REGISTER FOR THE SPRING SEASON!!

The  spring program begins the week of 3/05/12 and ends the week of 5/14/12.  Our Season Ending  5k will be held on 5/19/2012 at 8:00am in Columbia, MD.  To see a complete list of locations look under registration.

We are still looking for volunteer coaches.
Pleases check out our volunteer page for more information.

What a FAAAAN-TAS-TIC  DAY!

The air was chilly and filled with excitement! A total of about 900 runners including 407 Girls on the Run participants, coaches, parents, friends, running buddies and community runners filled a parking lot on Columbia Gateway Drive on Saturday, December 3rd.  This end-of-season Fall 5k event is a celebration of the hard work the girls put in for the past 10 weeks.  They are able to accomplish the goal they set and celebrate the beautiful people that they are.

We would like to thank Guy Guzzone and his wife Pam for coming out and kicking off our event. We would also like to thank James Nalley for providing us with music to get us warmed up and ready to run.

As they crossed the finish line the runners were greeted by the musically talented Atholton Band along with many cheers from the crowd!  Thanks Atholton Band!

This amazing event would not be possible without the many volunteers who came out to help! They helped register runners, distribute t-shirts, work the Goody station, assist at the sign making station, serve the food, set up and break down, work the water station, work as course marshals and pitch in wherever they were needed.

Our coaches and running buddies were there for the girls, keeping them motivated and strong throughout the race.

Thanks so very much to all of you from Girls on the Run of Central Maryland!

Special thanks to Katie Marie Photography for providing us with such wonderful photos. Katie Marie Tran the photographer, is also one of our wonderful coaches.  This past season she coached at Harper’s Choice Middle School.

<<Please click on the picture to the left to see the full gallery of amazing pictures or visit Shutterfly.

Special thanks to our Sponsors:

National Sponsors: New Balance, Secret, Goody, Garmin,  Horizon Fitness and Carolina Pad

Local Sponsors: Wellness Evolution, Howard County Striders, Feet First , Ascend One, Katie Marie Photography, Horizon Foundation, Mid-Maryland Triathlon Club, Outerbody Media, Women’s Giving Circle, Young Women’s Giving Circle, Columbia Foundation, Columbia Triathlon Association, Nationwide agent Robert Engelbach, Kiwanis One Day, Katie Marie Photography, Dancel Family Center Y, David’s Natural Food Market, Eggspectations, and REI

Our 5k is this Saturday, December 3rd at 8:30am!

Online registration is now closed!

Race Course

The course will start and end at:
6940 Columbia Gateway Drive
Columbia MD 21046

*****There is a huge parking lot.  The sign at the driveway says “Woodlands II”

Packet Pick-up

Feet First in the Hickory Ridge Village Center
6420 Freetown Road
Columbia, MD 21044

Thursday 12/01/11 from 5:00 – 8:00 PM
Friday 12/02/11 from 2:00 – 8:00 PM

Schedule

7:30 AM: Packet pick-up
8:15 AM: Warm-up
8:30 AM: 5k start
9:45 AM: Raffle drawing/Prizes

We need VOLUNTEERS for our 5k on  Saturday, December 3, 2011

Course Marshals: Keep our girls on track and safe!

Happy Hair Station: Help the girls get excited about the race with Goody® hair products.

Buddy Runners: To Run and support girls during the 5k race for more information also check:http://hocogirlsontherun.com/5k-events/buddy-runner/

Our Fall 2011 5k will be held on
Saturday, December 3rd at 8:30am!

Race Course

The course will start and end at:
6940 Columbia Gateway Drive
Columbia MD 21046

REGISTER NOW!

By: Jillianne Shear

First a Plea-

Dear Mother Nature,

We Marylanders and the majority of the East coast are a bit tired of your dramatic mood swings.  I mean, come on, really-Earthquakes, Tornados, Floods, Weeks of rain…give us a break.  And if not for your love of the East coast then so that at the very least myself and the other Girls on the Run Coaches can take the girls outside to run and enjoy your beauty before the winter comes.

Thanks, in advance,

Jillianne

I am sure you all wonder what a coach does with the girls on days when it is nasty and rainy.  Well, apparently I am a wimpy coach because some coaches brave the elements and take their girls outside.  I am usually lucky enough to be able to sneak the girls into the gym and let them run and exercise in there a bit but no such luck this week.  Thankfully we were able to tie Monday’s lesson into Wednesdays a bit and get the girls to work together.  I don’t know where it comes from but these girls never cease to impress me.

