Our Spring 2012 5k was AMAZING!

We would like to thank all of the volunteers that came out and helped make the 5k a huge success!

We would also like to thank our sponsors, board members, coaches, parents, family members, friends and GOTR girls!

Enjoy the pictures taken by Michael Buchman.

Click here to view!

We need VOLUNTEERS for our 5k on  Saturday, May 12th, 2012!

• Packet Pick Up at Feet First 6420 Freetown Rd on 5/10/12 and 5/11/12: Help distribute race packets.
• Volunteer Sign in: Check in all volunteers.
• 5k Set-up: Come early and help us set-up!
• Merchandise and Coach of the Year table: Encourage people to vote for the coach of the year!
• Course Marshals: Keep our girls on track and safe!
• Happy Hair Station: Help the girls get excited about the race with Goody® hair products.
• Water Stop: Help distribute water to all the participants during the race.
• Food Table: Help set-up and distribute post race food.
• Medical Table: Attend to anyone that may need assistance.
• Buddy Runners: To Run and support girls during the 5k race for more information also check:http://gotrcentralmd.org/5k-events/buddy-runner/ contact Stephanie Menser at: stephie4ncst8@yahoo.com.

***THE DATE HAS BEEN FINALIZED…

Our original hopeful date for the 5K was May 19th… Due to an over abundance of activities going on in Howard County that weekend, we moved our Spring Girls on the Run 5K to Saturday, May 12th at 8 am to ensure sufficient police coverage and race safety.

REGISTER NOW!

**Girls currently enrolled in Girls on the Run of Central Maryland Spring season are already enrolled.

• Entries must be postmarked by April 30, 2012, on an Official Entry Form or plain piece of 8-1/2” x 11” paper.
• All entries must be signed by a parent or legal guardian.
• Essays must be 300 words or fewer and handwritten. Typed entries will not be judged unless a documented disability exists which prohibits writing by hand.
• Essays will be judged on the following criteria:

1. Originality & Creativity (40%)
2. Inspirational Value of Essay (25%)
3. Appropriateness of Essay to Theme (35%)

REGISTER FOR THE SPRING SEASON!!

The  spring program begins the week of 3/05/12 and ends the week of 5/14/12.  Our Season Ending  5k will be held on 5/19/2012 at 8:00am in Columbia, MD.  To see a complete list of locations look under registration.

We are still looking for volunteer coaches.
Pleases check out our volunteer page for more information.

What a FAAAAN-TAS-TIC  DAY!

The air was chilly and filled with excitement! A total of about 900 runners including 407 Girls on the Run participants, coaches, parents, friends, running buddies and community runners filled a parking lot on Columbia Gateway Drive on Saturday, December 3rd.  This end-of-season Fall 5k event is a celebration of the hard work the girls put in for the past 10 weeks.  They are able to accomplish the goal they set and celebrate the beautiful people that they are.

We would like to thank Guy Guzzone and his wife Pam for coming out and kicking off our event. We would also like to thank James Nalley for providing us with music to get us warmed up and ready to run.

As they crossed the finish line the runners were greeted by the musically talented Atholton Band along with many cheers from the crowd!  Thanks Atholton Band!

This amazing event would not be possible without the many volunteers who came out to help! They helped register runners, distribute t-shirts, work the Goody station, assist at the sign making station, serve the food, set up and break down, work the water station, work as course marshals and pitch in wherever they were needed.

Our coaches and running buddies were there for the girls, keeping them motivated and strong throughout the race.

Thanks so very much to all of you from Girls on the Run of Central Maryland!

Special thanks to Katie Marie Photography for providing us with such wonderful photos. Katie Marie Tran the photographer, is also one of our wonderful coaches.  This past season she coached at Harper’s Choice Middle School.

<<Please click on the picture to the left to see the full gallery of amazing pictures or visit Shutterfly.

Special thanks to our Sponsors:

National Sponsors: New Balance, Secret, Goody, Garmin,  Horizon Fitness and Carolina Pad

Local Sponsors: Wellness Evolution, Howard County Striders, Feet First , Ascend One, Katie Marie Photography, Horizon Foundation, Mid-Maryland Triathlon Club, Outerbody Media, Women’s Giving Circle, Young Women’s Giving Circle, Columbia Foundation, Columbia Triathlon Association, Nationwide agent Robert Engelbach, Kiwanis One Day, Katie Marie Photography, Dancel Family Center Y, David’s Natural Food Market, Eggspectations, and REI

Our 5k is this Saturday, December 3rd at 8:30am!

Online registration is now closed!

Race Course

The course will start and end at:
6940 Columbia Gateway Drive
Columbia MD 21046

*****There is a huge parking lot.  The sign at the driveway says “Woodlands II”

Packet Pick-up

Feet First in the Hickory Ridge Village Center
6420 Freetown Road
Columbia, MD 21044

Thursday 12/01/11 from 5:00 – 8:00 PM
Friday 12/02/11 from 2:00 – 8:00 PM

Schedule

7:30 AM: Packet pick-up
8:15 AM: Warm-up
8:30 AM: 5k start
9:45 AM: Raffle drawing/Prizes

We need VOLUNTEERS for our 5k on  Saturday, December 3, 2011

Course Marshals: Keep our girls on track and safe!

