A lot of girls don't love to run, and that's OK. They can skip, hop, jump, dance or do cartwheels. The goal simply is to keep moving.

Locally, we're just getting started with Girls on the Run, and we'd like to grow and expand the program to other communities.

We're not trying to turn every young girl into a track star. What we're really doing in the Girls on the Run program is making 'life stars' out of them with character-building skills.

One of our goals is to provide young girls with character-building life skills that can help them avoid risky adolescent behaviors, such as drug or alcohol use, early sexual activity and eating disorders.