Monday was probably one of my most favorite lessons of the season so far.  Learning about cooperation.  This is something I actually have a lot of experience in having worked in fields where relying on the person next to you to work with you could be the matter of life and death for yourselves or someone else relying on you.  The military was great for teaching teamwork.  So I was more than excited to teach girls from all different backgrounds and ages to work together to achieve their goals.  I sat there like a proud coach as they worked their way around the caterpillar walk, trying to keep their feet on the pieces of paper I provided while still getting all the way around the circle.  I knew before I even finished reading the lesson that someone would emerge as a leader.  It’s neat to see that take its course and see the girls working together and following the directions of one of their peers.  Plus, it really made them work as a team.  I sort of wonder how it would fly if at work when people aren’t getting along or working together if I just quietly got up and placed a bunch of paper in a circle on the floor and told everyone, “Now listen, until we can work together as a team and get around this circle, we wont be able to work together as a team to finish our project.”  I think it would work beautifully but I have a feeling that they might not be as keen to hold each other’s hands. 

And I loved seeing the girls work together in their run.  I don’t think I have ever been so excited running around and cheering them on.  I feel like I look like a crazy woman out there.  Yelling at the girls things like “you can do it, help out your teammate, keep moving forward!’.  But the girls really worked hard.  Not only did every girl finish their own laps for the day but many of them ran extra to help their teammates that were struggling and paired up with them.  Cooler yet, was watching how the girls choose different running partners every work out.  I love that they are constantly changing it up themselves now and they dont need me to mix up their groups anymore. 

With yesterday’s beautiful rainy day, I was of course indoors again.  However yesterdays lesson lended well to indoor activities.  Talking about peer pressure.  I love when the girls say something so insightful that it almost brings tears to my eyes that I hadn’t ever thought of it from their perspective.  Thankfully many of the girls said they don’t feel a lot of pressure from their peers.  They mentioned things like scary amusement park rides, or feeling pressured to fight with their siblings, and of course the normal things that they hear about.  We asked them if any of them felt pressured to do things like smoke, do bad things, wear certain clothing and they all looked at me and the assistant coach like we were crazy.  One girl even said, “Why would I let someone pressure me into wearing something I don’t like?” *Internal happy dance occurs and little tears form.  These girls really rock at being independent.  I hope it sticks with them.  I guess that is what we are trying to do is show the girls that they can be who they want to be as long as it leads to a healthy and positive life for themselves. 

I learned a lot from my fellow coaches at our meeting and was really surprised by the things they were telling me.  And I don’t know, I have always thought I had an outstanding group of girls and that I was just being partial but wow, I didn’t know what happens for others.  Sometimes I am scared that I am too harsh on the girls or that I am not being ‘fun’ enough.  But when I see them so excited to see me walking down the hallways I stop letting myself worry.  Maybe I just got a really great batch of involved parents, maybe it’s that I have some sort of system that works, and maybe I have great assistant coaches.  Honestly though, when push comes to shove it’s the girls who make the decision to work together and be respectful towards each other and the adults running the program.  To say I am lucky is an understatement. 

So when asked last night if I might be interested in doing this program again, I could barely let them finish asking before I was trying to shove my paper with my information in their hands.  As my father once said when I told him I was joining this program as a coach, “Outside of being a mother, this will be one of the most rewarding things I ever do with my life”.  Well, dad, as always you are right.

By: Jillianne Shear

My friends ask me all the time why I take so much on.  School, works, kids, and some semblance of a social life on occasion. I don’t know that I know any other way to be.  So taking on being a coach for Girls on the Run just gets added to that plate and balanced carefully.  But is it worth it, the extra time constraints and commitments in my life.  Well every day I show up to practice makes it worth it in my opinion. 

I won’t say every day is easy.  Not every day do I get to have a whole group of girls that are focused and know what they want to do that day and they accomplish it.  Monday for instance, October 10^th, the girls were amazing. The lesson was talking about gratitude.  Sometimes even I forget what I need to be grateful for in my own life.  These little girls reminded all too quickly of the things I should be grateful for every day, my family, friends, pets, and hey…even myself.  I love hearing those little girls remind me of all the great things in my own life.  And they are being genuine.  They love their lives so much right now.  That absolute happiness is something I feel like is infectious.  My kids keep benefitting from my happier demeanor when I get home after a particularly good practice.

And let’s not forget I totally doubted the girls could achieve their goal that day.  To run for 40 minutes alone and without talking.  There was a hiccup here and there but over all the girls were pretty serious about seeing if they could do nothing but run for 40 minutes. 

