Sarah Winans, center, has a spring in her step during a recent practice. Running with her is Emma Perisho, left, and Amparo Acevedo. (David Pierini/staff photographer)
Tewa Schuster leads a pack of runners during practice laps around the school. (David Pierini/staff photographer)
During a team photo, Zoe Haralambidis, right, hops on the back of Vivian Wildfield. Other teammates followed suit. (David Pierini/staff photographer)
The girls squeezed in a little community service during one practice, designing posters for a carnival to benefit a student with cancer. Here, Cecilia White, left, Allyson Rumoro and Lindsey Heggans work on one poster. (David Pierini/staff photographer)
Amparo Acevedo celebrates as she crosses the finish line at Grant Park Saturday. (David Pierini/staff photographer)
Kristi Braun and her daughter, Paige, hugged after crossing the finish line. (David Pierini/staff photographer)
For some of the 74 girls, the prospect of running a 3-mile race seemed insurmountable 11 weeks ago.
But on Saturday, the girls from Lincoln Elementary School in Oak Park realized what can be achieved through hard work, determination and encouragement from a team.
Lincoln’s “Girls on the Run” group ran alongside more than 5,000 other girls in a 5K race in Chicago’s Grant Park.
Girls on the Run is a nationwide program for girls, grades three through five. Conditioning a girl for a 5K run is only part of the curriculum. In after-school sessions twice a week, the girls learned nutrition, positive body image, respect, gratitude and community service.
“They work really hard to accomplish this goal, and it will transfer to everything else in life,” said Lincoln’s head coach Trish Ryan.
This was the fifth year for Lincoln’s Girls on the Run program.
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