Practice 5K Day

on March 31, 2011
in All Posts

I’ve been rush-rush-rush with work, but the BEST part of my day was definitely when I got to take a break and coach Girls on the Run.  Today was the Practice 5K Day!

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Some coaches choose to ‘build up’ the end-of-season 5K a little more than others… I am definitely in the “Let’s get excited for the 5K!” camp.  GOTR is really a self-esteem program more than a running program, but I want my girls to be PUMPED for the 5K.  I also don’t want the girls who are more inclined to walk laps than run/walk to feel underprepared on 5K day, either.

 

That’s why I make a HUGE deal of out the first Practice 5K.  Now, it’s not a race against each other, but it is a race against yourself… I always say the goal is to have fun while giving it your best.  We also don’t shout out finishing times because I think that create competition.

 

We have, however, a fun finish line for each girl.  Coach Kristien (aka Husband) really liked that part.   I snapped a picture as each girl finished and will include it in their photo album at the end of the season.

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And once they finish, they get “Power Runner Rings” (plastic rings from Target) and squawkers to help cheer in their friends.  We also had snacks and cookies.

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Although I didn’t tell them their times, I did notice the lead girl finished in about 25 minutes! Insane, right?!  I’m jealous of her skills. :)  The other girls took about 35 – 55 minutes. 

 

And although I didn’t run the entire thing, I did do about 1.25 miles with the girls and had NO LEG PAIN!!!! Some of the girls know that I’m injured and they were very happy to see me running again.  As was I!

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Onto the meals of the day thus far…

 

Breakfast was a double portion of cereal, almonds, a banana, and almond milk:

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And Part I of lunch was this HUGE hummus and veggie wrap.  I ate most of it in the car as I drove to GOTR.

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Mmm. Tasted as good as it looks!

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I’m about to rummage in the fridge for Lunch Part II and then I need to get on the road… I’m driving north for a Girls on the Run event.  I’m speaking about Operation Beautiful.  I’m excited for the event, but it’s going to be a long night!

{ 65 comments }

 

  • Julie (A Case of the Runs) March 31, 2011, 4:05 pm

    Yay for no leg pain! I’m happy that the girls are part of your recovery cheer squad. =)

  • Alayna @ Thyme Bombe March 31, 2011, 4:13 pm

    So glad to hear your leg is feeling good today! And I love that you don’t encourage the girls to compete with each other.

  • chelsey @ clean eating chelsey March 31, 2011, 4:14 pm

    Oh my gosh, that wrap looks so so good. I kindof wanted to jump through my computer screen right now.

  • Beth @ Beth's Journey to Thin March 31, 2011, 4:14 pm

    Sounds like you’re having such a blast with GOTR! The girls are very lucky to have you and your hubby for coaches!!

  • Cristina March 31, 2011, 4:15 pm

    I think that’s really great how you don’t call out their times. I volunteered with GOTR last season and some of the girls got uber-competitive. I think sometimes they pushed themselves TOO hard, trying to run every mile they did faster than the last. Also, the slower girls felt embarrased.

    25 minutes, that’s crazy good! 🙂

    • Caitlin March 31, 2011, 9:32 pm

      I agree – no reason to make the slower girls feel embarrassed! They should be proud, too!

  • Holly @ The Runny Egg March 31, 2011, 4:15 pm

    I’m glad your leg didn’t hurt!

    25 minutes for a 5K? I am super impressed by your coaching skills 🙂

  • Samantha Angela @ Bikini Birthday March 31, 2011, 4:23 pm

    Awesome! Everyone wants to break through a winner’s tape.

  • Alison March 31, 2011, 4:26 pm

    I really love your enthusiasm for GOTR. My daughter is participating in her second season and I don’t think I could ask for a better program. She is built to run and always does well, but GOTR is about so much more. I adore the finish line for every girl you did this afternoon. Caroline’s coaches give out flowers at the practice 5k….and rice krispie treats! 🙂

    • Caitlin March 31, 2011, 9:32 pm

      Aww giving out flowers is awesome.

  • Erin @ Big Girl Feats March 31, 2011, 4:30 pm

    Awesome for no leg pain – and double awesome for your encouragement of the girls! I wish GOTR had been around when I was in middle school. It might have encouraged me to find the inner athelete at lot earlier in life.

  • Sarena (The Non Dairy Queen) March 31, 2011, 4:33 pm

    Yay for no leg pain! Sounds like a great day so far. Drive carefully!

  • Kim @ Spoonful of Sass March 31, 2011, 4:33 pm

    Reading about your girls doing a practice 5K gets me excited about the training I’m doing for my first 5K! And makes me realize I better get it in gear! 25 minutes?! I’m so impressed!

  • Baking 'n' Books March 31, 2011, 4:35 pm

    Those girls could kick my arse!

    Love the Hubs face!

    Do you run with the girls at practices or mostly coach? I assume you don’t eat that soon to running?

    • Caitlin March 31, 2011, 9:33 pm

      We run part of the time but we are doing coaching stuff so we can’t run the entire time.

