First-time LA Marathon runner's love for LA renewed while training in honor of grandpa

While training for the 2026 LA Marathon, first-time participant Christopher Lima’s love for LA was renewed. He’s running the race for his grandpa.

Christopher Lima will run the LA Marathon this Sunday to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s in the city that, once again, feels like home.A Los Angeles model discovered his love for the city while training for the LA Marathon.

Mekahlo Medina reports for the NBC4 News at 4 p.m. on Friday March 6, 2026., one first-time marathon runner reconnected with the city he calls home while remembering his beloved grandfather every step of the way. This Sunday, local model Christopher Lima will be among the more than 26,000 runners competing in the LA Marathon.has been about more than endurance. The early-morning miles he’s been clocking around Los Angeles have become part of a much bigger journey. Thousands of runners are getting ready for the LA Marathon. Lauren Coronado reports for the NBC4 News at 6 a.m.m on Mar. 6, 2026.His 90-year-old grandpa was an immigrant from Brazil, and Lima told NBCLA that he taught him all about perseverance. “Starting something hard and following it through to the end,” Lima said, recalling the important life lessons left behind by his grandpa.Get Los Angeles's latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, cost of living and more. Here's your go-to source for today's LA news.Lima said his grandfather never ran a marathon, but he did something just as demanding: He showed up every day for his family. “My grandfather was a family man, very devoted,” Lima said. “He taught us a lot about life, rolling with the punches, getting up again, again, again. That’s why I’m doing this.” An Inland Empire man is keeping his late grandmother’s memory alive by participating in the LA Marathon to raise awareness about dementia. Christian Cazares reports for the NBC4 News at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 4, 2026.He’s been training for the past six months, documenting every mile near local beaches, through LA neighborhoods, and through the city’s natural spaces. While running, Lima began to rediscover his love for Los Angeles — an appreciation that, for him, had dimmed over time.Those last few months before training for the marathon were dark for Lima.Braun Levi, a teenager killed by drunk driver months after finishing, will be honored by his community at the LA Marathon. Adrian Arambulo reports for NBC4 at 5 p.m. on March 5, 2026. Lima had been jet-setting between LA and New York for his modeling career and said he felt out of whack with his life in LA. He was lacking a connection with fellow Angelenos.“I started exploring new neighborhoods, connecting with new people, finding new restaurants and coffee shops,” Lima told NBCLA. “It pulled me out of that little LA bubble that I didn’t even know I was in. And that’s when I realized, sometimes it’s not your environment that needs to change, it’s how you move through it.” Lima said he found family in the fellow runners hitting the pavement around the city's 114 neighborhoods, from the hills of Silver Lake to the streets of Koreatown, from quiet residential blocks to bustling boulevards.“LA is a beautiful place,” Lima said. “There is certainly more to LA than certain cliques you can fall into.”To think about his grandfather, about his future, and about what home really means to him.By the time Lima reaches the LA Marathon’s finish line in Century City this Sunday, Lima said the medal will represent more than finishing a race. “It’s a testament to not giving up. It’s easy to give up when it gets the hardest,” Lima said. “You can quit or change direction but sometimes you don’t, and you keep trekking that path and you get to that destination that you are looking for.” As Lima reaches his destination at the end of those 26.2 miles, he'll be carrying not only the memory of his grandfather, but a renewed love for the City of Angels. A victory in and of itself, indeed.

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