Kim Quimby, director of Girls on the Run Hudson Valley, with her daughters,
Keira, 7, and Kaitlyn, 11. Quimby discovered the national program for girls while searching for a way to help Kaitlyn build her self-confidence.
At some
point, almost every daughter struggles with her self-esteem. For Cornwall mom
Kim Quimby, she just didn’t think that point would come as early as it did for
her daughter Kaitlyn.
“I would
overhear her say things to her friends like ‘I’m not pretty,’ or ‘I’m fat,’”
she recalls. “And I’d think, ‘Oh my
gosh, but you’re only 7 years old! You shouldn’t have to feel this way.’”
While searching
for a way to help Kaitlyn, Quimby learned about Girls on the Run, a national
program for girls in 3rd grade through 8th grade that
uses running as an outlet to build confidence and self-esteem among young
girls.
A runner
herself, Quimby found the program instantly appealing. She reached out to the group
about setting up a Hudson Valley chapter. In the fall of 2012, Quimby and another
mom, Michele Rider of Newburgh, began with two teams: one in Newburgh and one in
Cornwall.
“We didn’t
know what we were doing,” says Quimby with a laugh. “We didn’t know if the
girls would like it, if the parents would like it. But it was the most amazing
experience, these girls would show up at every practice so joyful to be there.”
The program
has become so popular locally that they now have sites throughout the Hudson
Valley. This year’s spring season ended up with 38 teams, and Quimby says
they’re anticipating 45 teams for the fall session.
Each session
contains not only a running segment, in which the girls train for a 5K race,
but a life skills lesson as well. The lessons range from teaching the girls how
to stand up for themselves, how to stand up to peer pressure, how to recognize
negative self-talk and flip it to positive self-talk, and how to have
gratitude.
“One of my
favorites is the lesson on real beauty when we talk about focusing on the
inside, and how all of those images we’re bombarded with online and in the
media are unattainable,” says Quimby. “They’re not real.”
Amelia Lee, 8, crosses the finish line at a Girls on the Run practice run in Montgomery. Photo by Meg Limberg Wernau
The 5K race at
the end of the season marks a significant milestone in the lives of the girls
who take part in Girls on the Run — many of whom can’t even run one lap around
the track when they begin the program.
For Quimby,
last year’s race was a turning point in her life as well. After watching 300
girls run the race, she knew she had a difficult choice to make.
“I realized
that I couldn’t do both jobs anymore. I had to make a choice. I didn’t have
time for anybody,” she says. “So I made the choice to resign from my other job
and focus on Girls on the Run. It’s been a very tough transition because I'm
used to being in the corporate world and this is not corporate! But it’s been
wonderful.”
For Quimby, a
typical day begins with her and her husband getting lunches made and their two
children — Kaitlyn, now 11, and Keira, 7 — off to their respective schools.
They then work on getting dinner made in the morning, before she heads out for
her daily run and then goes to the office.
Once the
kids get home from school, it’s the familiar mad dash of getting them to their
activities while checking in on different Girls on the Run practices.
“If we’re
home before 7 p.m., that’s a good day,” she says. “It’s crazy, but we’ve found
a way to balance it.”
Quimby says
she has noticed a remarkable change in Kaitlyn. She’s much happier and much
more confident than she was when she began the program three years ago.
In some
ways, Quimby is not surprised since she herself has been enjoying the
psychological benefits of regular runs for years.
“It promotes
ideas of hard work, dedication,” she says. “You get out of it what you put into
it. It makes me feel stronger when I’m running. It’s like my little therapy
session. It’s my time alone. And it’s not about how fast or how far you go.
It’s about the journey.”
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