It’s jogging around the block. Like recess.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks, everyone! A potential dumb question, are we supposed to run with them at the 5K?

Yes, or an older sibling can as well.

Each kid needs a running partner. Can also be a coach, neighbor etc.

Anonymous wrote:I think it depends a lot on the school and how it’s run. At our school, for my daughter’s grade, it was very cliquey. I don’t blame the coaches — it just happened that there were a group of moms that ran together and were friends and their kids had all kind of grown up having play dates and they all signed up together. So it felt very isolating for my kid who wasn’t part of that group. But I’ve heard good things from other schools or years. At our school it fills almost immediately so it does tend to fill up with people who are friends of the organizers as they are all set to register as soon as it opens.

We had a very similar experience.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks, everyone! A potential dumb question, are we supposed to run with them at the 5K?

Yes, or an older sibling can as well.

Anonymous wrote:Your daughter is already doing swim. Don't overload her with early-morning running. Give her time to be a kid and have some downtime to rest and play in the neighborhood. She can get good exercise and have fun doing it.

Our oldest (now college) did GOTR one year and didn't like it all that much. Didn't hate it but didn't love it, either. She didn't do the big race a the end. "I'm done" she said. We didn't make her get up at 5:30 to drive a long way to the 5k big finale race.

I wouldn't bother if I were you.

OP here. I am leaning towards not doing this due to the schedule and the cliquey comments from other posters.

I can see it happening as there’s definitely a core group in our school who is cliquey - saw that at our summer swim.

OP here. Thanks, everyone! A potential dumb question, are we supposed to run with them at the 5K?

Your daughter is already doing swim. Don't overload her with early-morning running. Give her time to be a kid and have some downtime to rest and play in the neighborhood. She can get good exercise and have fun doing it.

Our oldest (now college) did GOTR one year and didn't like it all that much. Didn't hate it but didn't love it, either. She didn't do the big race a the end. "I'm done" she said. We didn't make her get up at 5:30 to drive a long way to the 5k big finale race.

I wouldn't bother if I were you.

My DD described it as the “Girl Scouts of running”

I coached our daughter and other girls in 3rd-5th grade. Neither of us is super athletic, the first half of the practice is more empowerment and building confidence, then you do some running.

A 5k isn't that far, we did run it all 6 years (fall and spring all 3 years), and it was fun. I remember one of the dads talking about needing to go exercise later in the day, because the GOTR 5k didn't count.

It was a nice bonding time for me and dd and some of her friends, and yes, there were absolutely some bratty girls on occasion, but that's life. I would do it again in a heartbeat, and our daughter would say the same.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My friend did this with her daughters and loved it, but you say you have a conflict with swim. What does your kid enjoy more? She's old enough to express a preference.[/quote]

OP here. It’s not a schedule conflict, but just makes for a long Wednesday and Thursday since the GOTR meets before school and she has swim practice in the evening of both days as well.[/quote]

Funny, my rising third grader will be doing AM Girls on the Run and PM swim practice this fall as well. Luckily ours are staggered days, not both on the same day. Same day would probably be too much for my kid, but you know your kid best. Does she really want to do both? Does she have any other big calendar commitments during the GOTR season? It's a short season, so maybe worth giving it a shot and dropping if it's just too hard once you get into it.

I really like the concept, but I suspect that it’s more school/group dependent on the experience. My athletic girl did not enjoy it. She said there was too much talking (they were asked to share their feelings and stories and she’s not that type of person) and not enough running. But 1.5 hours in the morning seems like a long time! My DD’s practice was 45 mins. She also did an after school sport on the same days as GOTR, and she was tired, but powered through.

The school also offers a running group for boys, so there is a running option for both genders.

Anonymous wrote:It totally depends on who is coaching. I signed my daughter up not realizing it was run by a group of cliquey moms of the mean girls. What could have been a great experience was not. The main coach even left the 5K before the slower girls had finished.

This is disgusting

Anonymous wrote:It totally depends on who is coaching. I signed my daughter up not realizing it was run by a group of cliquey moms of the mean girls. What could have been a great experience was not. The main coach even left the 5K before the slower girls had finished.

That's awful. Ours was mostly coached by teachers, so I guess we avoided the clique drama

There’s a lot of confidence building and girl power, some running, and bonding.

My dd loved it and I coached it for 3 years. Most girls love it.

It totally depends on who is coaching. I signed my daughter up not realizing it was run by a group of cliquey moms of the mean girls. What could have been a great experience was not. The main coach even left the 5K before the slower girls had finished.