known as Students Run Los Angeles in order to help me get through my issues of being overweight. At first, things were not challenging, and I also began to noticed a decline in my weight, but at the same time I began to think that I was not strong enough to keep on running. I went from a measly 3 mile race, to 6 miles, followed by 9 miles, and so on. I tried talking to my father hoping that he would allow me to get out of the running program, but rather than supporting me he told me that I could not take the easy way out. I had made the choice to join the program so I was entitled to follow through with my decision. I struggled to understand the intentions of my father, so I tried to focus on the positives of the situation. I noticed that for once I had grown comfortable with my weight and did not have to worry about it anymore. My fellow class mates looked up to me when they realized the hard work that I was putting into this program. I thought that if other people were strong enough to get through this, so was I. The time finally came when I had to run in the LA Marathon. Running a marathon at the age of 13 is an accomplishment that not very many people get to do, and once I realized what I had managed to do I was full with endless amounts of satisfaction. I had gained a new level of dedication, a quality that, up until this day, has helped shape my persona. Whenever anything does not go according to plan, I remind myself that if I can run a marathon I can practically do anything I set my mind to. This significant experience resulted to be an accomplishment that has helped me develop an awe-inspiring human quality, perseverance.</p>