Run Kristin Run!

Now this is an interesting blog by our new intern Kristin Ferrell who is becoming a long-distance runner, training for her first half-marathon!

Follow her trials and tribulations, plus she is quickly becoming the Reigning Queen of Energy Drinks. She's trying them all and gives you the lowdown on each.

Plus she wears cute running clothes and I'm hopeful she can help me update my own running fashions. Now that I have one less daughter to buy athletic gear and clothing for, perhaps I can buy myself some new tops and jogbras!

http://runblogrun.drupalgardens.com/content/i-dont-feel-running

Weird Resume is Right

The path to entrepreneurship often covers exactly the right ground, in ways we could never predict. Interests and experience that seem to be unrelated eventually turn out to be precisely the preparation a specific new venture requires.

Marilou McFarlane, for example, has recently launched Vivo Girls Sports, an online community for athletic girls aged 13-22. If she had known when she was a kid that this was the company she’d start at age 48, she could not have plotted a more useful resume of stepping stones to this moment.

Sure, Marilou played sports as a girl. Soccer and track and tennis and more. She also grew up around college sports, since her father, Jim Heavner, announced many of the Tarheel games forWCHL, the radio station he started in Chapel Hill. (Being the daughter of an entrepreneur also helps pave the way for starting your own gig later.) After college, she worked for Turner, back when Ted still owned it all, so that gave her some good experience in media, as well as a chance to work for another entrepreneur who thinks big. Later, in San Francisco, she was a media rep for KCBS for many years, before she started her own company, McFarlane Marketing. She had two daughters, both athletic, and was involved in season after season of their sports. For two years, she served as president of their soccer league, a full-time volunteer position she handled while continuing to build her marketing company. She also started an offshoot of her marketing company that targeted colleges specifically. And now her oldest daughter, Kelly, will be playing for the Tarheels in Chapel Hill starting next year — on their very impressive women’s soccer team.

Marilou knows sports and she knows marketing. She understands teenagers and college students. She has a deep affinity for the issues that girls in those age brackets are facing. She’s savvy to the incredible buying power of this group and its appeal to marketers. And she’s not afraid to start something new.

Starting a company is not just a way to make a living. Sometimes it’s how we reconcile and integrate everything we are.

(Photo of Marilou running hurdles for Chapel Hill High School)

Blog post by Elizabeth Baskin, renowned author and creative director. This woman knows great ideas and I'm happy she likes mine!

http://www.life-sizedbusiness.com/2009/11/09/the-weird-resumes-that-lead-to-successful-entrepreneurs/

So many of them are leaving for college...

I ran with my goddaughter Jamie last weekend. She texted me at the Danville Mustang Stampede soccer tournament, where goddaughter Galen and I were watching my Darcy and her Marin FC team tear it up. She asked if I could run the Dipsea trail with her to discuss her impending journey to UPenn to join their cross-country and track program. So many miles, too many miles, these young women think they need to run to be successful.

Truth is, Jamie's mile times rock and she is going to be competitive if she stays healthy, sharp, and doesn't burn out. We talked a lot about the pure joy of running. Run for that and you'll be fine. Yes, eat right, get your sleep, listen to your body, push hard, dig to another level, but remember the pure joy you felt when you ran your first mile.

Just asked the girls on our Facebook fan page how they feel when they play their favorite sport, in 3 words. Here are a few highlights, just now in the last 23 minutes with 28 comments and 10 likes:

I am unstoppable

I LOOOOOVE IT!

Invincible, proud, myself

Happy as hekk !

BEAST, invincible, free

powerful, happy, concentrated

Unbreakable, amazing, sooooooooooooo HAPPY!! I looooove soccer!

Relaxed. Happy. Free.

Myself. Amazing. Unstoppable.

Aggressive. Ready. Focused.

Can Accomplish Anything

YES INDEED.

Being a teenager is stressful enough without your sport adding to it. Your sport is what grounds you and helps you keep in perspective all the crap that goes with the transition from middle school to high school to college to life beyond. Your sport will be the common denominator. Your teammates will be your friends for life. Keep playing.

Maddie goes to USC next week, entering their music program where songwriters and performers like her will have the coaching and the exposure they need to grow to the next level. She's the next Sheryl Crow, mark my words.

