Girls on the Run® is a life-changing, character development program for girls in 3rd through 8th grade.  Our mission is to educate and prepare girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living.  We inspire girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running.  We use the power of running  to provide girls with the tools to:

• Celebrate their unique self
• Honor their voices
• Recognize their gifts, and
• Activate their personal power

Girls on the Run of Silicon Valley is an independent council of Girls on the Run International, founded in 1996, by Molly Barker, a visionary, Ironman  triathlete. Today, there are over 200 locations across the U.S. & Canada, with new locations added each year.  Girls on the Run combines training for a 5k (3.1 miles) event with healthy living education. We use exercise, positive reinforcement and encouraging role models to help girls discover the confidence they need in those critical pre-teen years and beyond.  Through interactive activities such as running, playing games and discussing important issues, participants learn how to celebrate being their unique and real selves.  Our hope is that every girl believes and can say, "I belong just the way I am."

CONGRATULATIONS and THANK YOU to all of our amazing Girls on the Run, Girls on Track, GOTR & GOT coaches, parents, families, sponsors, volunteers, and community members who made our 10th Annual Girls on the Run 5K on Saturday, May 18th, such a great day! We are so proud of and grateful for each and every one of you! Visit our 5K Events page or our Facebook page for photos and more!

We are proud have the continued support of Sereno Group as our 2013 Program Sponsor!  Thanks to Chris Trapani, Ryan Iwanaga, Karen Izzo, Rebecca Smith, Kim Richman, Meryle Sussman, Monique Pacurariu, Adena Anderson, Michael Riese, Leslie Morley, Ed Graziani, Owen Halliday, Marc Roos, Cindy Ying and Sue Nystrom Walsh for their support of Girls on the Run programs! Sereno has been a part of our program for over 5 years and we are happy to have them on the Girls on the Run team.

Thank you to our Girls on the Run 5K sponsors! Click here and scroll down to see a list of all of our amazing 2013 GOTR 5K sponsors. Click here to see a list of all of our 2013 sponsors and grantors. Interested in sponsoring our 5K or programs in the future? Please contact GOTR Executive Director Kathleen Nestler.

Thanks to all of you who attended our two special events in July 2012 celebrating 10 years of Girls on the Run programs in Silicon Valley!  It was fun introducing Molly to our amazing community of girls, coaches, parents, volunteers and sponsors.  Be sure to check out some great photos from both of the events on our Facebook page!

Thanks to our national partner, Athleta, for hosting a wonderful fundraiser to support GOTR programs in our local community!  We had a great time and the store is beautiful!  Click HERE to see pictures on facebook and be sure to visit one of two new stores in our area - in the Town and Country shopping center in Palo Alto or Valley Fair Mall in Santa Clara.

The 2012 Girls on the Run 5K on May 19th at Vasona Park was an awesome event!   Congratulations to the 3,000 runners and walkers who came and conquered the 5K on a spectacular day that was a lot of fun for all!!  Thanks to the 200 race day volunteers who came on Friday to set up and got up EARLY on Saturday to make it all happen.  We couldn't have done it without you!  CLICK HERE to visit our 5K page and to see a list of sponsors and other event details.

Do you want to see pictures from the 2012 5K?  Visit us on Facebook!  Check us out on Facebook and be sure to "like" us!  We post pictures and videos about our program too and it's a great way to keep up to date on what's happening here in Silicon Valley! 

COACHES are the backbone of Girls on the Run and we could not do any of this without all of the amazing volunteer coaches who dedicate lots of time, energy and enthusiasm to the program!  A special thanks to our Team Adelaide members, who are past and present coaches that step up to do even more for GOTR throughout the year.  Although we are not currently accepting new coach applications for our spring season, check back soon to apply to become a coach for Spring 2014 and visit our "get involved" page for more information!

Celebrating record numbers and over 5,000 girls served from 2002-2012! 2012 marked our 11th year of programs in the Silicon Valley area!  2013 promises to be another fantastic year with 300 volunteer coaches commited to helping us bring the program to over 1,300 girls in their communities!   If you would like to receive information on our upcoming programs and events, please be sure to sign up for our newsletters and visit our GOTR News page to see some great articles on Girls on the Run and our fun DVD!

Check out what our newest 2013 bloggers have to say as we get started in our spring season! We have GOTR girl bloggers and a mother/daughter blogger team that you can follow each week.

Last year we also had several new bloggers from both Girls on the Run and Girls on Track. Check out what they had to say about the program by reading our 2012 GOTR blog and our 2012 GOT blog!

If you'd like to read our 2011 blog from GOTR participant Ali, click here.

Click here to shop GOTR apparel and merchandise.