For Girls on the Run, downtown St. Louis is where to be

On Saturday morning, a giant mass of runners will race through the streets of downtown. No, it’s not the Greater St. Louis Marathon, which also takes place downtown—but it’s nearly as big. 

Girls on the Run, a national nonprofit that uses running to empower girls, has one of its largest local councils in St. Louis, and its 5K draws 3,200 girls from two states, 26 counties, and more than 65 school districts. Including adult running buddies, coaches, and other participants, this year’s race is expected to draw 8,000 runners and a total of 10,000 people—making it the largest Girls on the Run 5K anywhere.

And yes, they’re coming downtown. Girls on the Run is pioneering a new course this year that begins at Ballpark Village. The 5K marks its return to downtown St. Louis after the race was canceled in 2020 for the pandemic and then, in 2021, moved to Forest Park.

While Girls on the Run St. Louis executive director Courtney Berg says they’ve heard some concerns, she firmly believes downtown is the right place to be. Logistically, downtown is easier to get thousands of people in and out of than Forest Park. But that’s not the sole reason—or even the main reason. 

Berg remembers teaching high school in San Jose, California, and learning that her students had never seen the ocean—an hour’s drive away. For her, Girls on the Run is about knocking down imaginary barriers.

“People think, ‘Oh, I could never go downtown. I could never experience that,’” Berg says. “It’s no different than our 5K, right? Our kiddos start by saying, ‘I could never do 3.1 miles,’ and they all do it. They all crush it.”

She acknowledges that some people have reached out to express worries about coming downtown—but it’s been fewer than they expected.

“I think we had sort of steeled ourselves for getting a lot of that,” Berg says. She credits the “good community work” the organization does for helping participants understand what to expect, even if they’re coming from a much different milieu, and know that they can talk through any questions. “We are asking people to do something that is so far out of their comfort zone on every level,” she acknowledges, “but we as an organization see our role as holding your hand through that process.”

In recent years, Girls on the Run St. Louis has seen big growth by focusing not on the affluent youth that may seem like its natural bailiwick, but in communities where there may not be a history of students’ mothers or grandmothers running. Between 80–85 percent of participants have never done a 5K before, walking or running, Berg says. The St. Louis council is proud of its scaled fee system, which offers lower rates for participants in less affluent schools (in some cases, fees are as low as $25, and there are scholarships to offset even that). Giving some suggestion of the diversity of participants, they now have to translate materials into 12 different languages. 

Berg says that they’ve long reached out to every eligible district in their territory to invite participation. Since the pandemic, however, they’ve gone much further. “Looking at schools that have very high percentages of free and reduced lunch, or maybe have language access issues, instead of just sending out the blanket ‘Girls on the Run is so much fun’ email, I’m going to anticipate what some of your initial questions are going to be, and invite them into a conversation,” she says. “We have seen that be very effective.”

Girls on the Run St. Louis’ first self-run 5K was in 2007, in Tower Grove Park. The race moved to Forest Park a year later before moving downtown, near Soldiers Memorial, from 2012 to 2019. Berg says the route for this new course began through conversations with Ballpark Village, but grew to encompass many more downtown highlights. 

“It just sort of wonderfully snowballed into, ‘What are all the great things about downtown? Like, let’s run through Laclede’s Landing. Let’s run along the river. This is St. Louis!’” Berg says. “We’ve run the course backwards and forwards. And I geek out, because I’m like, ‘Oh my God, we’re under the bridge, and the river’s right here, and here we can touch the Arch.’ And it’s amazing.”

Girls on the Run staffers are confident that participants will feel the same way. Director of program and development Lisa Mulligan says they see their job as helping allay fears, to walk people through every step leading up to race day. 

“And then once you get there, what people, I think, don’t realize, is that it’s going to be eight o’clock on a Saturday morning, and it’s going to be beautiful,” she says. “But, like we say to the girls, the hardest part is often getting to the start line. It’s not actually crossing the finish line. Getting to the start line is the hardest part.”