But then there are days like yesterday, Wednesday.  The OMG can anything go right today?  Granted I take a lot of blame in this-lack of sleep due to studying for exams all night throws me off my normal mojo.  But I try to shake that off before practice.  I have this sort of outstanding rule to never ever let the girls be aware that I have had a rough day at work or with my own school or my own family.  But as the day dragged closer to practice things started to unravel a bit more.  First, the rain started, and I have this panic feeling of keeping the girls in doors.  I think I look forward to being outside as much as they do and when I know that it’s not going to happen I am legitimately bummed for them almost as much as for myself. 

Then my assistant coach who is actually a bit of a highlight to my week with her bubbly attitude and great spirit writes me and says –she can’t make it to practice.  I am bummed for her and the girls.  They absolutely adore her.  Then I get to the school, almost late because of course in Maryland when it rains everyone stops driving to stare at the raindrops on their windshield and when I get there I realize that I don’t have running clothes.  I knew already the girls were going to give me slack about this.  And then comes my favorite part, 12 girls stuck indoors like they have been all day about to lose their minds because they are all excited and riled up for practice and I already know where this is going to go…*looks for largest bottle of Tylenol…

Wait, this isn’t me.  This isn’t what a Girls on the Run coach should be thinking right before I walk into a classroom full of excited little girls. 

I know a lot of parents don’t know this because I am always so bubbly and excited by the time they come to pick up the girls.  But I have hard days too.  But I stopped, took a deep breath and turned down the hallway and said quietly to myself, “You CAN do this”.  Feeling the self doubt slip away a little more the first girl comes running down the hallway towards me

“Coach Jillianne Coach Jillianne …random sentiment about school.”

And amazingly enough, being greeted by that smile and energy and excitement actually calmed my nerves and I felt so happy about being there.  The day that seemed so horrible and dreadful suddenly seemed so bright and promising.  How can just a little smile do that to me is still going to amaze me every day but I know it’s how it works because I have my own daughters at home who make me feel like that every day. 

I won’t say practice was easy.  As a matter of fact I am pretty sure I lost my patience with the girls once or twice.  I don’t need to yell at them or scream.  I am finding really neat ways to get them to focus.  They were particularly excitable because a couple of the mom’s came to be my second adults since my assistant coach couldn’t make it.  So they had a new audience.  But my favorite method when the girls are being particularly ….energetic is to stop them in their tracks.  Sit them down and ask them to think about their actions.  Are they being a positive and respectful girl on the run?  I love that they get quiet at that question.  They know Coach Jillianne means business if she is asking them if they are being good.  Because they don’t really want to answer.  And I tell them to take their right hand and grab that nasty cord out of the top of their heads.  I explain to them, throw that cord away, you are plugged into the wrong cord today ladies.  Now I have them reach their hands out and look for their girls on the run cord.  Tell them to look at that cord and how beautiful and clear and sparkly it is.  It’s the cord we need to plug into so that we are all part of the same team working together.  Now, it’s time to plug it in. 

I swear I don’t know how that works but for the last bit of our session,  while still crazy little girls,  I feel like they are trying to be a part of the team. 

My favorite thing was that happened was when I asked the girls to pick a value that they most identified with and tell me why.  One little girl excitedly said courageous.  I asked her to tell us all why and she looked around the room and suddenly became very shy.  I have to giggle that she chose that as her value and then suddenly exhibited the exact opposite.  And the great thing is I honestly think she is courageous and that value means a lot to her.  I just think it was that moment where she had a great answer and the moment she needed to say it out loud she couldn’t think of it anymore. 

So till next week, keep plugging into that sparkly Girls on the Run cord whenever you feel like you are losing focus.  You might find it helps you make it through a tough moment too.

A bit about Jillianne:

I am a mother of two little girls myself, Ruth Abigail (6) and Charlotte Emily (2).  Notice how their initials together spell RACE!  I think it was fate that lead me to have girls. 

Background-

I ran competitively in high school and college.  I stuck primarily to long distances working in the 5-10k genre.  My father was my best friend and trainer since we were a military family that moved constantly.  Making friends was hard for me and I always found running to be the one place I felt safe and most felt like I could be myself.  I could be angry, happy, sad, or excited and going running was like my best friend.  My feet meeting the road and reflecting on my day and getting out of my house (where I had 4 siblings!) was the best parts of my memories growing up.  The few miles that I would get to be completely alone. 

I joined the Air Force and soon found I had a knack for helping others enjoy running.  I worked with people training them and even competed on a run team with a group of young women, many of whom I still keep in contact with to this day, over ten years later.  It was during this time that I realized how much I wanted to coach one day. 

