GOTR Fall 2013

I had heard about the program Girls On The Run through a blog that I read and it was a volunteer opportunity that really appealed to me.
Last spring I volunteered to be a running buddy during their end of the season 5K.  I was matched up with two fourth grade girls and ran next to them during the 5K for support and encouragement.
This year I decided I wanted to be more involved and become a coach.
I was at Longfellow Elementary which is in the North End of Boise.  I LOVED the girls that I coached and we had excellent parent support.  We had eight third grade girls participate this season.  Practices were twice a week for 75 minutes after school.
The program helps girls by getting them trained to be able to complete a 5K while teaching lessons about self esteem, friendship, body image, media messages, etc.
One lesson that we had that stuck out to me was on standing up for yourself and others.  One of the girls said that something her mom has taught her is that if someone says something to you like "You are so stupid!"  you look them straight in the eye and say very matter of fact "That's not the truth about me."  I got chills when she told me that.  I think it's so powerful for girls to be able to stand up for themselves and to like and respect themselves.  These third grade girls had such great confidence in themselves and I hope that remains with them throughout their junior high and high school years.
The week before our actual 5K race we had a practice 5K during one of our practices.  We had parents show up and run with the girls, music playing, a crepe paper finish line, and refreshments for afterwards.  We timed them all so that for the real 5K they could have a time to beat.
I was so proud of all our girls because the ALL smashed their times at the 5K race and did AWESOME!

One of our warm up activites.

The girls kind of loved it when the sprinklers would be on during practice.

High knees.  Brooklyn sat this one out.

The start of the practice 5K with some of the parents.

Dancing to the YMCA to get warmed up for the real 5K.

There was a booth set up where the girls could get temporary hair dye.

We braided the girls hair and added sparkles too.

Half of our team.

Sweet girl

Our community service project of picking up trash.

Love the facial expressions.

Ready to run!