Girls On The Run 5K

This past weekend marked the end of the Fall Girls On The Run (GOTR) season for 2009. (sniff sniff) I started as head coach for this 12 week program in September at one of the six locations in the San Diego chapter. We have had meetings twice a week for a total of 24 sessions, with our final event being a 5K race.

GOTR Girls

About GOTR

GOTR focuses on “Educating and preparing girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living”. Girls on the Run is a non-profit prevention program that encourages preteen girls to develp self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running. The curriculum addresses all aspects of a girl’s development – their physical, emotional, mental, social, and spiritual well-being.

The twelve week program has broken up into three main sections which focused on:

• All About Me: Getting to know who I am and what I stand for
• Building My Team: Understanding the importance of cooperation
• Community Begins With Me: Learning about community and designing our community project

Working on an Exercise

Practice 5Ks

We had two practice 5Ks during the season where the girls had the majority of the time to just run. In our first practice 5K I brought the girls Gatorade and was AMAZED by how much they loved it. Seriously Gatorade turned out to be preteen girl crack. They couldn’t get enough of it! I didn’t get it at all! Gatorade is kind of bitter and weird tasting! I mean I like it now but I can’t imagine how it appealed so well to the candy palate of a young girl! Anyways, it worked, they loved it, and the chance of getting one more little cup of Gatorade totally spurred them on to run each additional lap.

GATORADE!

In our second 5K the girls did even better. In the first practice 5K we had 8 of 20 girls complete all twelve laps (1/4 mile each = 3 miles ~ 5K). In our second practice 5K we had 13 of 20 girls complete all twelve laps .. and 5 girls run more than that!

Season Continues

As the season continued from All About Me, to Building My Team, to Community Begins With Me, we got to a session where we did a group Community Project which I covered in my blog GOTR Community Service Project . The girls all created holiday cards for members of the military in the “Holiday Cards for Heroes” program and chronically ill children from the “Make a Child Smile” program. The girls all had a lot of fun and I hope that their cute little cards made those special people far away smile.

Creating Holiday Cards

Season Ends

On our last meeting of the season (session 24) we didn’t run at all and spent our last session together having a season end celebration. One of the other coaches brought balloons, cupcakes, and ice cream (OH MY!) and another coach and I put together awards for each of the girls.

Each girl received a spirit award for the season which related to her as an individual in our group. (Okay .. I had 26 girls in this group and had a tiring time coming up with 26 suitable/cool/exciting awards!!) Some examples of the awards are:

• Shining Spirit
• Running Wizard
• Mega Miler
• Super Smiler
• Future Marathoner

Jingle Bell 5K

Our season end celebration was last Thursday, and this past Saturday was the finale event .... the 5K! Luckily the 5K was in Balboa Park close to my neighborhood! Whooo hooo! The girls ran in a public race which is known for its holiday costumes and spirit. From the website I saw that people dressed up as Santa, Reindeer, elves, and other random red and green creatures. This race would be the location where all six of the GOTR San Diego groups came together and participated in a “real” 5K.

Getting Ready for the 5K

Funny – about a week before the race one of the girl’s father called me and asked about when the race was, where it was, and general information about it. Then he asked me how far a 5K was. I said "well, its 3.1 miles". He said “wow.. five miles? Okay .. okay .. wow.. five miles huh? Okay .. I can do that. .. Huh..” (HAHA!) After being a runner for so many years and after running so many marathons (11 thank you!) its hard for me to see 3 miles as being far! Also, after seeing all these little 8-11 year olds run 2-3 miles several times in the past few months its even harder to realize that running 3 miles can be totally out of the comprehension of someone! I guess for some people who never run though even running a mile can be a challenge.

Best Race Costumes!

As the race approached we started getting the girls geared up for the race. Each girl is supposed to run the race with a “Running Buddy” who can either be her parent or someone who signs up to volunteer just for that day. As it turned out 20 of the 25 girls running the race had their parent(s) running with them. Only 5 girls needed a running buddy with whom I paired up a volunteer. Most of us coaches had signed up as well to be available but in the end we were able to run alone.

We met an hour before the race to get everyone together and stretched, performed our group cheer (ours was the best and loudest!) and then got ready for the race. Since I wasn’t paired up with a runner and hadn’t run a 5K in a year (and before that not for 3 years) I really wanted RACE! In my last 5K (Run and Stride for Pride 5K 2008) I came in first in my division (whoo hoo!) with at time of 23:49. My goal for this race was 22 minutes!

I started out the race FAST and was charging along feeling eat when I looked down at my Garmin GPS watch and saw that I had run a sub-7:00 pace mile in the first mile. Great! But not really… I don’t have the ability to maintain that pace and I knew that because of that I would pay later. I slowed down a bit and managed a sub 8:00 pace for the second mile.. but a little after that my fatigue and shortness of breath set in. I actually had to WALK (in a 3 mile race! FOR SHAME) for a bit to catch my breath before starting up again. I felt like such a sheepish shame! I finally picked back up into a run and crossed the finish line at 24:09 with a 8:01 pace! (Also being the first GOTR associated runner to cross! Whooo hoo!)

My Running Race Face

As soon as I crossed the finish line I grabbed a water and then went back to a spot just before the last turn before you could see the finish line where I could cheer on the rest of my girls. The fastest girl in our group (a little 9 year old) flew by not that much later! After her I waited a bit and probably saw one girl every few minutes.

More Cowbell!

