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Girls on the Run
Embracing a Positive Life
By Kelly Burgess
There are dozens of stories Sidney Povall can tell from her years of involvement with Girls on the Run, but one stands out.
"One amazing change I witnessed was a girl in fifth grade named Katie," says Povall. "She came from a family with a lot of kids, headed up by a single mother, and when she started the program, she just seemed like an angry little girl. She was sort of the blueprint for the child we're trying to reach: Her body was changing ahead of the curve, she was a little heavy, she didn't want to be involved, and she was extremely negative. Over the 12 weeks of the program, she really started to come out of her shell and act like a little girl instead of a sullen teen. It was all accomplished just by us being positive, energetic and loving each other."
"In 1976, I bought my first pair of running shoes. I was 15 then, and like most 15-year-old girls, trying to figure out who I was inside a changing body. I was desperately wanting to be liked by the beautiful crowd – popular with the boys. But I couldn't fit into the box the world placed over the spark of my spirit. The box told me things I knew in my soul weren't true: That the way I looked was more important than who I was inside; that being a woman meant keeping emotions like anger to myself; that having a boyfriend meant giving up part of my own identity. But I stepped in anyway. Hours spent trying to mold my body, my lifestyle, my life into what the box required were extremely painful.
"So I ran. I'd strap on those running shoes and head for the woods, the streets, wherever my feet would take me. I felt beautiful. Strong. Powerful. I felt a part of something greater than myself.
"On July 7, 1993, I remember it well. I put on my running shoes and ran at sunset. I'm not sure what instant of the run the box disappeared, but like a glass womb it shattered around me and pushed me out, born to an entirely new freedom. It was a moment of personal awakening."
While competing athletically, Barker received her master's in social work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She then worked as a high school teacher, track coach and a college counselor at a small private college addressing the needs of women with eating disorders, alcohol and substance abuse problems and depression.
It was the combination of all these experiences and seeing these women who, as girls, never got a chance to run "out of the box" that coalesced Barker's dream of starting an organization aimed at helping preteen girls find themselves through running.
