Girls Run to Learn Confidence, Stay Active

The path from girlhood to adolescence can be a difficult one in our society. Girls entering or about to enter puberty are bombarded with images and not-so-subtle messages on how to act, what to say and what they should look like –from how they wear their hair to what cut of jeans they should buy.

Girls can suffer a “crisis of confidence,” experts say, a moment in their lives when they can fall prey to negative peer pressures, risky behavior and self-destructive behavior.

Ten local girls, however, may be on their way to acquiring the skills and confidence needed to combat these negative societal pressures. They are part of the new Hightstown-area chapter of the non-profit group Girls on the Run, a national program that combines running with physical fitness games and learning activities that boost self-confidence and encourages girls to see their own strengths and to accept their inner selves.

Girls on the Run was founded in 1996 by Molly Barker, who felt that too often middle school girls retreat into what she calls the “girl box.” In that figurative box, girls lose sight of who they really are and try to conform to what they think society wants them to be, Barker said.

The program is a 10-week after-school course open to all area third to fifth graders, and the girls meet twice a week at the Peddie School. Coaching the girls are Meredith Rambo Murray of Roosevelt and tri-athlete Beth Bright of Hightstown, the aquatics director at the Peddie School.

Although Murray jogs for exercise, she is by no means a “runner,” Murray said. “I am not a runner, but I run.”

The girls don’t necessarily have to be big runners, either, to benefit from the program: Although the girls do a lot of running, the program is not just about running, Murray said. The goal is to just “keep moving,” she said. “We are not about running. You can skip, hop or run. As long as you keep moving, that’s the important part.” She says the activity level varies widely among their group of 10 girls –some have run races before, and some have never run before joining the group, she said.

During the 10 weeks, the girls train to run a 5K race at the end of the program. While each session includes running, the girls also participate in active games at each meeting, movement-based activities that get their brains –and themselves – moving. The games focus on topics that have a heavy impact on young girls’ lives. These topics include factors like peer pressure, bullying and gossip, Murray said. At a recent meeting, for example, the girls played “nutritional softball.” During the game, the girls answered questions about nutrition. Depending on whether they answered the question correctly and on the base value (first base, second base, etc.) of the question, they either ran to a base or gave another of their friends a chance to go up to bat.

In another session, the group did a running exercise in which whenever they passed one of their coaches, they were given an emotional scenario (for example, “You didn’t do well on a test you studied for,”) and told to voice how they would feel if the provided scenario happened to them.  

Murray explained that the purpose of the exercise was to get the girls to open up about their emotions and to make them feel more comfortable with the emotions and feelings that they have.  

There is no summer session planned for the program, but Murray and Bright plan to offer another session in the fall, she added.