Volunteer - Weeks 4 & 5

Volunteer Weeks 4 & 5

I missed my blog last week.  I’ve been thinking a lot about writing a book about a life-changing experience I had at age 16.  In my head, the words move smoothly.  The emotion, the pain, the reality, the after-math are all in place.  Yet when I sit down to write, the words don’t find their way to the paper.  They are just phrases, incomplete thoughts.

I reflect back to weeks four and five with Girls on the Run.  Some girls are going strong.  They will be ready for the 5k at the end of April.  Others are still moving around the track to move.  But that is the beauty of GOTR – they don’t have to run to be successful.  They just have to cross the finish line.

In week four, we played a game where the girls had to work as a team.  In an instant, they were cheering each other on and finding ways for the team to complete the game.  This is one of the reasons I love this program.  This is the type of lesson you can’t teach in a classroom.  This game also inspired the girls to work as a team while running.  The girls were encouraging each other on each lap and helping each other when some didn’t think they could make it.  It was a good week.

In week five, we had rain.  While the rain stopped after the lesson on peer pressure, the track had new dirt, which equaled new mud.  So, we moved to the playground area and ran around 4 posts.  It was a good back-up plan but not very challenging for the girls.  Most had a hard time moving with a purpose.  It brought me back to my book.  How do I get the words out of my head?  How do I help the girls out of their comfort zone?  The girls are just moving … no purpose, incomplete laps, not finding their way to the finish line. 

We get out of our comfort zones and it’s hard to find our way.  Hopefully on Thursday the weather will be good and the girls can return to the track.  The run will be smooth and will flow around and around.  The finish line will get crossed.  Maybe on Thursday, I’ll find words on my paper also.