Girls on the Run 2020
Girls on the Run is an empowerment program for young women, which culminates in a 5K race. For some girls, this may be their first athletic endeavor in which they trained for multiple weeks as a team, and it's always an emotionally powerful moment to see thousands of 3rd - 5th grade girls assemble, be celebrated, and achieve a goal for which they worked so hard.
Lola has volunteered at GOTR races multiple times and, even though she loves to run, she has never participated in the Girls on the Run program or run the designated 5K race before. She was not of age when attending MICDS and then, when she was of age, she had switched to a school without a GOTR team. Ross Elementary hosted its very first GOTR team this spring and, of course, we immediately signed Lola up. It would be a fantastic way to conclude her time at Ross and to recognize the end of her 5th grade year.
COVID-19 dashed those plans, as the school year effectively ended one month into the training program. Lola tried to do training on her own. Distance running combined with a lot of basketball led to her developing Osgood-Schlatter Disease and prolonged exercise (running, jumping) exacerbates the condition. For the past month or so, she's done hardly any cardio exercise because doing something as mild as walking a mile caused her knee pain.
The cancelled 5K race was originally scheduled for Saturday, 9 May. When she got up Saturday morning I asked her whether she'd like to try walking a 5K as the equivalent for her race. Excited at the prospect, she helped map out a 3.1 miles route in the neighborhood. Then four Whomptons donned matching Girls on the Run shirts and we set out.
The weather was glorious: sunny, breezy, 60 degrees. We tried to imagine what parts of a typical GOTR race Lola was missing and fill in those parts.
- GOTR plays loud upbeat music the entire time to motivate the girls to run and to have a fun dance party at the end. Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and Lady Gaga are heavily featured on the rotation. Our singing Party in the USA was as close as we got but, apparently, the actual playlist is available on Spotify so we turned it up when we got home.
- GOTR races have "Sparklers": volunteers whose sole job is to ramp up the energy and get excited. Lola knows that I always want to be a Sparkler and, when I started being exactly that on our 5K walk, she shut me down hard. Almost-middle-school-aged Lola is a lot more embarrassed by my antics than she used to be.
- She had cheering and supportive family with her each step of the way. The distance got hard for her at the end -- our neighborhood is full of hills and her knees were hurting -- so we pulled out the stops to help her to the finish line.
- Samantha surprised her at the finish line (our house) with the requisite finish line items: supportive sign, a cup of Gatorade, granola bar, and a GOTR finisher's medal.
The medal was actually Raina's first GOTR medal. It was awesome to see Raina immediately jump onto the idea of giving the medal to Lola and Raina made certain that Samantha had it for the full finish line experience. Lola's smile was huge. She loved the cold Gatorade and especially loved icing her knees once she got inside.
In many ways, our COVID-19 quarantine life is pretty routine. Taking the time to do something special like this, albeit a small act, was a lot of fun and I'm so glad that we were able to have a special celebration for Lola.
Lola has volunteered at GOTR races multiple times and, even though she loves to run, she has never participated in the Girls on the Run program or run the designated 5K race before. She was not of age when attending MICDS and then, when she was of age, she had switched to a school without a GOTR team. Ross Elementary hosted its very first GOTR team this spring and, of course, we immediately signed Lola up. It would be a fantastic way to conclude her time at Ross and to recognize the end of her 5th grade year.
COVID-19 dashed those plans, as the school year effectively ended one month into the training program. Lola tried to do training on her own. Distance running combined with a lot of basketball led to her developing Osgood-Schlatter Disease and prolonged exercise (running, jumping) exacerbates the condition. For the past month or so, she's done hardly any cardio exercise because doing something as mild as walking a mile caused her knee pain.
The cancelled 5K race was originally scheduled for Saturday, 9 May. When she got up Saturday morning I asked her whether she'd like to try walking a 5K as the equivalent for her race. Excited at the prospect, she helped map out a 3.1 miles route in the neighborhood. Then four Whomptons donned matching Girls on the Run shirts and we set out.
 |
| The shirts were from volunteering at a prior race. We really are a GOTR family. |
The weather was glorious: sunny, breezy, 60 degrees. We tried to imagine what parts of a typical GOTR race Lola was missing and fill in those parts.
- GOTR plays loud upbeat music the entire time to motivate the girls to run and to have a fun dance party at the end. Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and Lady Gaga are heavily featured on the rotation. Our singing Party in the USA was as close as we got but, apparently, the actual playlist is available on Spotify so we turned it up when we got home.
- GOTR races have "Sparklers": volunteers whose sole job is to ramp up the energy and get excited. Lola knows that I always want to be a Sparkler and, when I started being exactly that on our 5K walk, she shut me down hard. Almost-middle-school-aged Lola is a lot more embarrassed by my antics than she used to be.
- She had cheering and supportive family with her each step of the way. The distance got hard for her at the end -- our neighborhood is full of hills and her knees were hurting -- so we pulled out the stops to help her to the finish line.
- Samantha surprised her at the finish line (our house) with the requisite finish line items: supportive sign, a cup of Gatorade, granola bar, and a GOTR finisher's medal.
The medal was actually Raina's first GOTR medal. It was awesome to see Raina immediately jump onto the idea of giving the medal to Lola and Raina made certain that Samantha had it for the full finish line experience. Lola's smile was huge. She loved the cold Gatorade and especially loved icing her knees once she got inside.
In many ways, our COVID-19 quarantine life is pretty routine. Taking the time to do something special like this, albeit a small act, was a lot of fun and I'm so glad that we were able to have a special celebration for Lola.
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