Just a few reminders

1. If a child needs running shoes and you cannot afford them please let us know ASAP!

2. Please send a healthy snack for your daughter to eat after school.

3. If you are having trouble finding a running buddy please let us know as we have plenty of volunteers who would be more then happy to be your daughters running partner:)

IMPORTANT DATES!!!

Welcome to Girls on the Run, Fall 2013 season!!!! We are off to a great start and wanted to share  some important dates with you.

Monday, November 11: There is no school and no GOTR!

November 14th: This is the deadline for choosing your running buddy for the 5k run. A slip will be going home for you to confirm your running buddy. If you have any questions please contact a coach.

November 18th: Mock 5k run at BRES. Please plan on attending to encourage and support the girls as they practice for the real 5k run. Bring friends and family!

November 27th: There will be school but NO GOTR practice!

November 30th: This is the deadline for the girls running buddies to register online. Information regarding this can be found by clicking on the main GOTR site on our blog and choosing the link for 5k run. The girls are already registered.

Saturday December 14th: Reindeer Romp 5k run in Apex. More information to follow.

December 18th: Last day of GOTR/ celebration

Registration is OPEN!!

This is just a reminder that, even though it seems early, registration is OPEN for the fall season of Girls on the Run here at BRES!!  We will continue to meet on Mondays and Wednesdays, although the time is shifting just slightly to 4:15-5:30.  Visit http://www.gotrtriangle.org/locations/program-sites for all the information you need about registration, scholarships, and the GOTR program.  Also, feel free to contact me (Ms. Blair) with any questions!!

We did it!!!!

Success! The girls (and their amazing running buddies, of course) completed the 5k and accomplished their goals. We coaches are SO proud of everything they put into getting to this point! Today was such a fun and exciting day :) Way to go, Fiery Foxes!

Thanks to all the parents, teachers, siblings, and everyone else who came out to support the girls today, we'd love to have you at our End-of-Season Celebration on Wednesday at 4:00!

GOTR Nail Salon: SUCCESS!

The girls came up with an original, creative, and wonderful idea for their community impact project, and the GOTR Nail Salon yesterday was a huge success!  They raised $187.00 for The Children's Promise at the UNC Children's Hospital, which will go to childhood cancer.  The Fiery Foxes are real professionals when it comes to manicures... there were a wide variety of colors and designs available, a drying station, a waiting area, and of course service delivered with a smile! Check out some of the pictures :)  We are SO proud of them!

Having fun, winding down...

WOW!  It is SO hard to believe that yesterday was our last "regular" practice (if you can call giggling through the hallways and hanging up signs for our Nail Salon, filling out our final GOTR survey, "regular")!  We spent some time making final preparations for the GOTR Nail Salon tomorrow, as well as running and celebrating each other and the great friendships built throughout the season.  It was very encouraging to hear the girls share some of the things they love about each other.  This truly is an amazing group of girls, and we coaches are so lucky to have had the chance to work with them!

A few important reminders: tomorrow is deadline for online registration for the Quintiles 5K.  Please make sure all running buddies are registered!  As for the 5k, it is THIS SATURDAY!  Girls need to be at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham, wearing their pink shirts, at 8:00 am... look for the Banks Road sign, it will be white!  Our final celebration will be on Monday during our regular practice time.  This will be our final time together, and it's a chance to celebrate how far we've come.  You're invited, we would LOVE to have you!!  Finally, we really hope to see you tomorrow between 4:15 and 5:15 at the Nail Salon in the BRES Cafe!  We are accepting donations of $1.00 or more to donate to children's cancer... plus, you'll come away with some rockin' nails :)

The World Around Us...

We were SO proud of the hard work the girls put into the Mock 5k that we celebrated their big accomplishment during the next practice by playing Wii and setting some goals for how to move forward.  It was both a fun and productive day!  

Since then, though, we've been talking about some more serious subjects... for example, how the media and advertisements show girls and women, and how to look at those images in a healthy way.  As the girls move into these critical middle school years, media images and pressure to look good can be strong, and understanding how to "tune into a new message" of self-confidence and positivity despite what surrounds you is key!  

Finally, the girls are SUPER excited about their Community Impact Project!  Lots of planning, laughter, and ideas went into the GOTR Nail Salon that will be taking place next Wednesday here are BRES from 4:15-5:15!  We hope to see you there as the girls paint nails to raise money for children with cancer!  

Mock 5K!

After starting off the week by talking about how to choose good friends, people who will build you up and accept you for who you are, (a VERY important conversation for girls this age!), the Fiery Foxes successfully ran their Mock 5K!!  Thanks so much to everyone who came out to run with us and support us!  We are SO proud of the girls for working hard, trying their best, and having fun while doing it :)  Check out some of the pictures from our big day!  

Be Strong.

