On Saturday, December 5th, Girls on the Run’s fall season will come to an end with their big Lollipop Run. The Lollipop Run is a 5K or 1 mile race designed to celebrate the girls'accomplishments over the season and to allow the community to celebrate with them by joining the run or simply cheering them on. As part of the Girls on the Run program, all of the 3rd-5th grade girls are assigned an adult Running Buddy, like me! Running Buddies get paired up with a Girls on the Run girl to practice before the race and run, encourage, and cheer them on during the Lollipop Run.
Last Tuesday, I went along with the other Running Buddies to an elementary school near my house to meet the girls. I had the pleasure of being paired up with a 10-year old girl named Mariana. The first thing that Mariana said to me was, “I am really shy”. I began to ask her some questions about herself to break the ice and hopefully bring her out of her shell a bit. We began to run our first lap (out of 12) around the block and began chatting. I was asking her questions and she was responding to them quite timidly. We ran a couple laps around the block, skipped a couple laps around the block, ran backwards around the block, and by the time we completed about 3 laps, Mariana was no longer the shy girl she said she was about 15 minutes beforehand. As we kept lapping the block, Mariana was now quizzing me on my favorite subjects, siblings, telling me about good times she has had laughing with her friends, stories about sleepovers, her dreams, her family, etc… By the end of the hour, we had completed our goal of running/skipping/jumping 3-miles around the block and had gotten to know one another. The Running Buddies were saying our goodbyes to the girls, so I told Mariana I couldn’t wait to see her again at the Lollipop Race to cheer her on. She smiled a huge smile, gave me a hug, and said, “okay”.
Since that afternoon, I cannot seem to get her sincere smile out of my head. It was so amazing to see how far we had gone in just one hour of hanging out. We laughed, completed 3-miles together, and best of all the girl who told me she was very shy had come out of her shell to share a piece of herself with me. In one hour, it was apparent to me the difference a program like Girls on the Run can do for young girls. In addition to Mariana’s progress in that short time, I saw over a dozen smiling faces, open hearts, good energy and impressionable young girls looking to have a good time and for true guidance. Girls on the Run is able to provide this to these girls and for that, they are such a valuable resource to have in our community and this is why I am fundraising for Girls on the Run! To support my efforts, please visit www.firstgiving.com/rawls
Check out some photos of Girls on the Run in Action!
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