What is being said about GOTR?
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The topics you’re covering and the personal growth I think are perfect for these young girls. I spoke with my daughter on her first week of starting Girls On The Run and I told her I will be training with her, just from a distance. This allows us to do something together and talk about our progress when I make my morale calls home. I am in the process of scheduling a 5K run here on the same day you do yours there. I want to support my daughter any way I can. I have a few people that said they would do this with me. I am calling mine Run for our Daughters. I know I will have participants cause the Military loves any reason to get some good PT. :) Thanks again for your dedication to these girls.

~ Carolyn Colson, a mom on military deployment

Click here to download a sample of the weekly personal growth topics referred to by Carolyn.

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My granddaughter is participating in the GOTR program at Holland Elementary in Virginia Beach, VA. Her Mom is currently deployed and is in Balad, Iraq. My daughter has formed a team of women in Irag called “Women On The Run” they’re doing this program there to honor our girls here that are in the GOTR program. They also plan to do their own “Jingle Bell Run” on the same day our GOTR participants do their run…so they will be there in spirit supporting our girls on Dec 4th. I’m so proud of all our girls and also of our women who are serving their country…GIRLS ROCK!!!

Thank you for such a great program for girls at such a vulnurable and sometimes confusing time in their lives.

Sincerely,

Danielle M. Hilton

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An Interview with Abbey, a Solemate:
What made you choose GOTR as the organization to fund raise for?

I am a member of Commercial Real Estate for Women (CREW) and first heard about GOTR at a monthly meeting. I immediately checked out the website and knew it was a program I wanted to try and get involved with and fundraise for. I love the idea of the program and wish that something like this existed when I was growing up. I knew that if GOTR had more money and support to branch out and reach as many girls as possible, it would be very beneficial to them, their health, and self esteem. I started out by raising money for a marathon and hope to volunteer more for the group, and someday help coach.

Why is GOTR important to you?

This type of education is not often available in the classroom and sometimes not even at home from parents. Kids today don’t know about healthy lifestyles, suffer from obesity, and low self esteem because they haven’t been taught the skills to make healthy eating and lifestyle decisions to feel good about themselves. I love that the program helps with building self esteem because I suffered from low self esteem as a young girl myself, and know that a program like this can really make a positive impact for the girls growing up so that they can live healthy and happy as they grow into teenagers and adults.

How has running helped you?

Running has changed my life. I started running to get fit and lose weight and it turned into a way to build self esteem, meet friends, and really enjoy a better quality of life. When I saw that GOTR was a charity for the Chicago Marathon, I made a decision to commit to raising money and to running my first marathon. At mile 25 I joined up with another GOTR runner who was a stranger to me and together we pushed each other to stay strong until the end. It felt so good to cross that finish line, to make new friends and to feel like I could do anything. I’ve taken that feeling into my career and my home life. The young girls in GOTR can really benefit from that kind of experience and sense of accomplishment that the program provides.

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From one of our coaches:

I was so fortunate the torch of running GOTR was passed on to me. I had no idea what the program was so I took the opportunity to investigate. I was so moved by Molly Barker’s story and I looked deeper into the curriculum. I had never coached anything but I knew this was something so personal and meaningful that I had to embrace the opportunity. My daughter was starting third grade and I felt if I was involved in coaching she would also want to be involved.

It was extremely important for my daughter and her peers to learn and discuss issues we don’t always take the opportunity to discuss and actually listen to their thoughts and feelings. The open forum in a relaxed atmosphere was so conducive to heartfelt discussions.

The fitness aspect is also extremely important. The girls learned about endurance and how you build and strengthen your body slowly. Every week they did a little better (and sometimes worse) but their discovery of how it all works was fun to watch. They found how much better they were in their other sports and how much stronger they were. Their parents found their endurance on the field in hockey or soccer improved. I liked to reinforce running or walking is an activity you can revisit your entire life. Once you pass the age of playing sports in school or college you will always have running or walking to fall back on. The history of accomplishing a 5k will be there. Knowing you can do it!!

My favorite thing about coaching was how much fun it was to be silly and play with the girls. I loved the attention the girls showered me with. I loved that they couldn’t wait to tell me their stories. I loved making a difference in their lives. I loved getting the inside scoop of what is going on. As parents we do not get the information from our children. We have to find creative ways to learn what is going on in their lives and this was a great way for me as a mom to find out. I have so many lasting memories but the one that makes me feel successful as a coach occurred on Field Day this year.

One of my first girls appeared at Field Day. She had left the school two years ago and I had not seen her in some time. She was going to run the 3k that morning. I ran into her mom and we discussed how things were going. She told me Ellie had been running competitively and she was doing great. Her times were under six minute miles and they were so proud of how well she was doing. Her mom said it all started with Girls On The Run!