As others have indicated, really depends on your kid and the coaches running the program. My daughter is a very strong athlete in competitive sports but not a fan of running on its own (she is happy to do it in the context of another sport). And she complained about all the time spent talking (I assume this is all the confidence building stuff). We did do the 5K but it was a course set up mainly through a shopping mall parking lot so not the most picturesque of courses.

But I know others who have loved it. Not a huge commitment if your daughter is interested in giving it a try. Maybe it will kick off a love of running!

My daughter loved it. She was not that into sports at the time, but lo and behold, she became an outstanding XC runner in high school. I'm sure GOTR planted a seed.

She liked EVERYTHING -- the girl power and the running. She had excellent leaders, and at her school, the leaders were parents but a decent number of teachers signed up to assist.

Really depends on how much YOUR kid wants to do it, but it was a positive here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A teacher can also run the 5k with them if a parent is unavailable to do so

Are there teachers who are sponsors to the program? I thought this is a parent-run program.

As you can see, not every parent can run a 5k. However, in an ES, there are usually some teachers who can, and the girls like running with a former teacher. Former coach who ran with her daughter for 3 years, we found many of the schools most beloved teachers were more than happy to run with the handful of girls who's parent was unable to run (for whatever reason, maybe there were siblings that needed watching or a job or they were 9 months pregnant)

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This was actually something I didn’t like. I’m not physically capable of running a 5K and so I had to sort of find another mom who was willing to do it with my kid but it was awkward and meant the two girls had to run together at the same pace. Since it is a program supposedly designed to get girls exposure to running when they wouldn’t otherwise have that exposure, I thought they would not be parent dependent in that way.

PP here- we had teachers who ran the program, not parents. So no cliquey mom groups running it.

My DD did it last season and loved it. She also plays other sports so usually could only go to one practice a week. I think the practices are relatively easy, but she still loved going and spending time with her friends. She thought the 5k was very fun as well, ymmv.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A teacher can also run the 5k with them if a parent is unavailable to do so

Are there teachers who are sponsors to the program? I thought this is a parent-run program.

Waynewood has teachers coaching and running

Anonymous wrote:A teacher can also run the 5k with them if a parent is unavailable to do so

Are there teachers who are sponsors to the program? I thought this is a parent-run program.

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

A parent is supposed to. When each of my kids did it, the 5k was on a tournament weekend for their other sport, so neither ran it. If your kid is really into swim, or any other sport, there is a good chance they are doing their sport and not running the 5k. One of my kids was going to skip their tournament to run, but all of their friends were doing other sports that weekend, so she skipped too

A teacher can also run the 5k with them if a parent is unavailable to do so