One year at the annual Flagstaff running of the Girls on the Run 5K, the Mountain School’s Michelle Galloway and her student running buddy whimsically dressed as Darth Vader.
“We ran with lightsabers,” Galloway recalled. “We’d yell out during the race, ‘The Force is with you, the Force is with you.’ That was a fun year.”
For 11 years now, Galloway certainly has been a force – for good and for empowerment – for third- to fifth-grade students at the Mountain School, especially the large passel of girls who annually participate in the Girls on the Run program, which culminates in a 5K run in which every young participant dons bib No. 1 and all are winners.
Girls on the Run is a longstanding national organization, and its Northern Arizona branch has thrived since the late 1990s. There are many dedicated volunteers and workers that have helped make the initiative a success, and executive director Kelly Teeselink says someone like Galloway is a treasured resource.
“Michelle is one of those volunteers we wish we could replicate,” Teeselink said. “She is reliable, organized, and most of all is a champion for the Girls on the Run program and our mission. She has worked really hard every season to ensure Girls on the Run is a success at Mountain School and that girls in her school community have access to a program that helps build their self-confidence.”
Even when she doesn’t dress up as Darth Vader at the 5Ks (other years, she’s been a luchador, a Flagstaff High football player, but only once wore a tutu) Galloway has imbued the 20 or so girls with the Force that is a vital part of maturation – empathy, self-esteem, body positivity, enhanced fitness.
Galloway, a runner herself who has conquered the heights of the famous Imogene Pass Run but mostly now runs recreationally, has coaches a few years, but lately she’s taken on the administrative role as coordinator and liaison, wrangling student runners and making sure the coaches and volunteers have completed the GOTR training.
It’s a tough job, but there are perks. One being that, each year, Galloway makes sure that she teams with one of the girls as a “running buddy” for the 5K. She’s met and mentors enough students now that some have gone off to college.
“The ones that I still know, that I see around town, they are typically go-getters,” said Galloway, a teacher (Spanish, STEAM, English) for 16 years at Mountain School. “And it might not always be in sports. It might be drama, academics. They are pretty motivated. That says a lot about the (GOTR) program.
“I’d say the program is 50% training for a 5K and 50% other topics. But training for the 5K builds confidence in them like crazy. That’s a lot for an 8-year-old.”
Indeed, you’d think it might be hard to convince some 8 to 10 year olds to lace up shoes and train for a three-mile race. But Galloway said that’s not a problem at Mountain School, whose mission includes experiential learning in nature. In fact, this year, the school has a record 20 girls signed up, with practice starting next week.
Other elementary schools in Flagstaff have long participated as well – Kinsey to Sechrist to Marshall to Thomas, etc. – but the Mountain School has something of a running legacy at its south-west Flagstaff location. From the late 1990s to 2019, when Covid hit, the school put the Run for the Mountain race at Fort Tuthill, formerly the kickoff to the Flagstaff Run Series. It also hosts an annual Jogathon that is a popular fundraiser.
And then there’s Girls on the Run, “part of our community here,” Galloway said.
“The boys get a little jealous of Girls on the Run,” she said, laughing. “We’ve done numerous things in the past. We had a mud run for boys only – I was involved in that as well – down in Phoenix. We had a boys-only sports club, and this semester we have a sports club open to boys and girls. Age 10, fifth grade, is considered the golden year. Boys and girls are equal developmentally, so they don’t need to be separated as far as physical abilities go.
“But the reason that Girls on the Run is for girls only is because they address situations that affect girls only.”
Such as body image, for one. And bullying, the verbal female version.
“But it also covers things like, even wearing a bra,” Galloway said. “That’s a newer development for Girls on the Run, providing jog brass for girls who need it and maybe were embarrassed to ask their parents, maybe the family can’t afford it. A lot of the topics we teach and the girls are a part of during the practices do only relate to girls.
“Some of it is that chatter, like talking behind each other’s back. Honestly, I hate to say it, but it starts at about third grade. So, that’s when Girls on the Run starts, third grade, and they address that. They address how to treat one another, how not to be a clique, how to be inclusive. I’m not saying that can’t happen for boys, but it does tend to happen more for girls, that drama.”
Inclusivity is a cornerstone of Girls on the Run, and that means reaching out to introverts who might be hesitant to participate or to regulate the behavior of popular girls bent on perpetuating a schoolyard hierarchy.
“I’ve seen changes (in girls), for sure,” she said. “Often, it’s in making friends. Sometimes girls will come out real kind of cocky, even, like fifth graders. By the end, they are put in their place a little. They are all on the same playing level, whether third or fifth. They all have to work toward the same goals, whether it’s treating each other with kindness or coming up with their superpower or running the 5K. Then, of course, there’s the ones who are apprehensive about running or about talking – because it’s a lot of sharing in our program, not all running.”
Earlier this week, when Galloway rounded up veteran GOTR fifth-graders to help recruit younger girls to sign up at a lunchtime meeting, she told the experienced girls to share three things they liked about the program.
“It got the whole lunchroom’s attention,” she said. “We didn’t plan this at all. They talked about making friends, finding out who you are, believing in yourself. And not all these girls are ones who ever would have said that before.
“There was a mom at lunch and she was giving me the thumb’s up and one of the teachers was, like (nodding). It couldn’t have been rehearsed any better. It’s always impressive how highly they speak of Girls on the Run and what it gives them.”
On race day, after all that training and sharing, Galloway admits to being a little “jittery” with excitement. In the past, she’s been a “buddy” to girls who, all of a sudden, refused to run.
“I’d have to say, ‘See that tree up there? Let’s just jog until we get to that tree and then we’ll take a breather,’ Galloway recalled. “And you really have to coax them. But they end up with a feeling of accomplishment.
“Then I’ve had girls at the other (extreme). Once, I thought I was going to throw up at the end of the race because I had to run so fast to keep up. Ever since then, I’m like, ‘OK, who’s going to be my running buddy. I have to keep up with them.’ I have to keep up with them to be encouraging, right? It’s scary now.”
No worries, though. After all, the Force is with her.
Leave a Reply