Girls on the Run

[annettemarie]

I was wondering if anyone here had any experience with the Girls on the Run program?
http://www.girlsontherun.org/

Our church is offering the faith-based version starting in September and I was thinking of signing Katie Grace up, but wanted to know more about it.

[karne]

I'm not familiar w/this particular program, but i perused the site quickly. I'll be back to read more. But generally, I can attest to this as a safe distance to run, and we value sports highly here for our pre-teen. the fact that it's not uber-competitive is a positive.

[mommajb]

My oldest daughter participated in this last fall. She and 2 other 5th graders were 'competitive' in that they ran the 5K in about 30 min, one girl walked the whole thing in about double that and then 8 other girls participated. It was a wonderfully supportive environment. On their own the girls walked out to meet the last girl and finish with her.

They met twice a week during the program to discuss healthy values and self care. The focus was on movement (not running), the power of girls, positive thinking, strong communities, no bullying type ideas. For diet guidelines it was along the lines of if you have a brownie at lunch maybe you should skip the ice cream after dinner. I did not find it intense in any way and would have pushed more (but that would be bad).

My daughter enjoyed it and will repeat this spring if she can. I would say it took the good points of scouting, added more health and fitness, replaced cookie sales with a 5K.

(Ours was not a faith-based program, I did not realize GOTR offered one?)

[annettemarie]

mommajb, was there any sex talk at all?

[mommajb]

I don't think so. There was no discussion of dating, boys, or any of that type of relationship when I asked her just now.

Let me know if you have other questions.

[annettemarie]

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question! I'm really excited for her to do this. Last spring, I ran my first 5K ever and it was really empowering. I'm hoping this year we can do it together.

[mommajb]

The accomplishment is empowering. Each girl needs a running buddy for the 5K so this will be your chance. (There was no pressure to run with her; the coach will find buddies for any girl that needs.) If you go to my facebook page you can see photos of us finishing. We are already friends so you should have access.

[love2all]

I coached the program for the teen girls (girls on track)- not the faith-based -and
some discussions centered aroung boys and how women deserve to be treated by them- warning signs of abuse- etc.. but no sex talk at all...

I think with the younger girls there is maybe one day talk about the opposite sex but nothing sexual....(ie..starting to notice the boys and enjoying hanging out with em)......I also assume the 'faith-based' version will have been picked by the church officials and oked for content??

overall the program is great for self-esteem and body-awareness...
I stand 100% behind it!!!

[mamabekah]

Not in my area :(

It looks good for my girl, but there are none in my area and when I looked it up I wouldn't just need to form a local group for my town(which I am willing to do as I don't have a girl scout troop this year) I would need to coordinate for the entire region. I am just not up for that.

[annettemarie]

Well, church officials = my husband (senior pastor) and I don't know how closely he looked, LOL!

I'm really excited for her to do this. One of her youth group girl heros is a runner as well, so maybe we'll see if she can run with us as well.

[choosewisdom]

Wow! I had never heard of this but I am excited that you posted about the program! There is not one in my area, or even my state (Oklahoma) However, maybe that is just an opportunity for me waiting to happen. I am beginning to train to run the 5K with my own daughter, and we are both really excited. I am so out of shape, and I have never ran before, but I am using the podcast couch to 5K and hope to be ready for the ZooRun in Tulsa!!