(And keep running, Maddie! Our run on the beach over spring break in Hilton Head was memorable and I am sure that you will handle all the pressures of college with this time you give your head to clear, letting new thoughts in. New songs and melodies. New ways of looking at life.)

The girls who inspire vivoGS are like solar power. I'm so proud of all of them.

My Big Girl goes to College

So, last weekend was the big weekend. You always think about the day your kid leaves for college, and you actually leave her there, and this was it.

Craig and I left her with her new freshmen teammates at the University of North Carolina in the soccer team locker room to sleep on air mattresses for two weeks, until the dorms open. Apparently, this is the tradition since the first freshman class that did this won 3 out of 4 national championships. Hey, I'm in full support of good luck and good juju.

I managed to keep it together until the car door closed. She had that same smile on her face that she did the first day I left her in her new kindergarten class in Mill Valley.

Bravery, courage, commitment.

She inspires me now, as I channel these same qualities to usher vivoGS to its higher level.

New York, Astia + girl athletes

This Astia conference here in NYC is unbelievable. The business we are building will benefit enormously from the wealth of knowledge and experience being bestowed upon Kathy and me.

Steve Blose, team photographer and dad on Kelly's semi-pro soccer team, the North Bay Wave, took fantastic photos of the team on Sunday and left me a voicemail today that we could surely use his photos on our site and in our marketing materials. More importantly, he said and I quote, "I didn't know a site like this existed and it is a dream come true." Kathy and I just got so fired up hearing that. His daughter, Alicia, is a rock star on the BC soccer team and I'm a huge fan of hers. They are good people so his compliment about vivoGS makes me happy.

We're building a consumer brand for this demographic that heretofore hasn't existed. Yes, there are sports brands, and girl brands, and women fitness brands, but no environment to acknowledge teenage and college girls for the "athletes" they are too. I put that in quotes b/c many girls tend to not think of themselves as "athletes" b/c the notion hasn't been very rewarded by society to date.

You can be feminine and attractive and get sweaty and strong too!

We're overwhelmed, having tons of fun and can't wait to see where it takes us.

Onward and upward.

Big Week in Sports and in vivoLand

So, I'm out of my mind thrilled about the Spain-Netherlands game tomorrow, as is the whole world, except maybe the US. Going to the farmer's market early tomorrow to get some good eats for friends coming over to help us cheer, analyze, cheer, analyze. I have to keep both of those activities to a minimum with Kelly and Darcy around which is understandable since they both know the intricacies of the sport better than I ever will. I wish they would provide me their own analysis of the plays more often!

Then you've got Lance still drumming up drama in the Tour de France, although he doesn't seem likely to win it this year. The Station des Rousses looked both beautiful and grueling today. I just love the polka dot jersey.

These are real men. Gorgeous athletes. Both the soccer players and the cyclists wear the most wonderfully bright, metrosexual uniforms to compete. I'm thinking our American men for the most part might find all the flair "sissified". Which speaks to their insecurity? What does my Canadian husband say about that, I wonder?

Watched with excitement to see what The Decision would be for LeBron. Yes, there was a lot of hype around his big moment, but it all became even bigger by Dan Gilbert's hate rant. How ironic...he should look up narcissism in the dictionary to see his own mug! http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/news/gilbert_letter_100708.html What do ya'll think of that tirade?

My own day included a 10-12-ish mile run with my friend Jonnie this morning, up the Railroad Grade to Summit to Sun Trail, back down the Dipsea steps. Felt so good to be in the fog, above the fog, back in the fog, and back to sun at home. Just spectacular. When I hear of my friend Mary Dean sweltering in the humid heat of Austin, TX, I am grateful for our natural AC here.

Everyone should read Predictably Irrational. It motivated me and Jonnie today to not do the routine run today. We all get into habits of behavior that aren't ever consciously or rationally decided, like going on the same route on your run each time. This conscious and rational decision to explore one of the million other awesome runs on Mt. Tam proved to be the highlight of my day.

I'm reconsidering many of my habits and working towards conscious decisions to refresh my brain each day. Our new home page launched today, which actually now that I think about it, tied for my favorite thing of the day. Hoorah for vivoGS! Onward and upward. Look for changes every week based on what the girls tell us they want, how they want it. Nearly 60,000 visitors to date from 50 states and 98 countries since the beta launched, and over 33,000 Facebook fans whose passion blows me away. Not going to celebrate until we hit our first major milestone of 100,000 monthly uniques.

