Yesterday was our Girls On The Run Practice 5K!
It’s easily my favorite practice of the season because it’s when we get to set up an unofficial race course for the girls and cheer them on as they run or walk 3.1 miles for the first time all season. This is where they can see their hard work pay off!
Girls On The Run is really more about building self esteem than it is about running, but completing a 5K is the big goal we work toward all season, so we try to hype up the practice 5K so they know it’s a BIG deal. We encourage everyone to simply do their best and not focus on time and I think the practice 5K does a great job of giving girls who may be a little more concerned about completing 3.1 miles a boost of confidence going into the official end-of-season 5K next month.
My co-coaches are the best and they have both been coaching for several seasons. Last season was our first season coaching together and they really took me under their wing and showed me the ropes. (If you are interested in coaching but a little nervous about it, I would definitely ask your local chapter about co-coaching with someone who has been doing it for a while. It makes a huge difference. You can also read all about what you can expect as a GOTR coach in this post: All About Girls On The Run.)
My co-coaches and I share ideas and brainstorm all the time and made a list of a few things we wanted to be sure to do going into yesterday’s practice 5K to make it special for everyone.
We implemented most of these ideas last season, too, and I think they really help add a lot of excitement to the day, so I wanted to share them with you guys since I know a bunch of you out there are involved with GOTR (which is amazing!) or have an interest in volunteering with the organization in the future. Some of the ideas you see below are recommended to coaches by Girls On The Run International, so they may already be ideas you’ve put into place in the past, too.
If you’re a GOTR coach or coach children in some way and have ideas for how to make races or game days feel all the more special, I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments section of this post!
Ideas for a Fun Girls On The Run Practice 5K
- Bring Real “Race Day Snacks”
We provide snacks to our girls during every practice, but during the practice 5K day, my co-coaches and I try to make snacks a little more fun and begin by bringing typical race day staples like bananas and bagels. I wrote motivating messages on the banana peels and you can also easily do this on the outside of oranges as well if your girls love citrus!
Our team gets really psyched for new snacks, so we also throw in some other fun foods that they don’t necessarily get during a usual practice during practice 5K day like kettle corn! I also brought along a bunch of snack packs from Nourish Snacks that they recently sent my way for our practice 5K and they were a huge hit as well (and also quite healthy)!
We also had a water station set up for the girls that mimicked a real race day water station with little cups they could grab as they ran by. This was something so small and trivial, but they were really into it… I think it made them feel “official.” Haha!
- Use Lap Counter Bands
If your girls are running around a track or field, have them collect a band from you for each lap they complete. (We used to do this the other way around and give them all the bands upfront and have them give us a band as they completed each lap, but girls lost them along the course, so we reversed this plan with greater success.) Watching the number of bands on their wrists grow is very motivating and also helps everyone keep track of how many laps they have under their belt.
- Provide Fun Prizes
First things first: Prizes do not have to be expensive!! In fact, many local business are often willing to donate a little something to a local Girls On The Run team if you ask! (When I’ve approached larger stores like Target, they ask for donation request letters on official letterhead which you can easily request from your local director.) I feel fortunate to have some connections through he blog that have allowed me to get some wonderful prizes for our team, but something as simple as a new water bottle or lip balm from The Dollar Store or a quirky prize from Party City can be a huge hit! We give the girls their prizes right after they cross the finish line.
- Make An Upbeat Playlist and Blast It!!!
Our girls LOVE music, so we make sure to create an upbeat practice 5K playlist and blast it while they run! It’s so fun to watch the girls sing as they run or walk by us. (FYI – Our Girls On Track team of middle schoolers seem to love Katy Perry’s *appropriate* music.) Note: The playlist featured above is not the playlist we played for our girls… I just included it for visual effect!
- Provide Congratulatory Certificates
Once each girl crosses the finish line, we make sure to provide them with a certificate of completion! (If a girl is curious about her time and wants it recorded, we include it on the upper left hand side of the certificate, but time is not what we emphasize.) The girls can bring their certificates home and share them with their families which we hope helps them earn them a well-deserved pat on the back from their loved ones!