Last week in Girls on the Run we faced some important issues: gossiping and bullying.  Not only did we have some good conversations about what both of these things can look like, but we learned strategies for dealing with them and how to stand up for ourselves in a positive way.  As a Girl on the Run, we emphasized the importance of standing up for yourself and being strong, but not getting pulled into these behaviors.  The girls learned about the harmful effects of gossiping, and how they can put a stop to it by using our SBLR strategy.  They also talked about the different types of bullying: physical, social/emotional, and verbal; and how to use this same strategy in a different kind of situation.  To balance out some of these big conversations, we had a fun scavenger hunt on Monday :)  Be sure to check out your parent guide and ask your Girl on the Run about what we discussed!

R-E-S-P. . .O-N-D!

How do you respond to the important things in life?  Our responses in life, to the words people say and the things they do, can be critical; as many of our girls are learning firsthand.  This is why our topics last week were SO important, as we spent time talking about peer pressure and standing up for yourself.  The girls not only had some great discussions about what peer pressure is and ways that they may experience it, but they learned a strategy for how to deal with it... make sure to ask your Girl on the Run about SBLR!  We also talked about how to be strong and assertive as we used four key phrases that will enable the girls to express what they are feeling and stand up for themselves.  Emotions ran high during our practice activity, giving the girls a great opportunity to utilize their four key phrases!

Cooperate!

How can we all work together when we are so different?  This question generated a lot of discussion yesterday, but we determined that it is, in fact, possible to cooperate no matter how unique we may be!  The girls even had the chance to run a bit with Power Palmer as they worked together as a team to complete 1.5 miles each around the track... awesome!

Relax...

The pictures you see look a bit different this week... we talked about the importance of relaxation yesterday, something I think we all need to stop and think about every once in awhile! The girls shared different ways they like to relax as we discussed how to step back, decompress, and deal with stress. To practice this, today we did some yoga!

What makes our team GOTR BEAUTIFUL??

For the times when you wonder about the benefits of Girls on the Run; whether you are a parent, a student, a coach, or someone who isn't even sure what Girls on the Run is... here is an incredible reminder of how it builds up our girls (which we all know is essential for girls on the brink of those tough middle school years!).  After only 3 full weeks together, take a look at what our girls had to say when asked "What makes our team GOTR Beautiful?" 

We look out for each other. We are amazing just the way we are. We all help each other and share. We love each other and work as a team. Bold and kind. We take care of each other. Awesome. I like the way we motivate each other. People look up to others. Helpful. Thankful for all of our teammates. Truthful. Love each one of our teammates like family. Beautiful.  

What does "healthy" mean?

  

The girls learned about two different kinds of health this week: physical and emotional.  We talked about all kinds of things, ranging from a balanced diet and the food guide pyramid to being emotionally healthy and how it's a good thing to allow yourself to experience all of the emotions, as long as you know how to handle them appropriately.  As we learned about how to be healthy people, we played "healthy habit" softball, the girls thought through how they would deal with different emotional scenarios as they ran, and they acted out feelings.  Take a look!  

Physical health: healthy habits 

Emotional health: running scenarios

Health Week!!

This week at GOTR we will be focusing on health: emotional, physical, and social.  Check out these links so that you can support your Girl on the Run at home with some of the things we're talking about!

• girlshealth.gov: This is a great site that “was created in 2002 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office on Women's Health  (OWH) to help girls (ages 10 to 16) learn about health, growing up and issues they may face.
• A Mighty Girl: This site is described as “the world’s largest collection of books, toys, movies, and music for parents, teachers, and others dedicated to raising smart, confident, and courageous girls and, of course, for girls themselves!”
• Raising Girls: “a forum in which parents, caregivers and educators can share research-based best practices for rearing healthy, confident, thriving girls.”

What do you choose?

"Negative Nelly" Activity

This week we talked about some big things at GOTR... on Monday we discussed choosing to be a Girl on the Run.  How do you intentionally make positive choices and live in a healthy way; socially, emotionally, and physically?  To go along with this, on Wednesday we talked about positive and negative self-talk.  The newly-named "Fiery Foxes" really had a great discussion about some of the negative things girls can believe about themselves, and how to turn those around.  As we ran on Wednesday, we carried positive messages and worked on internalizing those instead!  Also, check out the team norms the girls created!

Team Norms 

Plugged-In

Yesterday was an important day at Girls on the Run... we talked about positivity, and why it's important to not only be a positive person but to surround yourself with positive friends.  The girls practiced encouraging, confident, strong messages and are already working together as a team!  Make sure to ask your Girl on the Run about what it means to "plug in to the positive cord!"

Sharing our GOTR-positive words!

First Day Fun!

The first day of Spring Season was a success!  The girls had lots of fun today getting to know each other.  We learned about Girls on the Run and each other as we played some games and did a little running... check it out!  

After a wonderful fall season, we are super excited that tomorrow starts our Spring Season of Girls on the Run at Banks!  We have 18 amazing girls signed up, a mixture of both new and familiar faces.  We will be doing lots of fun activities, and the girls will be learning many things about themselves, others, and how to live a healthy lifestyle.  Please make sure to follow along in the Parent Guide that you'll be receiving tomorrow when you pick up the girls!  If you want to be encouraged about what a great program this is, check out what some of the girls and coaches from Sonoma County, CA have to say about participating in GOTR: http://www.gotrsonomacounty.org/quotes2.html.  See you tomorrow!