Why are Girls on the Run?
By Carolyn Price
I remember one of my first pair of “tennie runners“ when I was a young girl. They had photos of the Beatles’ faces all over their white canvas. Wow, did I think those were cool and I know I ran faster with John, Paul, George and Ringo to cheer me on!
Fast-forward to the post-Beatles era many years later. I was caught off-guard in late summer when my “all-things theatre” 8-year-old, who is more comfortable singing and doing backyard plays, announced suddenly she wanted to sign up for Girls on the Run (GOTR).
A running group for young girls? What a cool thing! I seized the opportunity by signing her up and volunteered to be a co-coach. We then rushed to the shoe store to buy a pair of shoes — her first pair of “tennie runners” — that would be a better fit and more comfortable for running than her Mary-Janes.
Though there were no Beatles shoes (rats!), she found a pair of flashy silver runners with dark pink Velcro that we christened the “silver bullets.” She was ready to go, and we were both on the precipice of learning what I never did so many years ago.
When I told one of my friends that I was a co-coach of GOTR, she wanted to know what the girls were running from? We both laughed but the question lingered in my mind and made me consider how much different it is growing up today for really, all kids. I realized that GOTR really is about what girls are running toward … who they are becoming.
My day-long GOTR coach’s training focused a little bit on running but more about concepts of self-esteem, team building and achieving goals.
“If you go through life trying to be like other people,” says one graduate of GOTR, “then you will never know who you really are.”
So what exactly is the point of Girls on the Run? It’s an after-school running group for sure, which culminates in a 5k race after 10 weeks.
But along the way, the weekly curriculum uses running as a platform to educate and prepare girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living.
Each week we discuss topics including positive thinking, forming healthy relationships, self-empowerment, maintaining a healthy body, and liking and believing in ourselves.
The running is accomplished in fun, creative ways while working on that particular week’s topic. One week the topic was gratitude. During each lap around the playground that day, they thought of something they were grateful for and spelled out each letter of the word after each lap. In no time at all, they had run, walked, skipped and grape-vined nine laps and written such words as Thanksgiving, friends and elephants!
My daughter, her 13 teammates and hundreds of other young girls on GOTR teams across the country are learning at an early age valuable lessons in order to prevent possible at-risk activities in the future. Hooray!
As a Mom-Coach, I have already witnessed a fascinating change in my third-grader. As I dropped her off at her singing class the other day, she jumped out of the car and skipped through the parking lot, yelling “race ya, Mom!”
Bingo! The only thing missing were my Beatles tennie runners!
(Contact Girls on the Run at www.girlsrun.org)