  • Heather March 31, 2011, 4:36 pm

    I think it’s really cool that you didn’t yell out the times for each girl. I remember being in 7th grade and my (not very nice anyway) P.E. teacher yelled out our run times. She would actually make some of us feel bad for having longer run times than some of the other girls. Instead of encouraging us to do better, she made us feel badly about ourselves to the point where I HATED running for a long time after that class. Two years ago though, I fell in love with it 🙂 So big kudos to you for being compassionate and thinking about how yelling out times isn’t the greatest idea, especially for some of us slower paced girls 🙂

    • Caitlin March 31, 2011, 9:33 pm

      I’m glad you feel in love with running 🙂

  • Annette @ EnjoyYourHealthyLife March 31, 2011, 4:40 pm

    I had a wrap for lunch today too-perfection!!

  • Laughter-Loving Stacy March 31, 2011, 4:44 pm

    Yay for your running accomplishment!

    And I LOVE the program GOTR! After reading about it on your blog, I looked at the website hoping there was a branch in the Seattle area and I’m SO GLAD THERE IS! I am working with City Year (a branch of Americorps) next year and I would love to bring this program into the school I will be working at! I would love to be a part of the program!!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

    • Caitlin March 31, 2011, 9:34 pm

      Awesome!! I hope you get involved.

  • Ash @ Good Taste Healthy Me March 31, 2011, 4:44 pm

    I really like how you handle the run times with the girls. It’s so easy for competition to rear it’s ugly head. Competition is not necessarily a bad thing but it can be.

  • Sarah @ The Pajama Chef March 31, 2011, 4:45 pm

    so fun!

  • Kacy March 31, 2011, 4:51 pm

    So glad you had a pain-free run! The practice 5K sounds fun! I wish I would have done something like that when I was younger.

  • Jodi March 31, 2011, 4:56 pm

    I love reading about GOTR. I am new to running (building up to run my first 5K) and I have a 3-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old son that I want to set a good example for. I can’t wait until they are old enough to bring with me when I job, but for now they do yoga with me almost everyday. It makes such a great impact on them. I love seeing the impact you are making on those girls as well. It is such a wonderful thing that they will take with them for a lifetime. 🙂

    • Caitlin March 31, 2011, 9:34 pm

      You have to make your girls into GOTR!!! Just 6 more years for your oldest 🙂

  • Sophia @ Raven Waves March 31, 2011, 4:58 pm

    Yummy the wrap looks so good! That’s so great that the girls ran a 5K just to compete against themselves. 🙂

  • Marina March 31, 2011, 5:00 pm

    You and your husband are the best coaches ever 🙂
    Wrap looks yummylicious 😀

  • Lisa (bakebikeblog) March 31, 2011, 5:17 pm

    I really really love the GOTR concept!!!

  • chelsea March 31, 2011, 5:27 pm

    YAY for no leg pain!! I hope you have a great night at your Girls on the Run event!

  • Jo @ Jo In the Kitchen March 31, 2011, 5:40 pm

    GOTR sounds like so much fun!

  • Errign March 31, 2011, 5:53 pm

    Drive safe 🙂

    You seriously look like you’re having so much fun with GOTR – I wish my local chapter was closer to me!

  • Kate (What Kate is Cooking) March 31, 2011, 6:34 pm

    You would be such a fun coach 🙂 Those girls are really lucky to have you and your husband coaching them!

  • Ashley @ Feeding Ashley March 31, 2011, 6:41 pm

    I’m happy your leg feels better! GOTR looks like so much fun, especially today.
    Good luck tonight!

  • Deva (Voracious Vorilee) March 31, 2011, 6:41 pm

    It looks like your husband has a great time co-coaching with you – love it!

  • Kristen March 31, 2011, 6:44 pm

    what a great experience! I wish when I was younger I was a part of a girls group. I think it would have helped A MILLINON times with my self esteem (then and now)
    you are doing such a great thing!

  • Samantha @ Health, Happiness & Skinny Jeans March 31, 2011, 6:48 pm

    Yay for no leg pain!! 🙂

  • Ali @ Ali Runs March 31, 2011, 6:50 pm

    Yay for no leg pain!! That is awesome!! 🙂

  • Morgan March 31, 2011, 6:59 pm

    I signed up to be a Girls on the Run buddy for the 5k in May! I am so excited and so glad I found the program from reading your blog.

  • Miranda @ Working Mom Works Out March 31, 2011, 7:21 pm

    I love the GOTR program! Thanks for being involved with young people.

  • Jaclyn March 31, 2011, 7:35 pm

    I love the idea of GOTR. I think it’s so great, too, that you and the husband are involved in it together. I think you are probably a great inspiration and role model for these girls!

  • Michelle (The Runner's Plate) March 31, 2011, 7:47 pm

    I am the worst at rolling up my wraps and making them look pretty. You should do a tutorial!

