18 Girls on the Run

This past Saturday was the season end 5K for the Spring 2010 season of GOTR. The girls participated in the Give Your Heart to Monarch 5K in Mission Bay. My site had 18 of 19 girls running the race, each paired with an adult “Running Buddy” who could be their parent, family friend, a coach, or volunteer. I was really looking forward to this event since it was such a heartwarming experience last year. (For more details on last year’s event, see my blog Girls on the Run 5K.)
   

Girls Getting into the Butterfly Spirit

In case you haven’t read about the GOTR program in my previous blogs, the program is 12 weeks long (two - 1hr 15 min sessions a week) and teaches the girls about healthy living and self-respect through a curriculum that integrates a variety of lessons and activities into running games. Throughout the seasons the girls run 1- 3 miles each session to prepare for their season end 5K.

Preparing for the Race

To prepare the girls for the 5K race (3.1 miles) we have the girls run during each session for 15-35 minutes. On average they’d run 1-2 miles each session, and sometimes further depending on what we had planned for the day. Towards the end of the season we had a practice 5K, and challenged each girl to run 12 laps around the field we practice at to complete their 3 miles. This season I had an amazing amount of girls finish all 12 laps! The majority did! Even girls who had never run more than 2 miles. Go Girls!

Practice 5K

GOTR on the News

Thanks to the hard work of one of my fellow board members who is a PR guru, we were able to secure a spot on a local morning news program a few days before the race! A girl from the Monarch school who benefited the race attended, along with a volunteer from the school, AND … one of my girls! She did great talking about the program and why she was looking forward to the race! I was so excited to see her on TV and I hear from her mom that she had a great time.

Butterfly Barrettes .. Lots of them

A butterfly theme was set for the 5K since the race supported the Monarch School (one of three schools in the nation that is geared towards homeless and at-risk youth). You know Monarch School .... monarch .... butterflies! During one of my many trips to Michael’s craft store (I am there all the time for some reason!) I noticed a bag of little foam butterfly shapes for a few dollars. I had the idea that we could make them into barrettes for the girls! I then searched for a bag of barrette clips. Wow, super cheap! Between the bag of foam shapes and the bag of hair clips, we could make barrettes for 40 girls for $6! Do I smell a glue gun project??

One of the other board members volunteered to make her house butterfly barrette making central, and after two barrette making sessions we had 100 colorful butterfly hair clips for all of the girls to wear during the race!

Race Day

As race day approached I got more and more excited. I couldn’t wait to see the girls put all of their training to the test. To some people running 3 miles isn't a big deal, for others it’s the furthest they've run in our life. I personally had never run that far until I got to college, and I didn’t run my first 5K until I was 23! How great is it that these girls were running their first 5K race before they even got to middle school?

I had an extra posterboard leftover from when I had made signs for David for the Marine Corps Marathon which we ran late last year, and I decided to make a sign for the girls for the 5K. Unfortunately my Sharpies weren’t up for the job. All of the markers started to run out of ink halfway through my coloring, so sadly my sign wasn’t as bold as I wanted. Oh well, I tried.

 My Sign

On race day there was a flurry of activity. Its funny because I feel like a very organized person, and the second I stepped out of my car near the race start, I suddenly felt so unprepared! Luckily we got everything under control, but man, there are a lot of details involved in an event! I had 18 of my 19 girls running (one was out of town for a wedding) and all but one were running with their parent as a running buddy. The girls all were really excited to run and as a special treat there was a face painter at the race! Most of the girls ran the race with their faces painted like butterflies!

 Some of My Girls

During the race one of the other coaches and I drove out to a midway point in the race (about 1 mile out) and cheered on all of the girls as they ran by. We each had signs and I had my cowbell ringing loudly of course! After all of our girls had passed Sharon stayed at that midway point to watch the girls come back around at 2 miles, and I drove back to the finish line so I could cheer the girls on as they approached the last 20 yards or so. I learned from last year that its hard to keep track of who has finished and who hasn't after a while, so I came prepared with a list of all of the girls' names.

 Approaching the Finish Line

It is SOOO exciting to see someone you know approach the finish line to a race. (Wow, I’m getting misty just thinking about it!) There were a variety of reactions from the girls as they approached the finish line area. Some just kept running along as normal, others started pumping their elbows as they finished the race and sped up, a few looked at me in confusion (girls from other sites) as I screamed at the top of my lungs for them like a crazy person, and most of them just smiled as they saw that they were crossing the finish line of their first race.

After the Race

GOTR is an amazing program. It’s a program that affects the lives of the girls, the parents, and the coaches. I’m so glad that I got involved with this program and it has been a true bright spot in my life.

Tuesday Carmel Valley Coaches

As if coaching and seeing our girls complete a race wasn’t enough of a gift in and of itself, all of us coaches also got these incredible GOTR necklaces as a thank you gift after the race! They are so cute!

Coaches Thank You Gift

Another season ends and I’ve been given another reason to smile. :o) If you have a daughter between the ages of 8-12 (or know someone who does) you should tell them about this program. This program is so impactful, and I don’t believe that a girl can go through the program and not come out a better, happier, more confident, and healthier person.

If you are someone who likes to run themselves, you should think about volunteering or support the organization in some way. (Or hey, you can support my fundraising for my next race in honor of GOTR at:
http://www.active.com/donate/SoleMates2010/monikool


 

To find a local chapter near you, visit the national site at: http://www.girlsontherun.org/

That’s all for now! From here on out you are stuck hearing about MY running! I have 3 ½ weeks until my next marathon. I’ll be blogging more about it soon!