Girls Just Wanna Run

When I used to go to a brick and mortar school sometimes I would see a gaggle of lower schoolers running around the perimeter of the school. I'd be leaving and suddenly they would whoosh by. My mom became intrigued seeing them when she picked me up one day and found out that they were part of this thing called Girls On the Run.

The next year rolls around and my mom tries to sign my baby sister up for Girls on the Run, only to find out that the school team is full, but she could go in for the coach training and set up a second team at the school. So naturally my mom jumped on it and did the training so that my baby sister could have some way to spin out her energy. Because she has a lot of it!

So my mom starts coaching Girls on the Run and telling me about it, and I start to realize what an amazing program it is. For anyone out there that doesn't know, Girls on the Run is a program from 3rd to 5th and 6th to 8th graders although currently in my city we only have the 3rd to 5th grade program. It incorporates running and healthy living with discussions about important things like drug awareness, Internet safely, and positive body image. There are about 22 lessons, one of them being a community service project, and in the end everyone runs a 5k together. That's what the girls are training for, and all of the teams in one city get together and do it as a group. And afterwards there is a party and everyone feels very happy and accomplished.

One night a while back I went with my mom to a coaches meeting to look into Junior Coaching. The website officially says that a JC has to be 16 and shush don't tell but I am about six-ten months shy of that. But I am mature for my age and the head of Girls on the Run in my city said it was fine. So I started JCing at a school a few blocks from my house. Not my old school where my mom coaches and my baby sister runs, but a different one.

And it was one of the most amazing experiences ever. I got to really make a positive difference in young girls lives, and I made friends with the other coaches. All of the girls on my team where always happy to see us and they really looked forward to our biweekly sessions. Even though I started mid season the team welcomed me in with open arms. And having something like that to do twice a week really helped me have a sense of purpose.

This weekend was our end of season 5k. My family and I had to get up super early. Ok around 7 but that is super early for me. All of the girls were tired and grumbly when we warmed up but after a while they started to get excited for the run ahead. Most of the girls had their parents or older siblings as their running buddies, but I ran with one of the girls on my team that didn't have anyone to run with. It was a challenge but we finished the 5k together and all of the girls got water bottles and goodie bags. There was a finish line set up with a group of people cheering as we crossed. My dad was standing by it when I ran through and yelled out "Go Duggar!" in reference to the fact that I was running in a long skirt.

I can't wait to coach next season, which starts in February so hopefully things will start defrosting by then. So far I have volunteered about 3.75 days. So I have a long way still to go!