Mother-Daughter Running

Written by Malissa:


This past year I have been thinking a lot about my running and how I can use it to help others. I've been helping a few of my friends that have just started running but I really wanted to do more.

I've always had a desire to help late elementary/middle school girls. It's such a tough age for girls, I know it was for me. I was tiny, like Alicia, in elementary but started developing a chest in late third grade and then went through puberty in sixth grade. I gained some weight during this time. Looking back on it now, I wasn't fat, even though I thought I was.  I had a large chest and hips and no longer had a stick figure body like all the other girls. I was teased by the other girls and harassed by the boys, in middle school and high school. When I see a young, overweight girl my heart hurts for her, because I know she's getting picked on. She most likely has low self-esteem and she compares herself to the girls around her. Again middle school is so tough for girls!

During my getting healthy journey, I've really enjoyed doing research on better ways to eat healthy. I've decided to get my Nutrition & Wellness Consultant and Children's Fitness Specialist Certification this fall. I really feel that this is what God has been preparing me to do with my life. 

I've also asked my running partner and good friend, Joana, to help me start a mother-daughter running group this summer. We have a few natural runners in the group and a few that aren't so we're going to try and make running fun. We're getting a list of games together that we can play while we run. We plan to start off slow and work our way up to a 5k. We'll most likely follow the Couch to 5k plan with a slight twist. We're also going to have a bible study once a week with the girls. Since most of the girls are late elementary/early middle school we want to talk about friendship, self image, and nutrition. At the end of summer or early fall we're planning on taking the girls to the beach for a 5k race and to celebrate all their hard work! If you're interested in following along , we will be posting weekly at http://soul2soles.blogspot.com/

Do you know of any ways to make running fun? Any games?