Girls on the Run Program Begins New Year in Dexter

Registration for this year's Girls on the Run program at and in Dexter will end at midnight tonight. The national program caters to young girls in third through eighth grade and stresses the importance of healthy living.

Now in its 10th year in Dexter,  Girls on the Run offers a 10-week course that combines fun activities and physical fitness with lessons geared toward self-respect. The culmination of the program is a 5K run/walk that will take place on Nov. 20 at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti.

“Everyone who crosses the finish line receives a medal,” said Danielle Plunkett, executive director of Girls on the Run Southeastern Michigan, which operates the program in Washtenaw, Lenawee, Jackson, Monroe and Livingston counties.

Plunkett said the program’s topics focus on friendship, bullying, nutrition and good sportsmanship. The students also take part in a community service project.

Plunkett said in the five-county area, 2,000 girls from 50 different schools participate, as well as about 600 volunteers who provide the coaching.

She said more coaches at both Wylie and Creekside are needed due to the large volume of girls enrolled in the program.

Lisa Gizzi, program coordinator for southeastern Michigan, said that up until Friday, there was no coach for Creekside.

“We don’t like to set up a site, and then cancel it,” she said. “But sometimes life gets in the way, and some of the coaches stepped back.

“We do have two (coaches) now, which is enough to run one team."

Coaches receive free registration for their daughters, a $125 value, as well as discounts at Running Fit and participation in the 5K run.

Gizzi said that she was a coach for 14 years, coaching her daughter from third through eighth grade. Her daughter is now a coach of the program as well.

“I wish they had something like this when I was a kid,” she said.

Plunkett said the program, which was first launched in 1996 in North Carolina, is important to girls because research shows that girls in all grade levels participate less in physical activity than boys. The difference becomes more pronounced in middle and high school. According to Girls on the Run, nationally, 9.6 percent of girls are overweight. In Michigan, that amount is 15.6 percent.

Girls on the Run will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:10-4:45 p.m. Sept. 20 through Dec. 1 at both Wylie and Creekside.

To register online, visit http://www.girlsontherunsemi.org/events/GOTR-events.php.