Girls on the Run

Several weeks ago I signed up to volunteer as a running buddy for the Avon Lake team of Girls on the Run of Greater Summit.  We're now 2 weeks into the 10-week season... and I'm hooked!

For those of you who don't know what Girls on the Run is all about, here's a great place to learn more: http://www.girlsontherun.org/What-We-Do

My first experience with Girls on the Run was as a SoleMate (an awesome name given to those raising funds for the GOTR program) while training for the Cleveland Marathon.  I did my best to hit up all of my friends and neighbors for donations.  GOTR's minimum goal was listed at $262... just $10 per mile.  I felt I could improve upon that and set my personal fundraising goal at $500.  I should have given my family, friends and coworkers more credit... I managed to raise over $1,400 for Girls on the Run.  And, not that my friends aren't generous to begin with, but I have to assume that the nature of this program hit home with several of those people who donated, making it very easy to convince them to open their wallets and checkbooks :)  I very much appreciated the support and am now more convinced than ever that their donations went to a worthy cause.

At first, I didn't know much about the program... just the basics.  But the more I learned, the more excited I became to play a larger role in Girls on the Run.  Raising funds was great, but raising awareness and working directly with these girls was something I really looked forward to.  And now that I'm a part of it, I can't wait to do even more.

And this is just about the time when insanity sets in... I'm not very good at baby steps... I like skipping directly to the most elaborate and complicated ending.  I've already daydreamed about coaching my own team, starting my own council, operating my own 501(c)3 organization... see what I mean?  Maybe I could just start with completing my first season?

But that's not really what this program is all about, is it?  It's about teaching these girls that they can be themselves (insanity and all) and dream big (really, really big) and set their sights on the unimaginable (see above) and that anything is possible if you work hard enough.  So while I will admit that I do need to work on having patience when it comes to some of these things, I am unwilling to consider that any of these ideas are beyond my reach.

So, for now, I will attempt to slow down... and reduce my leaps and bounds to more manageable baby steps... I will simply point my feet in the direction of my wildest dreams and plan to get there at a slightly more manageable pace.

"Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon."