Girls on the Run

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My wife Diane signed up this week to be a coach for her school's Girls on the Run program.
It will be part of the larger Greater Detroit group and over 1000 girls will participate in the 5K race following ten weeks of training.
Her school's principal is well aware that Diane is barefoot in her classroom, and has observed her in bare feet outdoors all day during field day as well as other activities. Still, Diane reminded her that she will be running and coaching barefoot just to be sure before putting in the time and effort towards the required coach's training with the larger group. Her principal's response was "That's fine".
I'm hoping all will go smoothly for a successful experience for all involved, but I'm just wondering if she'll get any flack from the training program leaders or parents of the kids.
I can almost imagine some kids wanting to run barefoot and telling their parents that the teacher/coach always runs without shoes. I'm wondering if there are any complaints if the organization will back up her preference or interfere with it.
Should be O.K., fits right into their mission statement:
http://www.gotrdetroit.org/about-girls-on-the-run/
Time will tell, I'll report on any news.
 
That's awesome, Board!
 
Keep us posted Board I am interested on the final results.
Sometimes I too want to volunteer for GOTR but me being BF stops me from doing so oh I forgot a minor detail the 5k race is usually done Mid December so the weather is against me making a decision:coldfeet:
 
Forgot about that and I'll bet she did as well. She's never run in any kind of shoes since she started back, and had'nt run in footwear for over 25 years because of knee pain. Maybe she could try Pankas since her cold mileage will be low enough that they could maybe last through the 5k.
 
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Forgot about that and I'll bet she did as well. She's never run in any kind of shoes since she started back, and had'nt run in footwear for over 25 years because of knee pain. Maybe she could try Pankas since her cold mileage will be low enough that they could maybe last through the 5k.
I hope she finds something comfortable to run in.
When did she start to run again?
 
She tried a few minutes here and there in the neighborhood barefoot over the past few years and when she got up to 45 minutes easily this spring she decided to run the IBRD event as her first ever race. I think she liked it!image.jpg
 
She liked it? are you kidding me? she loved it! she looks so, so, so:happy: :happy: :happy:
 
Yeah she does! She had no idea they were shooting photos at that turn. I only smile for the finish line but even then half the time I forget to. Same race but a candid of ME rounding the turn: image.jpg
See what I mean? Every runner in the shot is about as excited as I am.
 
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I know, you always look so serious, have some fun already! You could take some tips from your lovely wife:D
 
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Ok, that'll be my New Years resolution for 5774 starting today.
No more serious L'Board, from now on I'll be smiling away no matter what.
Just remind me of that every once in a while.......
 
Ok, that'll be my New Years resolution for 5774 starting today.
No more serious L'Board, from now on I'll be smiling away no matter what.
Just remind me of that every once in a while.......
Now that's the spirit! I didn't want to come to your races to keep telling you "say cheese";)
 
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Those are great shots of the two of you! And yes, smile! Represent!

What about having her run in a pair of warm socks in the winter, Board?
 
That's what I was thinking TJ, since we're talking about relatively low mileage socks or Pankas would work.
Now that she's signed up I'm sure she'll do whatever it takes to get the job done.
But you've got me thinking .......most folks are so much more tolerant of socks than they are of bare feet....maybe she'll start a whole new thing for the program....Girls...all you need are a pair of socks!
In a couple of years it should be pretty easy to move them on to ditching the fabric weather permitting...even if just to save some $!!
 
No logic, just ignorance. "Couldn't you at least put some socks on?"
Feet are supposed to be hidden according to current Western thinking.
That is unless you are female and have your soles hidden.
 
No logic, just ignorance. "Couldn't you at least put some socks on?"
Feet are supposed to be hidden according to current Western thinking.
That is unless you are female and have your soles hidden.
I know that's western logic, but it sure as hell seems kooky doesn't it? And they say barefooters are weird.
 
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GOTR: my daughter's experience turned her against running about as much as possible.
EVERY kid ran in the standard issued new balance shoes (GOTR IS FUNDED BY NEW BALANCE). My daughter refused to run in anything else.
EVERY kid got prizes and kudos whether they ran or not. My daughter chose not(she does not like burning calories unless she has to and will not exercise unless EVERYONE else is doing it)
Form was NEVER discussed and was not part of the curriculum.


My daughter walked the 5k (before she started training w GOTR she was probably in shape enough from running with me to have run most of it), and finished close to last. The worst part was her attitude. She would not run BF ever since. She HATES running ever since. She will NOT run in anything less than her Merrell "minimal" shoes, which to me are not very minimal. Her form suffers terribly from shoes. My son's form seems the same (perfect) no matter what is on his feet.

I SURE hope your Diane is able to influence those kids in a more positive way. Most of my daughter's volunteer coaches were non-runners or extremely casual runners who did nothing to give my child a positive attitude about any exercise, much less running.
 
I SURE hope your Diane is able to influence those kids in a more positive way. Most of my daughter's volunteer coaches were non-runners or extremely casual runners who did nothing to give my child a positive attitude about any exercise, much less running.

Wow, I sure hope she can make a difference. Until now the only thing I knew about the program was that at a race I ran a few years ago there was a special GOTR race afterwards. I had never heard of it before, and neither had Diane who accompanied me to that race.
I'm guessing that if they let her do her thing as far as training the girls it will be good, but if it's some lame pre-programmed thing that she just supervises who knows.
I can't picture her artificially trying to boost some kid's self esteem by congratulating them for walking half the race unless they suffered from a true physical disability. Hope it all works out for her and the kids!
 
Don't know, they haven't yet said when or where it will be.
And of course since it will probably be sometime in December somewhere around metro Detroit the odds of ANYONE running barefoot are pretty slim.
But you never know!