CityView Magazine

giving Up and Running G BY KELLY TWEDELL irls in Cumberland County are lining up and taking off. A Girls on the Run program started locally last fall and has seen the number of participants double in just a few months. The national Girls on the Run program was established in Charlotte in 1996 by Molly Barker and now boasts more than 30,000 volunteers nationwide, serv- ing more than 80,000 girls in over 170 cities across the U.S. Though running certainly plays a key role in the program, the curriculum provides pre-adolescent girls with les- sons in other areas, as well. Girls gain the necessary tools to embrace their individual strengths as they prepare to enter middle school. Bi-weekly lessons range in content from making wise choices involving food, having respect for themselves, honoring authority, positive self-talk and of course fitness. "I have to completely agree with the founder, Molly Barker, that this program is Girls On The Run brings empowerment and fitness to local pre-adolescents 32 | March/April • 2012 truly changing the world…one girl at a time," said Ann Ice, one of the founders of the Fayetteville Girls on the Run program. In conjunction with the structured curriculum are weekly workout activities, many involving team work followed by running games or activities of some sort that help the girls to reach their mileage goals by the end of the 10-week season and pre- pare them for a 5k (3.12 miles) race along with some parents and teachers as well. "The best part was being with all your friends," said fiſth grader Maddie Clouatre. "Crossing the finish-line for my first 5k made me feel proud of myself." Ryan David Jackson Photography

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