GOTR

Since the end of February, I have been helping with the Girls on the Run program at our school. We met Wednesday and Thursday afternoons until 4:15 with 15 girls. The 4 coaches taught lessons on self- confidence, bullying, self-image, saying no to drugs, and how to help other friends. In addition to these lessons the girls were training to run a 5K. This past Saturday was the moment these girls had been waiting for and I think it was everything they imagined and more! We arrived Saturday morning to participate in the New Balance Girls on the Run 5K. There was a booth set up to get your hair sprayed super bright colors and more ribbons, bows, and headbands than you could imagine! One 5th grade girl on our team convinced each coach to get their hair done by these young beauticians! She even convinced our principal to participate and her dark hair was brightly sprayed with hot pink! I ran with a 3rd grader who I taught in Kindergarten and kid-sat 2 summers. She did awesome pushing herself up the hills, only walking a few steps before picking her starting point. We would walk maybe past three driveways before she picked out the next mailbox, stop sign, or driveway to begin running again. My friend Anna and two of her 3rd grade teammates showed up with homemade shirts to cheer on the girls! They also handed out roses at the end to their group of 3rd graders. Blair, Anna's husband was a running buddy for a girl in Anna's class. She was pumped to have "Mr. Holloway" as her buddy. All those times she struggled through practices was worth it in the end when she turned to him and said, "Will you be my buddy next year please?" All the girls did awesome and I am certainly proud of their hard work!

This digital slideshow created with Smilebox