Girls on the Run Re-Cap!!

One of the highlights of the last 12 weeks of my life was my involvement with Girls on the Run. Hands down. I have posted about my involvement with Girls on the Run a few times over the course of the last few months (here, here, here) and have done so for many reasons! First- to raise awareness about the program (which you can read more about here)! Second- I am all about promoting healthy, strong character in girls (a hallmark of GOTR). And third- I have had SO much fun with the girls I coached this season and am so proud of them for the girls that they are growing up to be...  keeping that to myself is no fun when I can share it with all of you!


I thought I would re-cap this season by sharing a few things that my experience with the girls reinforced. And because I love lists, here we go..

• We are capable of doing so much more than we think! 
• So many days, the girls would surprise themselves with the things that they were capable of doing. While this was true with their running and community service project, this is true of most things in life! I think we can doubt our abilities at times, and there is no need for that. We are much stronger than we think we are. 
• It is possible to have fun doing just about anything.

• There was a lot of laughter during our practices. Whether we were stretching, playing games, even learning about bullying, positive thinking, or gossiping- these girls had fun and enjoyed (most) everything simply by being themselves, being open to the other girls, and having a hunger to learn and grow. 
• You can't judge a book by its cover.
• Some of the girls had first impressions of each other that weren't altogether accurate. That goes for us coaches as well :-). After spending time with the girls, and the girls spending time with each other, it was pretty remarkable how well they all got along and appreciated each other! We had 14 girls and by the end of the 12 weeks, they were hugging each other and goofing around like old friends. 
• Happiest girls are the prettiest girls.

• This one is fairly self-explanatory. But contentment is such a beautiful quality. Being content makes you shine on the inside and outside.
• Building strong friendships helps us make it through the ups and downs.

• Every so often, one of the girls would have a tough day at school, would show up to GOTR and be in a little bit of a funk. Having the other girls listen, support and make them laugh and smile usually helped lift their spirits. Likewise, when one of the girls was excited about something, the excitement was contagious amongst the group. 
• It's all about attitude. 

• No matter what we were doing each practice, often the quality of our time together was contingent upon the girls' attitudes! When they had good, positive attitudes, we all had SO much fun. I think that if we can focus on what we can control (our attitudes!) then we have a much better chance at being effective, no matter the task.

I love our group of girls, and feel so blesseed after having had this experience. If you are interested in volunteering with Girls on the Run in any capacity, find out more here.