Girls run for selves, cause

Fifth-grader Hannah Wittenberg, 11, receives a motivational "lap marker" from Coach Jen Clough during a Girls on the Run training session at West Elementary School in Crystal Lake Wednesday afternoon. Girls on the Run is a 10-week strength and confidence-building program for girls that culminates in a 5-kilometer run each spring and fall. The girls, in the third through fifth grades, will run in the Helping Paws 5K fundraising run at Lippold Park in Crystal Lake this Sunday. (Valerie Tobias photo)

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CRYSTAL LAKE — More than 25 girls did their best to transport cups of popcorn tied to their shoes across the West Elementary play ground Wednesday afternoon.

“It was hard to walk,” said third-grader Sarah Butchley, who left a trail of pop corn on her path as she tried to bend her ankle to empty the cup.

The girls were divided into three teams, and the one to get the most popcorn into the bucket at the end of the course would have been the winner under normal circumstances – but this race wasn’t competitive.

Instead, the game was an effort to help get the girls in shape for an upcoming 5k run. It’s part of the Girls on the Run, a nation-wide program that came to McHenry County last year, said the program’s local executive director, Laurie Dayon.

“We work with girls ... in helping them build a positive body image and self-esteem,” she said.

Girls in third through eighth grade go through 10 weeks worth of classes. Aside from self-esteem building activities and games such as the popcorn relay, they also run quarter-mile laps to train for the focus of the program, a 5k. 

“We don’t care if they hop, skip, jump or walk, as long as they finish,” Dayon said. “It’s so amazing when you think about their ages, because there’s so many adults that have never done [a 5k] in their lives.”

Hannah Wittenberg, an 11-year-old in fifth grade, is one of the girls who’s in the program for a second time this year. She said she was really happy when she finished the 5k last year.

“I was proud that I could do it because I never thought I could run [3] miles,” she said.

The girls' families pay about $120 for them to participate in the program, but there are scholarships available based on need, Dayon said.

Shelley Knebl, a volunteer coach, said she decided to get involved because she remembers how it can be to get along with other girls, and part of the program teaches girls how to deal with that.

“[Girls on the Run] makes girls think about who they are and who they want to be before the pressures start,” she said. 

The McHenry County program started at just two schools with 17 girls in fall 2007, and now boasts 150 girls at eight schools. By the time the spring sessions start, they hope to have 15 sites throughout the county, Dayon said.

Knebl said she hopes the messages of good self-image resonate with the girls.

“Does it stick with them? I hope so,” she said. “They do think about the things we say. They do go home and talk about them with their parents.”