I’m not sure if I can describe adequately what a wonderful experience it was to stand there and see each girl approach the finish line. For some of the girls the race was a piece of cake. They had run a 5K before and knew they could do it. Sure they got more excited and gave me a big smile when they saw me yelling and cheering for them (cowbell waving madly overhead) as they came around that last bend, but it wasn’t them that were so moving to me ... it was seeing the ones that I think didn't know that they could do it who really made me smile. I could see a change on so many of their faces as soon as they caught site of me, and then the finish line just past me. You could see on their face a look of WOW! I DID IT! I ran a 5K!!

The Finish Line

Several girls were already running as they approached me and just smiled bigger as they passed me. Others were running slowly or walking in the last stretch but when they saw me ringing my cowbell and shouting their name they suddenly perked up and took off for the finish. A couple of them actually looked like a bat out of hell as they passed me! All-in-all I can’t think of the last time I smiled so hard and tried to hold back tears! (Okay, actually I can … seeing David’s parents at our marathon waving big signs over their head at location after location really touched my heart...more details and pictures at my blog entry on the Marine Corps Marathon 2009) But these little girls, warmed my heart a bit more.

After a while the crowd started to thin out and more and more time passed in between each girl. I started to curse myself for not having my roster with me where I could have crossed each girl off who had passed me! I did a quick mental inventory and thought of some of the slower girls and remembered whether I saw them or not. As 30 minutes turned into 40, and then 50, and then an hour.. I then started to think okay.. where are my last few girls? I’d see GOTR shirts approaching and would get excited and then would feel let down when I realized it was a girl from another site.

When I saw the second to last girl she was waking with her mom, looking down at the ground, and looking somewhat dejected. I cheered loudly for her and suddenly she perked up, started pumping her arms and just took off! As her mom passed us she smiled and said “I needed you there doing that the whole time!”. After her I still had to keep an eye out for our very last girl. About ten minutes later she approached with her mom kind of walking … but with some cheering she started to jog a bit.. and then they both started running again and plowed on to the finish line! I ran to the finish line after her too and saw her get her medal and a big hug from her mom, her Running Buddy. Okay .. teary moment again! She looked so proud, her mom looked so proud, and it was just such a sweet moment.

Changing Lives

I didn’t run a 5K until I was in my 20’s, and at that point it was cool to me, but nothing life changing. Life changing running came for me the first time I finished a half marathon .. and then a full marathon. For me, running a distance race was something I never thought in a million years that I could ever do. Distance running for me has truly been life changing and its something I would recommend to everyone I know. It changes your life when you cross those finish lines, and its amazing.

After seeing these young girls complete their first 5K, I felt like I was witness and a part of a life-changing experience of their own. As one of their coaches I also felt honored to be part of that experience. More than that, I was so proud that they had accomplished this and experienced something like this so young in their lives! Some people to this day have never run three miles, but these girls did it! And along the way they learned a number of important life lessons.

Group Discussion Time

After the race I received a number of emails from the girls parents that really moved me. I know this program had a purpose outside of running, but I didn’t’ really understand the effect that it could have had before the parents had contacted me with stories specifically about their girls. I had hoped that the girls had had fun in our season, and I had hoped that they’d be proud of the fact that they had run a 5K, but I hadn’t really thought about the bigger picture effect of what this program could do for them as a person and their sense of themselves and who they were.

Some of the messages that really made me stop and say WOW:

“My daughter had a fantastic run yesterday!! Thank you so much. She was in awe of her own accomplishment. She kept saying how proud she was of herself and held her medal high with a big grin! This was such an amazing opportunity for her! Thank you immensely and we plan to be back at it in February!”

“Thank you for such a wonderful experience with Girls on the Run. My daughter loved the whole program. She loved going to each session and learning new things as well as meeting new friends. She loved the camaraderie of the team. I really think the program helped her with self esteem and confidence. Sometimes it is hard for her being the tallest girl in her class, but I can definitely see a difference in her since the beginning of the program. Thank you to you and all the coaches for providing such a fun way to be healthy and a strong girl. She was very proud to cross the finish line on Saturday and we were so excited to see it happen. My husband enjoyed it so much he wants to sign up for another 5K with her!”

“My daughter is going through a tough time at school right now, and GOTR is such a bright spot for her. She LOVES it. I hesitated to sign her up because she was only a couple of days older than your cutoff, but I'm so glad I let her talk me into it. Running has been so great for me and I am so happy that it "works" for her too.”

Its really amazing to me to see how impactful this program has been on the girls. The design of the program makes it mostly fun with games and fun exercises. Through the program and exercises the girls are actually learning though, and in addition to that they are running! There isn’t anything bad I can say about running! In my own life running has been the greatest thing I could have started to do for myself. In addition to helping me be a healthier person, it has also helped me build self-confidence by showing me that I could do something I NEVER thought I could do if I set a goal, developed a plan, and dedicated myself. It has also became something that I really enjoy, and its a great way to get outside, to workout, to burn off stress, and to meet new people. Running isn’t for everyone, but for me .. it has worked. And I can’t think of anything more rewarding in life than to take what has changed my life for the better and share it with others. In this situation, a group of 8-11 year old girls.

I love the whole GOTR program, the San Diego chapter, my fellow coaches, and my group of Fall season girls. I’m so thankful to have been involved in this opportunity and I’m looking forward to continuing my involvement. The next season of GOTR starts in February and I’m looking forward to coaching again! In addition to coaching again I was also asked by a couple of the directors to become more involved with the organization and to join their board of directors! What a dream come true! I can’t wait to see what this opportunity holds. :o)