Anna's 1st 5K: Girls on the Run

Anna at the completion of the race
Saturday marked a big milestone for Anna:  she completed her first 5K! This was part of a new group at school - Girls on the Run (www.gotr.org). 

GOTR met twice a week at 7:30 AM for a 45 morning practice.  There were 13 girls (3rd and 4th grade) who joined the group.  The program is not only about running but about setting goals and making healthy living decisions.  The grand finale of the program is a 5K race.  Several moms helped assist, including Theresa who served as one of the coaches.

Anna & Sophie before the race
Another part of the program is a community service project.  The girls voted and decided to collect donations for the local animal shelter.  What this meant for Theresa was a trunk full of cat food and dog biscuits to drop off at the local shelter.  Joe borrowed the car one day and for a brief moment thought he had the wrong vehicle when he opened the trunk to find a bunch of pet food.

While Anna enjoyed meeting up with her friends (and may have even enjoyed running with her Mom), she was less than thrilled about the actual 5K race.  First, it meant getting up very early on a Saturday morning on a chilly day.  Second, there were hills on the course.  Finally, running in  a crowd of 2,000 people is not Anna's idea of fun (she likes some space....and her own pace).  The promise of Dunkin Doughnuts following the race was enough to motivate her to finish with her Mom.

 Anna declared that she is done with 5Ks for now.   In the meantime, she can celebrate a pretty big accomplishment - finishing the race.

Anna & the Girls on the Run Team


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