- Take Pictures to Email to Parents
Every week, we include pictures from our practices in the weekly email update that goes out to our girls’ parents and we make sure to snap a bunch of photos during the practice 5K so families can see their girls in action!
More Fun Ideas
And here are a few more fun ideas I found from other coaches:
- Create bright posters with encouraging messages
(Source)
- Invite families to the practice to cheer
- Use streamers to create a fun finish line for the girls to run through
(Source)
- Have everyone wear their GOTR shirt/dress up or wear the same color/fun socks to encourage team spirit
(Source)
- Create homemade medals for each girl
(Source)
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For those who may be interested in participating in Girls On The Run in some capacity, you may click here to find a chapter near you. I cannot recommend getting involved with this program enough. It’s the best!
Disclaimer: Photo releases are signed by all GOTR girls’ parents and coaches are encouraged by GOTR to share photos to help spread the word about such an amazing organization.
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This group seems really awesome – if it had been around when I was a kid, I might’ve started running much sooner! (Also: want those socks.)
Ha! I love the socks, too! 🙂
I really, really love what you do with the GOTR! 🙂 Ever since you first started blogging about it, it immediately caught my interest. I was hesitant to sign up to co-coach for the Spring, but I really, really want to do this for the Fall. This post is absolutely amazing and how rewarding for these girls to have such motivated, caring, inspiring coaches. I really love that this whole thing is about self-esteem and helping the girls grow into confident ladies. While also adding the teamwork and bonding element, especially among middle school girls. I struggled so much during that time with confidence, friends, finding myself… it would have been nice to know there was a place to come together and be yourself and learn about yourself while connecting with others. Truly inspiring, Julie! As you always are! 🙂
I have been consistently amazed by the program. It really breaks down “cliques” (especially awesome since I am coaching a group of middle schoolers) and creates such a supportive environment for the girls during a time that can be so awkward in their lives. If you decide to coach, I hope you love it!!
This is my first season coaching, in fact this is our first season with this Girls on the Run Chapter, so I had no idea that the practice 5k was so celebrated. Our practice 5K is this coming up Monday and I’m determined to implement at least a few of these ideas now! Time to get my butt in gear and plan the heck out of this thing! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
It definitely doesn’t have to be, so please don’t put pressure on yourself!! Just volunteering to coach is awesome! I think doing any one of the above ideas would help make the practice 5K feel a little more special!! 🙂
Such an awesome group to be apart of! Love the idea of this for building up self esteem for the girls.
Those medals are awesome! I just signed up to start volunteering with GOTR NYC and am so excited to help out at their 5K next Month. I’ve wanted to get involved for awhile but couldn’t work the coaching around my schedule, so I’m happy they have monthly opportunities as well.
Reading more about this organization has me so excited! I just emailed GOTR for more info on starting a program in my area. It looks like you guys are teaching these girls so much about setting goals and being active and we definitely need more of that these days 🙂
What an amazing organization! I really want to get involved in this!!
There’s a chapter in Omaha I think! 🙂
This post was FULL of amazing ideas! I’m planning on getting involved with my local GOTR chapter next season, and it has been so cool to watch how much you’ve loved it!
I love that you shared all these ideas–I especially love the snacks (mmmm), homemade medals, and the streamer to run through. My little sis did GOTR (she was an actual girl participating in it) and she loved it. I got to go to a practice 5K and it was so much fun!
So glad your sister had a good experience!
Sounds you guys put together a fun afternoon for the participants. The snack spread looks great!
So many creative ideas! I would have loved doing something like this when I was a kid. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Love this! I wish I saw this post when I was coaching GOTR. We had a theme for our practice 5K and for the 5K and girls could dress up accordingly (while still wearing clothes they could run in). I miss it!
I am moving to Seattle this summer and the FIRST thing I want to get involved in there is GOTR because your posts are so inspiring! You go girl!!!
I think this quite often but I’ll share..
You are awesome, Julie!!!! <3
Wow, you guys gave prizes that included new sneakers for the practice 5k??! Nice!! Sounds like a really great organization. 🙂
Not new sneakers! 🙂 Reebok donated towels and water bottles and Fabletics was kind enough to donate workout clothes for our team. The girls were so excited and I was so grateful for their donations!
