May 31, 2023 By Lila Ghiringhelli and Hannah Williams
25 girls in grades 3-5 from Hingham’s South Elementary are getting ready for this week’s Girls on the Run 5K. On Saturday, June 3rd , we will join 1,800 girls from the greater Boston area at the start line of the Boston Girls on the Run 5K at The Track @ Suffolk Downs. This year’s event features a record number of participants who represent 104 teams from communities including: Boston, Chelsea, Lowell, Lawrence, Newton, Marlborough, Plymouth and many more cities and towns in the area.
For many of our teammates, this is the first time they’ve attempted to run 3.1 miles. Each of us will run at our own “happy pace” with a running buddy.
We’ve spent the past ten weeks training for this race, but it’s more than running. At Girls on the Run, we talk about how to build confidence, resilience, create balance, connection and friendship. We also focus on setting big goals and how to put a plan into place to achieve them.
What we love about Girls on the Run is that it is a fun program and you learn about yourself and your friends, but you also get exercise. Our favorite day at Girls on the Run was the 5k practice race we did on May 24th around South Elementary. This day was so fun because everyone was cheering us on while we were reaching our goal. It feels great to have such supportive teammates. We learned that when you take time to work towards your goal, you can achieve it!
Through Girls on the Run, we have also developed a love of running and built some new friendships. Our favorite lesson taught us about choosing friends who have HEART. HEART is an acronym that stands for choosing friends who: Help you, Encourage you, Accept you, Respect you and Treat you with kindness.
We can’t get across the finish line of Saturday’s 5K without the help of our great coaches. Thank you to our coaches: Meghan Horrigan, Caroline Wheelihan, Vanessa McGunnigle, and Ali Anderson!
South Elementary is one of two Girls on the Run teams based in Hingham. Interest in this program is growing in our community and on the South Shore. Girls on the Run makes running really fun and we would recommend it to anyone who is interested in running and making new friends.
Good luck to all of the Hingham girls running this season! We are excited to run the 5K on June 3rd.
About the authors: Lila Ghiringhelli and Hannah Williams are 5th grade students at South Elementary.
