'Run Like a Girl' Beginner 5K Training Program in Mahwah Aims to Develop Strong, Happy Girls

Empowering Women Thru Motion will hold a Spring “Run Like a Girl” Empowerment Program for girls ages 9 through 13 from March until May that will “inspire the young girls by providing them with the tools they need to navigate the challenging years ahead of them.”

The program is designed for girls in grades 4 through 8 to learn about gratitude, courage, confidence and setting goals all while training for their first 5K. The program also includes information on nutrition that Head Coach and Committee Chairperson Jessica Garcia hopes will “spark a love of exercise that will be with them through their adult years.”

“Empowered girls grow up feeling secure in themselves,” Garcia said. “They learn to take action, making positive choices about their own lives and doing positive things for others.”

The Empowering Women Thru Motion girls program was started because according to Garcia, today’s young girls are faced with many challenges socially, emotionally and physically.

“As women who have undergone similar struggles, we felt that our experience could benefit these young girls,” Garcia told Patch. “The program was started to ’empower’ these young girls by combining the benefits of physical and emotional growth to help them become strong, capable, assertive girls who can stand up for themselves.”

And although “empowered girls feel good about themselves and grow up with a ’can-do’ attitude,” Garcia said that they can still feel insecure and doubt themselves at times, but will be able to overcome these feelings because they learn to work through their problems.

The “Run Like a Girl” Beginner 5K Training Program will run from March 28 to May 30 and classes will be held from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Continental Soldiers Park in Mahwah. The girls will train for the REACH Foundation 5K, which will be held on Sunday, June 7.

“Powerful girls will grow up to lead full valuable lives in our community and in the world,” Garcia said. ”[We aim to] develop ... strong, happy young women who in turn can share their skills and knowledge with others.”

For more information or to register, visit www.empoweringwomenthrumotion.org.