Oh! Lol, idk why it looked like sneakers to me. Still really awesome prizes, and I’m sure the whole experience has been a huge blessing to both you and the girls!! 🙂
I think it’s awesome that you and all the other coaches bring so much energy and creativity to this organization! The girls look like they are having a blast.
GOTR looks like SUCH a great organization. I love all the ideas you shared to motivate the girls! <3
One of the main reasons I joined my sorority (Gamma Phi Beta) was because our philanthropy is building strong girls and we work with Girls on the Run! I love going and cheering the girls on and I can’t wait to be a coach. Love these posts and love your blog!!
I love your ideas! Those lap counter bands look like excellent motivation, and love the cute sayings on the bananas!
I’m curious how your cardio workouts like spinning are going with pregnancy. Do you use your HR monitor at all during the workout to make sure you don’t go above a certain number? Or do you not use one and just go by how you feel? I’m asking because my dr. freaked out about my HR when I’m running while pregnant and now I’m terrified to go above it which is so frustrating as I don’t feel like I’m exerting myself. I can still talk while running, etc. and I’m not doing any sprints or anything like that now.
Hi Laura! I actually just talked to my doctor in much more detail about this yesterday! He seemed much more concerned with my overall body temperature/how I was feeling versus my actual heart rate. I am still wearing a heart rate monitor but just try to pay attention to how I am feeling. I still challenge myself in spinning workouts but not to the point that I am totally exhausted if that makes sense! I don’t try to avoid a certain number (my doc specifically said this is a more “old school” way of thinking) but really do monitor my body temperature and am reeeeally paying attention to drinking enough water since I was a bit dehydrated last week.
I love the signed socks idea! I totally wish GOTR was around when I was little!
This is so awesome! What great ideas!
GOTR is such a cool organization! I would love to get involved some day 🙂 Great ideas for the girls and their 5k!
So fun!!! I would love to get involved in my local GOTR someday!! If only I could find the time to be able to volunteer! Maybe next year!
GOTR seems like such an awesome organization! It is really cool that you are able to get those girls excited about running!
This seems like such a great organization – it is on my bucket list to run a 5K but I have never been a runner so I don’t even know where to start. I wish something like this had been around when I was younger maybe I would have that crossed off already!
Thanks for the great ideas! I will definitely use some of these for our practice 5k. I love coaching GOTR! I am a first grade teacher, so I coach at my school and it is so fun to be with my former students and see them open up and be silly and have fun in ways they can’t during the school day. I feel like it is so beneficial for girls to learn to stand up for themselves and be good, kind people.
I am definitely bringing music to next weeks practice! Thanks for the tip.
I am a coach for our school’s GOTR team- a year or so ago we were sent the lap counter bands but ran out long ago. We haven’t been able to find them since! Where did you get yours?? Thanks for sharing your great ideas 🙂
For our Practice 5K I write a message for each girl in sidewalk chalk along the course. They love looking for their names! It keeps them going and they often stop to have their running buddy take their picture when they find their message. 🙂
I love all your ideas! This is my 3rd year coaching and we try to make the practice 5k a really fun celebrated event too! Great music, snacks, awards, personalized bracelets, jelly ring lap counters, a balloon arch to run under when they finish etc! I love those socks you got your team, where did you order them?
So many awesome ideas! I raised money last year (soooo not in my element there lol) and ran the 5K and it was so much fun! The girls wore beads and used colored hairspray and wore tutus…just super “girly” and fun.
I’m hoping to coach so this post is super helpful..thanks for sharing and for volunteering! 🙂
I love your medals to give to the kids! I’ll have to do that next year.
Our practice is through the neighborhood, 1.55 miles out, 1.55 miles back, the same route. Buddies and parent run with us. Teachers are stationed at all the the intersections playing music and cheering the girls along the way. I have GOTR alumni set up and work the water station. We also have a small package of jelly beans there for a little sugar boost, which the girls love. It’s one of my favorite days of the school year!!