Years passed and I started a family and a career.  Leading me to now.  And every one’s favorite question:

How/why did you get started with girls on the Run?  You don’t even have a daughter old enough to have heard about this. 

Now let me tell you, this part still brings tears to my eyes and tells me there is fate. 

Over the summer some friends of mine lost a neighbor of theirs to cancer.  She had been active with her daughters with running and she had been a big part of the Annapolis chapter Girls on the Run.  In lieu of flowers or cards they had set up a hyperlink to donate to the Girls on the Run.  My friends know my passion for running and how much I love working with kids and sent me the information.  Sitting at work I clicked unknowingly on this link and read Molly Barkers words, the motto’s, and the whole reason for the existence of Girls on the Run.  I literally cried at my desk.  I can tell you that at the age these girls are at and middle school, I would have given anything for a program like this.  And even more so, I really believed in what this program is trying to promote.  The first thing I read was this “We inspire girls to be joyful, healthy and confident”.  Did you catch that?  We inspire girls.  Not only to be healthy but we want them to be joyful and confident. 

I was sold on that line alone. 

As a woman who knows what the girls still have to face in life, and as a mother myself to two amazing little girls, I only hope I can do that, inspire them every day and hopefully it will spread from them to the peers around them.  I know already it has changed my life and made me more healthy, confident and joyful. 

I coach every day and remember the mother that can’t be there to watch her girls grow up into beautiful young women.  I coach for my daughters so that they have a healthy and confident mom to look up to. And I coach most of all for those little girls who come every day to practice and say some of the most amazing and astounding things and inspire me to be a better person to my own peers.

Fall 2011 season begins on Monday, September 19th!

Many locations have filled up!

Don’t miss out on the fall season  register now!!!

We are looking forward to the start of our fall season the week of September 18, 2011.  Registration will begin on August 21, 2011 and will close on September 14, 2011 at 12:00pm.  Please register early!!!  There is a limit of 15 girls per team and a minimum of 8, you will be put on a wait list if your team has reached 15.  All days, times and locations are subject to change due to availability of coaches.

Special thanks to Katie Marie Photography for providing us with such wonderful photos. Katie Marie Tran the photographer is one of our wonderful coaches.  This past season she coached at Harper’s Choice middle school.

<<Please click on the picture to the left to see the full gallery of amazing pictures or visit Shutterfly.

What a Day!!

It was an amazing day!  The air was buzzing with excitement and the weather could not have been more perfect! A total of 679 runners including 315 Girls on the Run participants, coaches, parents, friends, running buddies and community runners filled the parking lot of the Owen Brown Community Center on Saturday, May 21^st.  This end-of-season event is so much more than just a 5K; it’s a celebration of the hard work the girls put in for the past 10 weeks.  It was a chance for them to celebrate who they are.

Prior to the race, kids and parents were busy creating posters to cheer on runners, gathering with their groups, meeting new people, voting for coach of the year, laughing and smiling. They were also seen at the Goody Happy Hair Station.  This was a big hit with the girls, who added some faaann-tas-tic Goody hair products to express themselves.

Runners then gathered to listen to the AMAZING Tatyana McFadden give an inspirational start to the race.  The runners were off!!! The course consisted of varying hills along with a beautiful view of Lake Elkhorn.  When crossing the finish line they were accompanied by the musically talented Atholton Band along with many cheers from the crowd!

Runners were refreshed post-race with oranges, bagels, water, granola bars and truffles, and the girls gathered around to listen for their race number to be called to receive many prizes and giveaways donated by our wonderful sponsors.

This amazing event would not be possible without the many volunteers who came out to help! They helped register runners, distribute t-shirts, work the Goody station, assist at the sign making station, serve the food, set up and break down, work the water station, chalk and post inspirational messages along the course and pitch in wherever they were needed. Our coaches and running buddies were there for the girls, keeping them motivated and strong throughout the race.  Thanks so very much to all of you from Girls on the Run of Howard County!

Special thanks to our Sponsors:

New Balance, Secret, Goody, and Horizon Fitness

Wellness Evolution, Ascend One, Katie Marie Photography, Horizon Foundation, Howard County Striders, Feet First, Mid-Maryland Triathlon Club, Outerbody Media, Women’s Giving Circle, Columbia Foundation, Kiwanis One Day, David’s Natural Food Market, Einstein Bros Bagels, Roots Market, Mom’s Organic Market, Panera Bread, Safeway, Pepsi, Eggspectations, BJ’s Wholesale Club and REI.