last year, my wife was one of the coaches of a program at our kids' school called "girls on the run". as an after-school extracurricular, it combined elements of exercise, self-esteem development and character building, culminating in a celebratory (read: non-competitve) 5k run that brings together all of the other GOTR groups from schools within the GOTR district. last spring's 5k run had something like 800+ students and coaches participate - an awesome and inspiring sight to behold.
as a dad to four girls, i was excited to have three of them participate in the GOTR program (although our littlest was granted an exception to participate since mom was coaching), and two of them (the age-eligible ones) ran the 5k.
as a runner, i think that it's great that there would be an organization looking to promote physical activity/fitness (involving running) at the elementary school level.
as a man, i believe that it's vital to do whatever we can to help promote positive self-image and emotional health among women of all ages.
which is why i'm frustrated that there's no such program running in our region this school year.
from what i gather, the local incarnation of the GOTR organization disbanded over some intra-office political and territorial issues. i confess to not understanding all of the issues involved, except to say that because the group's leadership could not figure out how to make things work for this region, girls across this school county have been deprived of this important opportunity to participate, grow, and run.
boo. red tape wins the day again.
all i can say is that if you have this program running in your neighbourhood or school, i encourage you and your kids to take full advantage of it. and hopefully one day it will return to our area - before its too late to make a difference in many more lives.
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