BRATTLEBORO — It was a beautiful Saturday morning for a run, and 1,700 girls from all over southern Vermont descended on Brattleboro Union High School to do just that in the 10th annual Girls on the Run 5K Run/Walk.
Nancy Heydinger, executive director of Girls on the Run in Southern Vermont, said she was thrilled with the turnout on May 19. Last year's event drew about 1,500 participants, so Heydinger and her colleagues were overjoyed to host 1,700 participants and more than 300 spectators.
The mood in the hour before the race could only be described as “excited” and “hyper,” as the girls put it. The girls were all over the field, talking in groups, dancing in front of the DJ booth, and psyching themselves up for the race, for which they spent 10 weeks in preparation.
About 175 volunteers came out to help run the event. While many of them were interested members of the community, nearly half were BUHS students who participate every year to help fulfill their requisite number of community service hours.
But, of course, the event is really about the girls who participate.
For the past 10 weeks, the girls have met twice per week to engage in sessions that combine physical activities and experiential learning.
According to the organization's website, its mission is to “inspire girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running.”
In the minutes counting down to the start, Heydinger spoke to the assembled crowd and, specifically, the girls. She reminded them to start slow and finish strong, and they repeated after her: “I am strong, I am healthy, I am confident. I believe in myself. I am me.”
The crowd then did some stretching to physically warm up and headed for the starting line.
The girls of the Dartmouth Women's Cross Country team, who have served as coaches for several years, started off the race. The runners immediately took the lead, with the walkers continuing on strongly a few paces behind. The course was five kilometers, or 3.1 miles, a longer distance than many of the girls had ever run continuously.
But despite any physical challenges involved, race day proved a huge hit with the program participants.
“She really just loves the race,” said the mom of one fourth-grade girl, who was participating in the program for her second year.
“I saw her run by holding her friends' hands,” she said. “[The race] is really not competitive at all, if anything it's self-competitive, where every girl tries to do her personal best. It's a real confidence-booster.”
As the girls ran by, their parents cheered them on. Everybody was in good spirits, although some girls at the end admitted that they were “tired” and “sore.”
“I ran the whole time, so that was the hardest part,” said one 10-year-old girl.
But after catching their breath, the participants were all smiles, cheering on their friends and teammates who had not yet finished.
And, appropriately, every participant had a bib number that was pinned to her shirt, each of which read “1.”