Happy Hair Station: Help the girls get excited about the race with Goody® hair products.

Buddy Runners: To Run and support girls during the 5k race for more information also check:http://hocogirlsontherun.com/5k-events/buddy-runner/

Our Fall 2011 5k will be held on
Saturday, December 3rd at 8:30am!

Race Course

The course will start and end at:
6940 Columbia Gateway Drive
Columbia MD 21046

REGISTER NOW!

By: Jillianne Shear

First a Plea-

Dear Mother Nature,

We Marylanders and the majority of the East coast are a bit tired of your dramatic mood swings.  I mean, come on, really-Earthquakes, Tornados, Floods, Weeks of rain…give us a break.  And if not for your love of the East coast then so that at the very least myself and the other Girls on the Run Coaches can take the girls outside to run and enjoy your beauty before the winter comes.

Thanks, in advance,

Jillianne

I am sure you all wonder what a coach does with the girls on days when it is nasty and rainy.  Well, apparently I am a wimpy coach because some coaches brave the elements and take their girls outside.  I am usually lucky enough to be able to sneak the girls into the gym and let them run and exercise in there a bit but no such luck this week.  Thankfully we were able to tie Monday’s lesson into Wednesdays a bit and get the girls to work together.  I don’t know where it comes from but these girls never cease to impress me.

Monday was probably one of my most favorite lessons of the season so far.  Learning about cooperation.  This is something I actually have a lot of experience in having worked in fields where relying on the person next to you to work with you could be the matter of life and death for yourselves or someone else relying on you.  The military was great for teaching teamwork.  So I was more than excited to teach girls from all different backgrounds and ages to work together to achieve their goals.  I sat there like a proud coach as they worked their way around the caterpillar walk, trying to keep their feet on the pieces of paper I provided while still getting all the way around the circle.  I knew before I even finished reading the lesson that someone would emerge as a leader.  It’s neat to see that take its course and see the girls working together and following the directions of one of their peers.  Plus, it really made them work as a team.  I sort of wonder how it would fly if at work when people aren’t getting along or working together if I just quietly got up and placed a bunch of paper in a circle on the floor and told everyone, “Now listen, until we can work together as a team and get around this circle, we wont be able to work together as a team to finish our project.”  I think it would work beautifully but I have a feeling that they might not be as keen to hold each other’s hands. 

And I loved seeing the girls work together in their run.  I don’t think I have ever been so excited running around and cheering them on.  I feel like I look like a crazy woman out there.  Yelling at the girls things like “you can do it, help out your teammate, keep moving forward!’.  But the girls really worked hard.  Not only did every girl finish their own laps for the day but many of them ran extra to help their teammates that were struggling and paired up with them.  Cooler yet, was watching how the girls choose different running partners every work out.  I love that they are constantly changing it up themselves now and they dont need me to mix up their groups anymore. 

With yesterday’s beautiful rainy day, I was of course indoors again.  However yesterdays lesson lended well to indoor activities.  Talking about peer pressure.  I love when the girls say something so insightful that it almost brings tears to my eyes that I hadn’t ever thought of it from their perspective.  Thankfully many of the girls said they don’t feel a lot of pressure from their peers.  They mentioned things like scary amusement park rides, or feeling pressured to fight with their siblings, and of course the normal things that they hear about.  We asked them if any of them felt pressured to do things like smoke, do bad things, wear certain clothing and they all looked at me and the assistant coach like we were crazy.  One girl even said, “Why would I let someone pressure me into wearing something I don’t like?” *Internal happy dance occurs and little tears form.  These girls really rock at being independent.  I hope it sticks with them.  I guess that is what we are trying to do is show the girls that they can be who they want to be as long as it leads to a healthy and positive life for themselves. 

I learned a lot from my fellow coaches at our meeting and was really surprised by the things they were telling me.  And I don’t know, I have always thought I had an outstanding group of girls and that I was just being partial but wow, I didn’t know what happens for others.  Sometimes I am scared that I am too harsh on the girls or that I am not being ‘fun’ enough.  But when I see them so excited to see me walking down the hallways I stop letting myself worry.  Maybe I just got a really great batch of involved parents, maybe it’s that I have some sort of system that works, and maybe I have great assistant coaches.  Honestly though, when push comes to shove it’s the girls who make the decision to work together and be respectful towards each other and the adults running the program.  To say I am lucky is an understatement. 

So when asked last night if I might be interested in doing this program again, I could barely let them finish asking before I was trying to shove my paper with my information in their hands.  As my father once said when I told him I was joining this program as a coach, “Outside of being a mother, this will be one of the most rewarding things I ever do with my life”.  Well, dad, as always you are right.