Girls on the run

As they all lined up for the race that brisk December morning, they knew they’d done something special. For many, it was a first: the very first time they’d set a goal, stayed committed and reached the end. All that was left was the run, past the fountain and the swans splashing in Lake Eola, past downtown Orlando’s skyline, and past all the tiredness that might hit them along the way. They knew they could do it, and they did.

“We accomplished something … we all worked together and we were all trying to achieve the same goal,” said Takyra Cason, a participant in

Girls on the Run and Maitland Middle School eighth grade student. “If you work as a team, you achieve.”

Takyra and eight other middle school girls spent 12 weeks training to tackle the OUC 5k as part of a Girls on the Run group hosted at the Joe R. Lee Branch (Eatonville) Boys and Girls Club. Girls on the Run is a non-profit with councils all over the country that share the organization’s learning program for girls ages 6 to 13. Girls who participate train for a 5k, and learn lessons along the way through a curriculum developed by Girls on the Run to build character and confidence and teach life skills. The girls talk about relationships with friends, caring about others, taking on responsibilities, health and fitness.

“It’s a character-building program with a running goal as its focus,” said Lisa Portelli, who coached the Eatonville group. “It was more about, for many girls, setting their first long-term goal in their lives.”

Portelli, who works at the Winter Park Health Foundation as its program director, was bursting with pride as she gathered with all the girls before the start of the race. She couldn’t believe they’d all come that far together.

“I was just in tears … we did it, I was pretty choked up at that moment,” Portelli said. “At the end of the race, that was their moment.”

Building trust

Two of the girls even came in 11th and 12th place in their age group, and they excitedly took photos of their names in the ranking at the end. But it wasn’t easy, for Portelli or the girls. Since Portelli is an accomplished tri-athlete herself, it wasn’t the running that was the tough part, it was connecting to a group of girls who didn’t quite have faith that she was there for the long haul. It took about a month for them all to warm up.

For more information about Girls on the Run and ways to volunteer and to join, visit girlsontherun.org. To learn about the Boys and Girls Club, visit bgccf.org and the Winter Park Health Foundation visit wphf.org

“Our relationship evolved over time, and it took time for them to trust me,” she said.

It’s tough for the Eatonville Boys and Girls Club kids, said Khadesia Brown, who was the program director there while the Girls on the Run program went on this past fall. Many come from single-parent homes where there isn’t a lot of structure and people don’t always follow through. Even in the Club, volunteers and their ideas for programs come and go, never lasting as long as they were intended to.

“They’ve had a lot of people come here and make promises that haven’t been fulfilled … they’ve been disappointed many times in their lives,” Brown said.

But eventually they saw something in Portelli — her commitment, enthusiasm, her heart — and they opened up.

“I think they felt that,” Brown said.

“She made sure we had everything we needed to succeed,” Takyra said.

Completing a goal

They all got through the whining, the hiding in the playground (to try to get out of running) and the easy distractedness that comes with a group of teenage girls who are all good friends — and they succeeded. Most of them didn’t become the best runners or turn into athletes, but they all set a goal and completed it, and they found an advocate and friend in Portelli. Their eyes were opened to new people and new experiences, which is what everyone at the Boys and Girls Club tries to do each day for the children there. That’s tough in Eatonville sometimes, Brown said, but Girls on the Run opened up a few girls’ worlds just at tiny bit. And they see that opportunity, too.

“I wanted to try something different, something I might not get to do again,” said Mashi Bradley, who goes to Maitland Middle School.

Experiences like this, Portelli said, build them up and prepare them to take on new challenges.

“You can’t give someone self-esteem; you have to earn it,” Portelli said. “This definitely did that.”