Girls on the Run still needs about 100 Portland Running Buddies!
by Kelly Barten
Run Oregon
Ladies, it’s time for you to check your calendar and sign up as a Running Buddy for the spring 2011 Girls on the Run season! The two dates you need to free up are Thursday, April 28 (4:45-about 6:30p) and Saturday, June 4 (at the 2011 Starlight Run).
Your participation will allow a girl age 8-13 to see how running can be a lifelong sport for runners of all experiences, shapes, and speeds, along with all the positives running adds to your life.
I’ve been a Running Buddy four times, and every time the experience has been wonderful. It starts out at the practice 5k, which is on Thursday, April 28 for this season. At this first meeting, the girls are usually a little nervous – imagine yourself in their shoes! – but after the first mile, they’ll be chatting away about their running, their friends, pets, families, maybe even a crush! While they’re getting a positive experience with an adult runner, you get to be 10 years old again.
(Photo by Kelly Barten) Girls on the Run made a big splash in Portland’s 2009 Starlight Run.
I’m in the back row in the blue crown, my buddy’s right in front of me in a
matching crown! (She made them for us!)
At the end of the practice 5k – which takes anywhere from 25 to 55 minutes for most girls, the entire Girls on the Run group participates in team cheers before the Running Buddies and their Girls part ways until the Real Race, which in the spring is always the Starlight Run.
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