Article Source: The Positive Observer
It’s been almost 13 years since Margaret Lucas ran her last race with Girls on the Run. She can’t quite remember the details of each practice, or how long it took her to finish a race, but she remembers the most significant lesson.“I remember this feeling – like feeling that I was important,” Lucas reminisced on the phone, pausing to make sure she described it just right. “I’m really glad I did it.”
Lucas was one of the original 13 girls who participated in the first session of Girls on the Run (GOTR) in 1996. GOTR is a running program that encourages preteen girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running. Through training for a 3.1-mile running event and self-esteem building games and activities, the volunteer coaches strive to address all aspects of girls’ development including their physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual well-being. The program’s success is reflected in its rapidly increasing numbers; there are currently over 150 GOTR councils across the United States and Canada that cater to girls aged 8 to 13.
The way founder Molly Barker described it, “we believe everyone has an amazing potential and it’s important to live long and healthy enough to tap that.”
It wasn’t that long ago that Barker struggled to recognize her own potential. She described her childhood growing up in the South as a struggle with stereotypes and standards, and an expectation that she needed to be in the ‘girl box.’ She describes the girl box on her Web site as this:
“The box told me things I knew in my soul weren't true: That the way I looked was more important than who I was inside. That being a woman meant keeping emotions like anger to myself. That having a boyfriend meant giving up part of my own identity. But I stepped in anyway. Hours spent trying to mold my body, my lifestyle, my life into what the box required were extremely painful.”
Barker discovered running in middle school and said it always provided her an escape from the pressures of the girl box. She ran well into her adult life and even became an Iron Man competitor. But she struggled in her personal life and found herself partying a lot. She had taken her first sip of alcohol at the age of 15, and drank more as the years went on. Being in such great shape allowed her to drink more alcohol without showing the signs or symptoms most people do.
On July 6, 1993, at the age of 32, Barker hit rock bottom and “could not see a way out.” She called in sick to work and decided to go for a run in a thunderstorm.
“Around mile four, I became very conscious – hypersensitive – and I had a major epiphany,” Barker’s voice grew shaky as she described the moment. “For a 10-second period I felt whole… as one.” She said she finally thought to herself, “you know, Molly, you are really quite beautiful, just the way you are.”
Perhaps it was that realization that eventually evolved into the mission of GOTR: “to educate and prepare girls for a life time of self-respect and healthy living.” Barker knew one thing for sure; the moment the first thirteen girls showed up for practice, GOTR was what she was meant to do.
It’s not just the program participants like Lucas who have been positively impacted. Volunteer coach Anne Warren oversees a group of 15 girls and wrote in an E-mail that “I believe in the GOTR program and gave my time to it because it is research based, showing that interaction and physical activity with girls can support their mental and emotional success while encouraging physical activity.”
She said some of the most meaningful lessons she teaches is inner beauty and health. Warren shared one of her favorite memories of a necklace the girls made for her using beads as lap counters during one of their workouts. She said the girls were so proud to create such a simply, pretty keepsake that was entwined with motivation. While she is busy teaching and inspiring the girls to live more positive and healthy lives, she also benefits from the program.
“I had time with girls which I don’t get otherwise,” she wrote. “I had time with young people who are questioning, searching and testing which is brilliant to be around. Adults are so powerful and until I was responsible for my own children and seen as an objective mentor by other children I did not fully know this responsibility and its amazing rewards.”
GOTR alum Lucas is now 22-years-old and continues to run every day. She is a senior in college studying biology and is considering going into environmental policy or law when she graduates. Many of the lessons she learned with GOTR have stuck with her and she credits GOTR with building a strong foundation for good self esteem and future success.
Lucas said her favorite lessons involved women’s empowerment, and the lesson she described specifically was that, “girls should always remember not to feel lesser than men they are surrounded by.” As an avid rugby player and driven biology student, chances are good that Lucas will draw on this lesson for the rest of her life.
Kristi Mohrbacher is a freelance writer working with The Positive Observer.
"I find myself drawn to the bold, the eclectic and the unusual. My passion lies in emotion and the words, pictures and ideas that stir it. I am eternally curious and ask a lot of questions..."