Girls on the Run are reaching the height of their fall season with their run at Kensington Metropark at 9 a.m. Sunday. About 550 girls in grades 3 through 8 at various school and YMCA-based sites have been training since September to reach their goal of running a 5K, and learning some important lessons along the way.
Girls On The Run’s mission is to educate and prepare girls for a lifetime of self respect and healthy living. Girls not only develop the strength to run three miles, but they develop emotional and mental strength as well, and the pride that comes with reaching a goal.
The team at the Lakeshore Family YMCA had a special visitor to one of their final practices before the big run: Miss Michigan Angela Venditti. Her platform is keeping kids off drugs, which fits well with the Girls On The Run mission, so she visited to talk to the girls about goals, peer pressure and what it’s really like to be Miss Michigan.
She’s a friend of volunteer coach Elizabeth Alloush, who asked her to come and speak to the girls. Angela, who was as glamorous as a pageant winner could be, wore her crown and sash while she chatted with the team. Despite the glitter, she was as warm and friendly to the girls as a big sister. She even let each girl (and a few of the adult coaches!) try on her crown. 
One topic she addressed was the importance of setting goals like they did in Girls On The Run. In her case, she said, she really wanted to win Miss Michigan, and entered about 14 local pageants before she made it to the statewide one. Then, she did the Miss Michigan pageant three times before she finally won on her fourth try. She’ll be competing in the Miss America pageant in January.
She also talked about resisting peer pressure, something Girls on the Run talks a lot about as well. “Girls are strong,” she says. “You have to remember how strong you are and that you don’t have to do those things” that friends might pressure them to do. She even ran through a few role-plays with the girls about what they would do if a friend pressured them to do something they knew they shouldn’t.
Another message of Girls on the Run is the importance of positive self image– they talk about unplugging the cord that feeds them messages that tell them they aren’t good enough and plugging in the Girls on The Run cord that does. That’s something Angela endorses as well, and told the girls that setting goals like they did in Girls On The Run can help them believe in themselves. “Sometimes we doubt ourselves and don’t think we can, but when we do the hard work, we know we can,” she told the girls.
Girls On The Run director Jackie Kippen said she was just thrilled to have Miss Michigan visit. “She spent so much time with them, and I think they really liked it,” she said.
Girls On The Run provides positive role models in many ways, and the visit from Miss Michigan was a particularly exciting one for the girls who’ve trained so hard. Mary Jennings, 9, has been a veteran of three Girls on The Run seasons and says she likes the program because it lets her hang out with her friends that she’s made, and it’s made her a better runner. “I like it because we group up and talk with our friends,” she says.
The Girls On The Run spring season starts in March. Stay tuned for more information about the spring run and how to join or coach a team.