First off, Girls on the Run was founded by the amazing, Molly Baker, in North Carolina back in 1996. Now it is an international organization (what!?!) with the Twin Cities chapter starting in 2011 by Mary Urban and Kori Fitshchen (thank you ladies!!). The mission of Girls on the Run is to inspire girls to be joyful, healthy and
confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates
running. They envision a world where every girl knows and activates her limitless potential and is free to boldly pursue her dreams (umm...are you not already falling in love with organization?) Also, an important thing to note, is that this IS NOT a running club!! We don't train girls to run and compete, we encourage girls to keep moving forward be it running, walking, or skipping! It's about setting goals and working towards accomplishing them, in your own style and time!
The trained coaches work with the girls and teach a 20 lesson curricula that empowers the girls to have a greater sense of self-awareness, achievement, a foundation of team building and enhancing their communities, all in order to help them become strong, healthy, and confident women. Some topics inclue how to handle peer pressure, dealing with body image and the media, feeling comfortable with our emotions, and community service project. As well as the curriculum that we teach each week throughout the 10 week program (we meet twice a week ) we have interactive activities such as running and playing games. This helps the girls apply what they have learned, reflect, and express their own unique selves (as well as gets them moving their bodies).
After the 10 weeks of running and learning the program all the girls, their running buddy, and the coaches run or walk a 5k! This is sometimes the very first 5k a girl has done (as well as some running buddies) and they worked hard to cross that finish line! I remember my first 5k, I was 25 and I struggled throughout the course but crossing the finish line I felt triumphant and proud! This is going to be what all the girls, their running buddies, and coaches will feel when they watch the girls cross the line at the 5k!
NOW YOU CAN BE APART OF THE EXPERIENCE TOO!!! For the first time the Twin Cities chapter is opening up the Girls on the Run 5k to the public,300 community members to be exact! So now you can join 100 girls, their running buddies, and coaches in this great conclusion to the season!! Below are all the race details:
- The race will be Saturday, November 16th at 9 a.m.
- The run will start and end near the Nokomis Community Center at Lake Nokomis
- There will be a fun group warm up before the race and food and festivities after!
- Registrants will receive a race t-shirt
- This is a fun run and will not be chipped or timed
- REGISTER...here!
- More info on the race, click here
