Alongside volunteers, third through eighth-grade students raced in a crowd of 403 to the finish line for the Central Kentucky Girls on the Run Winter 5K.
The event, held Saturday, Dec. 6, at Keeneland, was one of Girls on the Run’s end-of-season races.
The events are meant to inspire self-confidence in young girls, according to Heidi Guckenberger, executive director of Girls on the Run Central Kentucky.
This chapter, which started in Lexington in 2009 and now serves 24 counties, is one branch of the Girls on the Run international program, founded in 1996, according to their website.
“Girls on the Run is a program that inspires third-through-eighth girls to be joyful, helpful and self-confident,” Guckenberger said. “We use a fun, experience-based curriculum that creatively integrates running.”
In preparation for the 5K, Guckenberger said girls participated in an eight-week course featuring 16 different lessons on topics such as healthy living, being a good friend, serving the community and being grateful.
Similarly, volunteers from the University of Kentucky’s Gamma Phi Beta sorority connected with participants through their national partnership with Girls on the Run and the organizations’ shared philanthropic mission of “Building Strong Women” through community service.
Lila Reinecke, a sophomore biology major and member of Gamma Phi Beta, said that her sorority supports these young girls by empowering them and helping them be active.
“We do all sorts of cool events around the community to help girls build their confidence in themselves and stuff like that,” Reinecke said. “I actually never heard of Girls on the Run before I joined Gamma Phi Beta … I think it would have been nice to have something like this growing up.”
Guckenberger said the program allows girls to learn that they are capable of anything they put their minds to, and after the program, many girls have the confidence to participate in sports and speak up in class.
For Kate Southall, a student at Clays Mill Elementary School, this confidence has become apparent throughout her three years of participation in the program.
“I really like running with my dad,” Southall said. “It (Girls on the Run) helps me get more athletic because I do gymnastics and soccer and softball.”
Meredith Herald, a board member of Girls on the Run Central Kentucky, said the program teaches young girls not to let negative pressures from social media or societal expectations get to them.
Herald said she hopes the event shows the community how strong the impact of Girls on the Run is.
“This is an organization that’s all over the country, and we are just a little tiny piece of what we’re teaching girls all over the country, being strong and independent and healthy,” Herald said. “And if we can have an impact on just one, one girl in Kentucky, then we’re doing our job.”
