On a recent Saturday in Memorial Park, nine young women ran 5 kilometers.

The group of girls in powder-blue T-shirts was accompanied by a slew of supportive community members, some on bikes, some serious runners in Lycra and flashy running shoes, even someone with a stroller.

The event was the grand finale of the spring session of Girls on the Run Pennington County session, and runners were both enjoying the sunny spring weather and celebrating the nine girls' success.

Combining training for a 5K running event with healthy living education, Girls on the Run of Pennington County is an affiliate/independent council of Girls on the Run International, which has a network of more than 135 locations across the United States and Canada. Its mission is to educate and prepare girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living.

Justin Lena and Kitty Weller-Lena were at the 5K to cheer on their daughter, Jenny Lena, 11. Both parents are strong advocates of Girls on the Run Pennington County.

"It's a good opportunity for girls to get more self-esteem," Justin said. "In this society, it seems like girls are placed in a box, and they feel they should be a certain way."

Jenny enjoyed running before joining the program, "But not as much as I do now," she added.

It all started when Michele Delzer, director and founder of Girls on the Run Pennington County, first read about the program's founder, triathlete Molly Barker, in a magazine.

Barker established Girls on the Run in an effort to keep girls from getting stuck in the "girl box," her term for the physical and behavioral expectations that girls of that age begin to feel they must conform to.

The Girls on the Run philosophy appealed to Delzer on a very personal level. "I just thought, 'Gosh, why wasn't that there when I was that age?'"

So she brought it to the attention of the community. The Black Hills Runners Club, of which Delzer has been a member for a couple years, took it on as a sponsor. The YMCA offered a site.

Delzer and three other women went through official training to become coaches, and the first session began earlier this year.

It's much more than an athletic program. Girls on the Run revolves around progressive training for a 5K, but an equally prominent component is the character-building activities.

"When you work out, it's not run-run-run. You maybe run a lap and write down a negative behavior you want to get rid of, or something positive," Delzer said. Other activities include a bingo game - getting a number after every lap - and journaling after silent laps.

"We want them to get out of the 'girl box' and do things because they want to do them, not because they think they should do them because they're a girl," Delzer said.

Delzer has three daughters at home - ages 10, 8 and 3 - and she believes so strongly in the program that the oldest two are participating in Girls on the Run.

Emily Delzer, 10, only joined Girls on the Run because her mother talked her into it - such are the perils of being the program director's daughter - but after becoming involved, Emily discovered that it was great fun. She believes she learned a lot over the course of the program.

"I've learned to think more positively and not negatively," she said. "Stop worrying about bad things that could happen and think about positive things that could happen."

Donna Savage, coach and race coordinator, echoed Michele Delzer's thoughts when she said, "I wish I had something like this when I was a girl."

She believes the program has a meaningful message and provides much-needed role models for young girls.

Those role models, meanwhile, also benefit from the process. "I think I get as much out of it as they do," Savage said with a grin.

The spring session included girls in the 8-11 age range; there is a separate curriculum for middle-schoolers that organizers want to begin this fall as well. The YMCA's next program begins Sept. 17 and will meet twice weekly until Thanksgiving, when the girls celebrate their success with the 5K run.

Because Girls on the Run is an after-school program, organizers would like to see the schools involved at some point.

Their next goal is to spread the program throughout the region and become known as Black Hills Girls on the Run, instead of confining their efforts within Pennington County.

Right now they are seeking more coaches - both women and men are welcome to join.

For more information, go to www.gotrpennco.org or e-mail Staff@GOTRPennCo.org.

After they finished their 5K run on that recent Saturday, a beaming Jenny Lena said she felt "proud," while Allison Arpoika, 10, joked with a grin that the lesson she learned that day was, "Never run 3 miles."

The two exhausted young women, the first Girls on the Run participants to complete the 5K, then grabbed a snack - and went to cheer for the other girls as they approached the finish line.

Contact Ruth Milne at ruth.milne@rapidcityjournal.com or 394-8329.