Girls on the Run© is a life-changing, experiential learning program for girls age 8 to 13. The program combines training for a 3.1 mile run/walk event with self-esteem enhancing, uplifting workouts. The goals of the program are to encourage positive emotional, social, mental, spiritual and physical development.

Girls on the Run is the name of our organization, but we have two programs:

Girls on the Run for 3rd-5th graders

The Girls on the Run curriculum has been in use since the fall of 1996. Since that time thousands of girls around the country have been through the program.  What we soon discovered is, the girls were having so much fun and getting so connected, they wanted something that would carry them through middle school. We originally wanted to call it Girls on the Run for Middle Schoolers. The girls who were participating told us they wanted something they could call their own. Hence the birth of Girls on Track.

The principal philosophies and psychological research for both programs are the same yet the depth of processing the topics varies with the two different curricula. We can go into more targeted and age-appropriate discussion regarding certain topics (eating disorders, tobacco and alcohol use, personal/internet safety and harassment to name a few) with the middle school participants, whereas with the younger girls the discussion remains a bit more vague or may not occur at all.

Girls on the Run International (GOTRI) is located in Charlotte, North Carolina and is the parent organization of more than 160 Girls on the Run councils across the United States and Canada. 

The Girls on the Run Vermont council was founded in 1999, and had 15 girls participating in the pilot program.  The Vermont council has expansion throughout the state during the past seven years - and in 2007, nearly 2,000 girls participated in the program!   For the 2008 season, we had 92 sites offering the Girls on the Run and/or the Girls on Track programs.