Girls On The Run

Brady wasn't the only member of the family involved in athletics this fall.  We signed Payton up for a school-sponsored running club called Girls on the Run.  They met two days a week after school to run and discuss important topics like self-esteem, bullying, frienships, etc.

I won't say that Payton was thrilled about the idea of running club.  But, we felt that it was important for Payton to do something active.  She attended every practice and definitely improved her overall fitness.  

As their culminating goal, the girls (and their running buddies) completed a 5K called the Candy Run.

So, very early on a Sunday morning, the whole family piled in to the car and drove down to Wash Park.  We met up with all the Mark Twain Girls on the Run.

Here are the 5th graders of the group: Molly, someone I don't know :), Grace, Payton, and McKenna.  Payton and McKenna have actually become good friends this year.

This is Coach Melissa and her daughter Avery.  This was one of the families from football, and one of the main reasons we found out about the club.  Avery likes to run about as much as Payton, so they were perfect partners!

The entire crew.

The race was HUGE.  There were thousands of participants, so it took a long time for us to even work our way up to the starting line.  Wes, the boys, and my mom were waiting to cheer us on.  I had to call Wes to let him know where we were.  Can you see the starting line WAY off in the distance?

A pre-race selfie.

We FINALLY made it to the starting line and we were off!

Wes has a few video clips of us running, so I will have try and get them posted.  We finished the race...after a bathroom stop, some arguing, some walking, and some sprinting.  But we finished :)  I was really proud of Payton, especially because this was something she didn't really want to do.

A week or two later, the girls and coaches had an end of year ceremony.  Coach Melissa talked about Payton and I loved what she had to say.

Good job Payton!  We loved that you were a Girl on the Run!