  • The Teenage Taste March 31, 2011, 8:07 pm

    25 minutes on her first 5K?! Good for her…that’s my current PR…after at least 10 5Ks. Haha. Glad to hear your healing Caitlin! 😀

  • Abby March 31, 2011, 9:02 pm

    GOTR looks like such an amazing program. I love seeing kids staying active! 🙂 I think it would be so fun to be involved with something like that!

  • Katy (The Singing Runner) March 31, 2011, 9:26 pm

    We have our practice 5K in a few weeks and I am SO SO SO excited! 😀

  • Paige @Running Around Normal March 31, 2011, 9:34 pm

    I love that you think of coaching as a “break” in your day 😀 You have such a wonderful attitude, and I’m sure the girls totally see it!

  • Alyssa March 31, 2011, 9:37 pm

    GOTR sounds like fun!

    Random: I was reading your twitter feed … are you flying to MN for an event or something? I live there 🙂

  • Chelsea @ One Healthy Munchkin March 31, 2011, 9:41 pm

    I love that you make such an effort to make it as non-competitive as possible. Running 5K is an accomplishment, no matter what your time. I’m SO glad that’s what you’re teaching the girls. 🙂

  • Heather @ Health, Happiness, and Hope March 31, 2011, 10:08 pm

    What a wonderful experience for those girls! And I think it’s great that you’re not creating any competition. It’s about doing and feeling their best! 🙂 Have a safe drive!

  • Christine March 31, 2011, 10:08 pm

    That wrap looks great. I love how running a 5k is such a big deal- this makes me want to be a PE teacher and help kids get more excited about running!

  • BroccoliHut March 31, 2011, 10:42 pm

    I just learned about GOTR today in my lifecycle nutrition class and heard that there is a nutrition component–do you think there would be room for a nutrition grad student on the volunteer team for a local GOTR group?

  • Wendy March 31, 2011, 10:43 pm

    Wow, is it practice 5K time already? This spring is flying by! I’m sad that my schedule isn’t allowing me to coach GOTR this spring, but I will be a running buddy at the St Louis GOTR 5K in May. I miss those girls, they are such bundles of energy! Practices were always the high points of my week. 🙂

  • Laurie March 31, 2011, 11:09 pm

    This gets me excited for ours which will be in a couple of weeks, you started before we did here in Virginnie.

  • stace March 31, 2011, 11:29 pm

    I am envious of your wrap it looks so good! Glad to hear your knee was feeling good on your run. Positive vibes coming your way!

  • Ellie@fitforthesoul March 31, 2011, 11:34 pm

    that girl is like lightning!! can she give us some pointers? 😛

  • Nichole March 31, 2011, 11:35 pm

    that wrap is making my mouth water. i literally don’t think i could go a day without eating hummus anymore! i even put it in an omelette yesterday. weird? (it was great though)

  • Nichole ( eat & be pretty ) March 31, 2011, 11:37 pm

    that wrap is making my mouth water. i literally don’t think i could go a day without eating hummus anymore! i even put it in an omelette yesterday. weird? (it was great though)

  • Nicole @ Yuppie Yogini April 1, 2011, 12:12 am

    I’m so jealous of your thin legs. I’ll stop looking at you in parts. 😉

  • sarah (sarah learns) April 1, 2011, 1:09 am

    hooray! i’m glad your leg was feeling better! and i don’t think i’ve actually commented to you about it, but i love how much you love working with girls on the run. it sounds like such an awesome organization and i’m sure the girls feel so lucky to have awesome coaches like you and your husband!

  • Hannah @ Healthy Whip April 1, 2011, 2:20 am

    This looks like such a great programme- I would have loved to have had something similar when I was younger.

  • Emma (Namaste Everyday) April 1, 2011, 3:01 am

    I can’t wait to hear a recap of their race! glad you could run a bit with your gals 🙂

  • Allison @ Happy Tales April 1, 2011, 8:54 am

    Yayyyyy for zero leg pain!!!!!!! What a feat for you!!

    And where oh WHERE did you find that monster of a hummus wrap?! Did you buy it somewhere? Or just make it yourself?! it looks SO GOOD!

    And I think that is *awesome* that you don’t shout out the times as the girls cross the finish. Being a slow girl myself, (always have been and always will be!) I know that that would have meant a lot to me back in the day in elementary gym class. Looove the idea of the ringpops and the other finish line goodies! Y’all are seriously awesome coaches 🙂 If you coach again, do you get to be at the same school? With the same girls? Or does it switch up?

    • Caitlin April 1, 2011, 10:31 am

      It’s from Laurel Market!

      We will stay at the same school but will probably have new girls, so sad!

  • Sam @ the neurotic yogini April 1, 2011, 11:33 am

    that wrap looks SCRUMPTIOUS! 🙂

  • Amber K April 1, 2011, 12:08 pm

    What a great idea to help each girl feel good about going against themselves and not anyone else. But I also have to say HOLY COW that hummus wrap looks awesome. Delish 🙂

  • Katherine: Unemployed April 1, 2011, 12:39 pm

    this is so cute! the girls are going to remember this for the rest of their lives- seriously it is fun to ‘win’ always

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