On your mark. Get Set. Go.
These are the words Lincoln Trail’s third through fifth-grade girls who participate in Girls on the Run were so excited to hear on November 4.
But because of the fall’s cold rain, the Stephen’s Family YMCA Girls on the Run Race was canceled.
“They worked so hard for that run,” Lincoln Trail teacher and Girls on the Run sponsor Kayli Elliott said. “When they made the announcement that it was canceled, we just saw disappointment everywhere. We knew that there was something we needed to do. They’d be let down not to have something.”
So, club sponsors alongside Lincoln Trail Janitors Dave Keist and Kirk Nelson scheduled a 5K run at 13 Acres Park for the 40 runners on November 7.
From start to finish, girls ran with friends and mentors, remembering what they were taught all season: to just keep pushing yourself.
At the end of the run, the girls received a ribbon for their hard work throughout the fall months.
After parent requests, Lincoln Trail sponsors decided to host the non-profit Girls on the Run program two years ago. The group follows the Girls on the Run curriculum, which not only teaches the value of running as a lifelong activity, but also teaches girls about body image, their emotions and friendship.
“It’s all about having the girls look within, accept themselves, how to make themselves happy and deal with different emotions, accepting one another and how to deal with negative situations,” Elliott said. “It’s been a great program for the girls by building their emotional intelligence.”
Meeting twice a week from September to early November, the girls are encouraged to talk about different topics with other girls and to play games or activities before heading to the playground to run laps for 20 or 30 minutes.
“We talk about pacing and when we are out in the field,” Elliott said. “Ten laps around the field equals a mile. So we aren’t going to spring, we go slow, and if we need to, we walk a lap.”
“We just ask them to keep going more and more each time.”
Third-grade student Hannah Martin joined Girls on the Run because her mom, Lisa, is a cross country and track coach at Mahomet-Seymour Junior High.
Although Hannah already enjoyed running prior to joining the program, she said she learned that she could push herself a little more.
“I wanted to walk some of the times, but I pushed myself. I just said in my head, ‘Keep going. You can do it.’
Hannah said this is something she learned from her mom who tells her to tell herself, ‘Just keep running. You’re almost there.”
Fifth-grade student Reese Gallier has always loved running, too, but she joined Girls on the Run as a fourth-grade student because she wanted to participate in the “fun activities.”
Through the activities, Gallier said she has made friends she wouldn’t have made otherwise.
“I’ve learned that when I run with friends, we both run well and try our hardest,” she said. “Sometimes I mix up who I run with. I like to run with my friends, but sometimes other people want to run with us, so we include them, too.”
After the November 7 race, the group had a celebration party where the girls put encouraging messages in every locker at Lincoln Trail, ate snacks and talked about what they loved during their time at Girls on the Run.
One girl wrote, “I’m thankful for girls on the run because I’ve gained a new family.”
