Saturday, December 10, 2011

Girls on the Run Fall 2011 5K

Today has been long, exhausting and wonderful. After three wonderful months as a co-coach with Girls on the Run of Greater Baton Rouge, we had the 5K this morning and my girls rocked it!!

Thankfully my co-head coach J was thinking very proactively and bought a few sets of gloves. It was in the low 40s when we got there. I also raided my little sister's closet for jackets that were too small for her. They both came in handy. Many of the girls had forgot gloves and they were really needed. Also seeing how we're dealing with 8-11 year olds, there were a few setbacks of their own doing. One of our girls was adamant that it wasn't that cold. Despite her mother's fussing, she decided to show up with just a thin long-sleeve shirt. I had a thick cotton hoodie I found in my sister's closet.

As the girls started to arrive and we got them all settled, two of my Black Girls Run! Baton Rouge teammates showed up. We had lots of volunteers, so they mainly were there for moral support. I also laughed at how they marveled at the organized chaos that ensues while wrangling 250 8-12 year olds.

Most of our girls could not run the 3.1 miles non-stop, so we used a buddy system that had inadvertently come together during the many practices and had them set goals on how far the would run. The whole pacing thing is still a work in progress. They all finished between 38 and 40 minutes. Not bad for elementary school girls.

I have to say I'm still learning myself. Each practice started with lessons on peer pressure, boundaries and a healthy lifestyle. At 29, there sometimes are flashbacks of how sucky things can be when you're so young and trying to figure things out. You're usually bombarded with the bad stuff and have very few people to use as sounding boards to really sort through it all. These girls are amazing wonderful people and I think they will all do great things in this world. Can't wait for next semester!! Here are some photos.  
Pratima, Mia and Anna in the front and Camille in the background.

Our liaison Mrs. Brumfield

My co-coach J with Anna, Pratima and Molly.