There's a question that has followed Girls on the Run of Los Angeles County from its earliest days — one that founding board member Laurel Fowler first asked during her very first season coaching, after an eight-year-old named Amy offered, unprompted, that "metaphorically speaking, a bully is never a bigger person."

Laurel was stunned. "What gave me the most joy was sharing that story with her mom," she recalls. "You try to give your kids the best foundation possible, and then you see moments like that and think: how do we do this for more girls?"

What Coaches Get to Watch

Leah Pablo joined in 2018 after seeing a post in her running group. She signed up as an assistant coach and stepped almost immediately into the head role, running a team of nearly 20 girls at Singer Park in Pasadena. What keeps her coming back is what she gets to watch over time. "To see girls come back from sixth grade to eighth grade, and then later as junior coaches, is incredible," she says. "They're finding their own leadership in their own way."

One moment from an early season has stayed with her. During a lesson on feelings, two girls approached her after a conflict. One said, "I feel sad when you call me names." The other validated her feelings, apologized, and the two hugged it out. "They resolved the conflict using the lesson in real time," Leah says. "That's when you realize the program is really working."

Shreya Kapoor arrived as a first-year coach and a program alumna herself. What she remembered most from her own time in Girls on the Run was the confidence, and the lesson that movement could be a source of strength during hard moments. Now she watches her girls discover the same thing. "That's been the most rewarding part," she says — "seeing the community they've built."

What the Girls Carry With Them

For Shirley Crocker, Girls on the Run became a place where she discovered something she could carry into the rest of her life. The lesson that stuck with her most was the program's "I CAN" mindset: "Even when I can't move the mountain, I can still try to climb over it."

When she finished her first practice 5K, she remembers thinking: Wow. I did that.

Her parents watched that confidence extend beyond practice days — including the afternoon Shirley asked her dad to go for a run around the Silver Lake Reservoir, just because she wanted to.

Denise Zaragoza ran her first Girls on the Run 5K in 2016. "I remember feeling so inspired seeing girls and women from so many different backgrounds come together to exercise, support one another, and celebrate movement," she says. That experience shaped her path into youth sports leadership and eventually into working with Girls Play LA, a nonprofit that expands girls' after-school sports programming across Los Angeles — her own effort to create those same spaces for girls.

Ellie Clark participated in Girls on the Run in fifth grade in Virginia, during a difficult move to a new school. The program gave her friendships, a sense of belonging, and — as she puts it — permission to grow up: "Girls on the Run encouraged me to embrace the journey of becoming a young woman, reminding me to stay true to myself and to support other girls along the way." Today she sits on the GOTRLA board, brings her participant perspective into every strategic conversation, and runs ultramarathons. The confidence that got her through those miles, she says, traces directly back to what she built on a track in fifth grade.

From One Tent to a Finish Line That Reflects All of Los Angeles

Elizabeth Sadlon remembers one of the first 5Ks at the Rose Bowl. It rained so hard that everyone — girls, coaches, and families — crowded under a single pop-up tent. "That was basically everyone in the program," she recalls.

Twenty years later, the picture looks very different, with hundreds of girls now gathering each season, and representing neighborhoods across Los Angeles County — different cultures, languages, and lived experiences; all converging at one finish line.

"You see girls from every background — different neighborhoods, cultures, languages — all running together," Elizabeth says. "That's Los Angeles."

Coach Leah Pablo agrees: "What I love is seeing this beautiful mixture of all the neighborhoods — girls from the beach, the Valley, and everywhere in between. It's this amazing representation of the city."

Where We're Headed

While board and staff have continually been driven to serve more girls, there's always been a recognition that the organization is built on something harder to measure than numbers. It's about what happens when people write their names on a flip chart, walk in the next morning, and return — season after season — for the girls, and women, in front of them.

As the organization steps into its next chapter, that same spirit is carrying it forward.

Current Board Chair, Kate Dugan, reflects: "This moment is more than a milestone — it's a bridge. A bridge between the bold, values-driven decisions of our early leaders and the opportunities ahead of us. A bridge between the community that built this organization and the one we are continuing to grow today. That means continuing to invest in relationships, continuing to lead on inclusion and access, and continuing to show up for every girl who deserves to cross that finish line."

The founding community asked how to do this for more girls. The answer, twenty years later, is still the same: you build the infrastructure, you protect the core values, you find people who believe in it, and you nurture the community. 

If this series has moved you, there are many ways to be part of what comes next.

• Fund a scholarship — $300 gives a girl access to the program this coming season 

• Volunteer or coach — bring the program to life in your community 

• Join SustainHER LA — a monthly gift of $20 sustains this work season after season 

• Share this story — help us find the next person who wants to write their name down