I have never been a runner. I’ve always wanted to be a runner, but I feel like I started too late in life to just be able to takeoff and go like kids seem to be able to do. It’s definitely something that I’m working on and I’m actually in the midst of doing couch to 5K right now but my first crack at a real 5K took place with my daughter when she started Girls on the Run in elementary school.

What is Girls on the Run?

Girls on the Run is such a great program and they’re just very intentional with how they help to teach the girls self-confidence and feeling really good about themselves. In our case, meetings were twice a week and they usually included a talking portion as well as a practice run portion to prepare the girls for the upcoming 5k.

My daughter loved her coaches and to this day, I still text with one of them who checks in to see how my daughter is doing with her autoimmune disease.

So, how’d I do?

I actually finished in pretty good time for someone who doesn’t run at all. I think I completed in 36 minutes doing a combination of walking and running. Of course my daughter assured me that she would run with me but left me as soon as her friends rounded the corner at the first water stop. I will say, she did stop at the end to wait for me, so we could cross together, which is more than I did for her when I had the lead in the Disney Princess 10k a few years later.

What is the Reindeer Romp?

When we moved from Charlotte to Fort Mill, she continued with GOTR and their winter 5k was specifically called the Reindeer Romp. It took on this whole Christmas theme that just seemed to make the run extra special. All of the different teams get decked out in some kind of outfit extras, putting their own spin on the theme. Whichever team gets voted as having the best team costume wins a prize.

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The last year my daughter was able to do it before aging out, her group actually won. The girls each took on one of the reindeer with my daughter being Rudolph and she lead the pack with her big red paper nose. All of the girls ended up winning tickets to ice skate and there was one other thing in the envelope that I can’t recall. Unfortunately, we ended up misplacing the envelope, so she actually never got to claim her prize but it was still really cool for her to end her time in Girls on the Run that way.

I hope you enjoyed this holiday memory. While you’re here, check out yesterday’s Blogmas post and, as always, thank you for reading!