Molly Barker, MSW, a 4-time Hawaii Ironman triathlete,
founded GOTR® m Charlotte, NC, m 1996. Molly began
running at the age of 15 - an age when she found herself
stuck in the "girl box," when only girls who were a certain
size with a certain beauty were popular. Molly kept running
and years later, on July 7, 1993, she took off on a sunset run
and found the inspiration that grew into Girls on the Run®.
Using her background in counseling and teaching, her
personal recovery from alcoholism, along with research on
adolescent issues, she developed the earliest version of the
curriculum with the help of 13 intrepid girls at Charlotte
Country Day School. The program grew and today Molly
oversees over 20,000 girls who participate in GOTR
programs across the country. In 1998 Runner's World, a
national running magazine, awarded Molly its "Golden
Shoe Award" for contributions to the community through
running. Her favorite times remain the ones she spends with
her own daughter and her son at their home in Charlotte,
NC.
