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!

Celebrating record numbers and over 6,000 girls served from 2002-2013! 2013 marked our 12th year of programs in the Silicon Valley area!  2014 promises to be another fantastic year.  We expect to add up to ten new program sites and are currently accepting site applications.  Please visit our Starting a New Program page for more information. If you are a returning site, we also need a site application to be able to continue the program at your school.  If returning, please visit our Continuing a Program page.  ALL site applications are due by September 15th, 2013, in order to be considered. 

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. Visit our Become a Coach page for more information about coaching!

Thanks to our national sponsor, Athleta, for all that they have done to support us locally.  We are excited to partner with Athleta this summer as we launch our SoleMates program and join Athleta for their inaugural Esprit de She 5K/10K run in Palo Alto on Thursday, August 1st.  Stay tuned for more information to come soon!

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.

Join our mailing list! 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!

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!

Check out what our 2013 bloggers have to say about their experience with the program this spring! 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.