Girls on the Run

Things are falling into place. Diane's been working on the required CPR certification, her Vivobarefoot Lucy Lites came in yesterday so she's ready for November if needed, and she has made arrangements with a food vending company to pick up near to expiration date food weekly to satisfy the required "snacks" for the girls after school practice which starts Monday. Thirty girls signed up so far! Don't know how nutritious those packaged food-like substances will turn out to be, but they should provide enough carbs to power them through their runs.
 
y. Thirty girls signed up so far! Don't know how nutritious those packaged food-like substances will turn out to be, but they should provide enough carbs to power them through their runs.

Glad things are gearing up for fall running. Hope all goes well.

I have made a big point with my kids of distinguishing between "food" and "edible food-like substances," but it did backfire on me the other day when I was asking what my daughter was eating one day after school. (They are starting to hand out junk for "snack" each day there ugh)
"what are you chewing on?"
she says "I'm not chewing"
"what are you eating?"
she says "I'm not eating"
"what is in your mouth?"
she says "what do you mean?"
.
and so on.....
.
..
.

finally, she says
"I didn't have any food in my mouth. It was those gummy candies, and that's not food"
 
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Years ago I saw Covert Bailey, that biochemist that was the star of the PBS special "Fit or Fat" that had been re-run hundreds of times over a decade long period.
Even HE was cracking up that so many of us showed up for his CE lecture solely based on the idea that he was some kind of star when all he did was let them film one of his presentations so they could fill up thousands of PBS hours with it.
In the live version he drew a chart and put all foods in different categories. When people slowly realized that ice cream was missing, he explained that it is NOT a food.........it is a pharmaceutical ......a well known anti depressant!
 
Monday's first practice went well, and already a few girls expressed an interest in running barefoot like their coach. Diane told them to have their moms sign a permission to run barefoot note, but didn't prepare one for them. Today was day two, but following practice she went to book club. I was working late and haven't yet had the chance to get briefed. Stay tuned!
 
Quick update: More girls want to join, but they are required to provide one volunteer for every ten girls. No problem, THREE more teachers want to participate!
Problem: they missed the lame training seminar because they knew nothing about the program, and are FORBIDDEN by the organization from volunteering as a result.
My wife is so pissed that these additional girls can't join that she has already created a name for a NEW independent group that they will allow to train.
Sure, they won't get the Tshirt or run the "official" 5K, but......they will also save the $100 per kid fee.
Next year she plans on just running the entire program of their own.
Sounds a lot like YOU TJ!
 
How so, Board?

I was going to suggest she just start her own thing too, Barefoot Girls on the Run, but sounds like she's already got the wheels turning.

As for the other girls this year that will have an independent group, there's nothing saying you can't make tee-shirts of your own, with or without their GOTR logo. They can make a really positive experience out of this negative one by allowing them to be a little black sheep and quirky. The other "legit" girls will long to be a part of this outcast group. Ha!
 
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Would Diane be interested in being interviewed by Run Barefoot Girl? She can talk about all this in her interview and her love of being barefoot. It's a lot of fun, really.
 
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Right now they're not worried at all about the Girls on the Run establishment stopping them, but their own school has to grant permission for the indie movement. If it were me I'd just do it assuming that nobody else would care. But she does have to deal with the other teacher/volunteers, and they are not as free wheeling as she is.
I look at it like asking for barefoot permission......the initial safe response is always going to be "Oh, no, no way, can't do that". Hope things work out for them though.
 
Would Diane be interested in being interviewed by Run Barefoot Girl? She can talk about all this in her interview and her love of being barefoot. It's a lot of fun, really.

I'll run it by her. Better yet, I'll play your RBG interview for her. The host sounds very good and I can't imagine her ever lapsing into a Mike Wallace style "gotcha" journalism moment. That's what scared her away from speaking with Anjali A.
 
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Yesterday afternoon, was driving through Salem, OH's main street, when a crossing guard stopped traffic for a group of about 20 runners to cross -- looked like a gym class or club of adolescents. Watching their feet, *every one* I saw was mid/forefoot -- not a single heel-striker in the bunch! The photos in Ken Bob Saxton's book came to mind. Someone is teaching them! Remembered your discussion here. There are those out there (and all of you here) making the (running) world a better place. Cheering you on.
 
