Running was what gave me the confidence and toughness that I have today. We athletes have similar threads in our dynamic make-up: mental toughness, goal-setting, confidence, and perseverance. Wisdom that can be offered by an adult to a child based on what we’ve learned from our athletic experiences is priceless. The opposite is true as well…we adults can learn much from our enthusiastic children.
This leads me to We Are Girls Who Love to Run written by Brianna Grant.
“I wrote We Are Girls Who Love to Run to help our girls discover the power of running, see how FUN it is, and show how the lessons of running can really spill into all areas of our lives. I also want girls and women to remember that females are STRONG and have much to offer the world. The book celebrates living in the moment and treasuring the relationships and activities that make our lives rich.”
My children and I have read this book several times and although it’s not their favorite, we still enjoy reading it. (Disclaimer, I have two boys who are under the age of five and don’t understand a lot of the concepts yet.) They love the pictures, especially the girl swimming with the fish. We spend a lot of time on this page! I’ve particularly enjoyed this book because it offers insights into what you can learn from running: social skills, fitness, flexibility, enthusiasm for life, and having a positive attitude. We Are Girls Who Love to Run is a book you will come back to time and time again because of the lifetime skills offered in it.
As a former physical education teacher, I would for sure read this to my students. From the student’s perspective, they need to see other girls who love to run. I think the biggest battle young children face is not having a model to look up to. Whenever I participated in sports events, I always shared my experiences with my students. I wanted them to see a fit female doing events because it was fun. Teachers and Parents have a huge impact on how our children experience life. How they approach things in their life… if they are going to be athletes, creators, scientists, lawyers or doctors- it’s up to us.
Brianna is currently training for the Duvall Days 10K race and currently lives in Duvall Washington. She has two energetic kids and has future plans to write more books! She also has a blog called Girl Who Loves to Run which I found very interesting and you can read it here.
I highly recommend this book to all of you! It should have a place in every child’s home as it is a source of inspiration to all young girls (and boys) to get outside and run!
You can purchase this book directly from Brianna’s website and even get a signed copy if you’d like!
3 responses so far ↓
1 MizFit // May 2, 2008 at 10:28 am
just wanna echo your sentiments about the book and brianna.
get all ya’ll over and support her stuff
2 Playful Professional // May 2, 2008 at 2:05 pm
One of my good friends was a Girls on the Run coach out here in Northern VA, and I think it was just a great program. I think that getting girls running at a young age is a great idea. I wish I would’ve started running (other than bball sprints) before I hit college. It would’ve made it much easier to start.
3 Jacqueline Carly // May 4, 2008 at 10:01 pm
awesome! ordering for my daughter!
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