2-3 weeks ago I ran into a goup of runners from an elementary school nearby. Than I remembered when my kids went to that school they had a running club that ran at lunch time. I would say that all the kids in the front of this herd (top 75%) all had great running form. The plodders at the end, not so. I think it's mostly due to not having developed bad habits yet, and or not having punished their feet with ill fitting fashion footwear. But then again, most of the younger kids are wearing very thin and flat sandals or flip flops so their feet are in better shape for proper form. Watch any kid run on a playground and they all look like naturals. But it sure can't hurt if they have someone teach right form from wrong at that age, they will remember it all their life. All my kids are natural forefoot runners, my oldest son maybe to much so, I have never seen his heel touch the ground running or walking, or if it is than it is so light that I can not see it. So to all those volunteers out there coaching kids, thank you for your time.
 
Today was the run!
They REALLY lucked out, 60 degrees F. and tornado watch, strong gusty winds, but the rain stopped during check-in and stayed at bay until even the run/walkers crossed the finish line. THEN it REALLY stormed, just as forecast. We were drenched in just seconds, this is that huge system working it's way from Chicago-Detroit etc.
And the girls all looked happy! They loved being in this big event and getting t-shirts and medals.
Diane did great of course despite the wet hilly paved trails covered with leaves, I was concerned she might slip on a downhill section.
Plenty of questions from the parents about her feet, good thing I was there to field them.
Turned out I could have registered and ran, some moms and dads did. I'll remember that for next year.
Some of the schools had a few boys running too, Diane is going to look into that for her school next time around.
Overheard: "Yeah, that's how some Kenyans do it. It changes how your foot lands, instead of on your heel like normal, they land on the front of their feet first, like backwards. Really weird!"
He did look more like a football fan than an athlete...but hey, he came to watch his daughter on a football Sunday and miss the Lion's kick-off, so all's cool.
 
The Spring Girls on the Run session has started, and with the cold snowy weather they have been training inside the school. Diane has given up on doing it independently and the girls didn't balk at paying the $110 fee. The program filled up fast again, and they had to turn some away. Four of the girls are now training barefoot indoors, so including my wife there are ten bare feet running the halls of her upper elementary school!
 
Today was the 5K!
I ran with them, semi-bandit. One Mom thought she had to register her kid again so Diane told her to go get a refund. Diane was left holding the bib and pins, and rather than try to find a garbage can I just sort of figured.....you know.....:matey: shhhhh......!! Don't tell ANYBODY in that other thread!
Of course Diane and I ran barefoot, but only one of her girls did.
It seemed pretty obvious that the parents being present had everything to do with that.
Last fall it was in a huge park, this time it was smack in the middle of an old downtown that's making a real comeback as a hipster hang-out. Openly gay mayor, dozens of bars and shops, cupcake store, no shortage of coffee houses or Yoga studios, fixies parked in the street....you know. Unfortunately the local young folks take their own party to the streets, so not surprisingly early Sunday morning there was plenty of fresh glass scattered about the staging area. The parents would have freaked enough at the idea of their daughters running barefoot, but with all the broken glass and cracked up asphalt from this record setting cold and snowy winter it would have been a hard sell. Of course not a scratch between the three of us.
Over 4,000 girls total! Plus all the parents and sponsors, incredibly I only got stepped on maybe twice.
The good news is that this is not a running crowd, but a random sample of folks. They really have never heard of the barefoot running concept, and for the most part were amazed but positive regarding our feet.
If today was any accurate indication, the future for acceptance of bare feet whether just out and about in public or while participating in outdoor sporting activity looks bright for barefooters to me.
 
The Fall program has begun, I never realized how influential Diane had been until she brought home the current flyer:photo (38).JPG
 
The 5K is Sunday morning, forecast is for 26 degrees F and winds 13 mph, but DRY! (20% chance precip)
Diane will be fine either way, she has ran twice in the past year in her VIVOBAREFOOT Women's Black Lucy Lite 39 M .
If she needs them as tools (this event is in a giant park and it's not going to have any heat retained in the path) she can use them, too bad she won't be able to make a positive barefoot statement to all the other school's kids, coaches, and parents.
I still have found nothing I can run in, so if it's frostbite conditions I won't run, I'm not pre registered or anything so no big deal.
Looks like treadmill time soon, I ran a bit today in the low thirties but on city pavement, way different than park paths.
 
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It was COLD!
Diane wore her Lucy's, I went barefoot. Stayed pink, so all was well.