I love sports and I love teenage and college girls. The girls are like solar power and they need a brand of their own.

Talk about breath of fresh air.

Ryanne's Riff

This summer our vivoGS interns are writing some incredible stuff. Thought I'd feature some of their articles that inspire me here. Is it weird that I feel that "game-day hunger" nearly every day? Constantly updating ourselves and challenging ourselves is what makes us alive. Don't ever get complacent or lose that youthful hunger for challenge. Thanks, Ryanne, for putting into words what college graduates everywhere are also going through.

As a recent college graduate, I have been spending my time soul-searching. Almost all my thoughts are devoted to the quest to find my passion in life. With my degree in hand, I feel lost and unsure of which direction to turn next. Nothing is pulling me like I had always assumed and expected it would.

These pressing thoughts and questions about my future have my brain working overtime and with little interruption—well, that is, other than from what I like to call “the side effects” of the rent-free living at home experience. Yes, that’s right, your mom can still make you clean your room at age 22.

In fact, cleaning my room seemed to be one of the most enlightening experiences that I have had during this post-grad era. As I cleared shelves and said a few tearful goodbyes to old rec-league trophies and medals, I came across a shoebox full of tattered papers. Having no recollection of ever putting or even seeing the box in my closet, I sat down on my bed to skim through the old papers.

Inside was a collection of letters that I used to write and pass out on game day to every member of the high school basketball team I captained. The letters were different every game but each one was meant to pump up the team and get the girls focused on the upcoming game. Always, the letters were signed with a heart and a #32.

As I read through the long letters—each emblazoned with a desperate fire to win, I realized that it wasn’t the writing style or even the nostalgia that had kept me seated and reading on the bed an hour later. It was the unedited and untainted passion that those words were written with.

In one bittersweet and fleeting moment, I realized that I was admiring that passion the way a 40 year-old woman admires the size of the jeans she wore in high school—with a longing for what once was.

I was passionate about my goals and ambitions. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind about what I wanted. I spent my time playing basketball and not only did I want to win but I needed to. It was the entirety of my livelihood.

In a way, that desperate passion is something that time has taken away from me. Life has become convoluted and clouded by uncertainty, experiences, new sets of ideals and principles and a 100x broader horizon of opportunity.

I am not the same as I was four years ago. I have grown up, learned new things and am constantly coming up with updated versions of myself.

Looking through that box of letters reminded me that while I can change and find new interests, I must find the passion that I once had. Playing basketball allowed me to experience the awesome power of passion and for that I am forever grateful to the sport.

And, while I may not be any closer to finding my niche now than I was before my sprint down memory lane, I have a new sense of direction since I was reminded of the passion that I am capable of feeling. Now I know that I must find something that makes me feel that game-day hunger again.

I’m determined to not stop until I do.

Not One Pair

So last night after seeing Get Him to the Greek, which I'm embarrassed to say I found hilarious, our friend and vivoGS Intern Amy Schlueter tells me she went shopping at Union Square in downtown SF yesterday.

With money to burn in her pocket and inspiration from all the World Cup games, Amy needed some new cleats for her pre-season training before heading back to Middlebury to kick some butt on the soccer field this fall.

What does she see in Nike Town? A wall with 24 styles of cleats on the wall. Wow, I can't wait! I love these orange ones and these white ones and how am I going to decide when I love them all, she thinks. After waiting patiently for a sales specialist, alas, NOT ONE PAIR is made for a ladies foot. Nor do they have even one pair in a men's size 6, which would possibly fit her ladies size 8 foot. Amy and her mom spoke to the manager who confirmed that they don't carry women's cleats. In this giant store.

Just writing about it pisses me off.

I'm sitting here in some random Starbucks somewhere in the middle of California, not too far from glorious soccer fields featuring glorious female athletes playing in the US Club Regionals. Are they not deserving of attention from major retailers, when we have just as much money to spend and care about sports just as much as the guys do?

Check out are fan page post about it and let us know how YOU feel. We love you, Nike, we really do. But why make us feel like you don't love us back?

http://www.facebook.com/vivoGS?ref=search&sid=628664140.3004532884..1

vivoGS teenage girls and young women unite.

Triumph over Adversity

The 100th Dipsea last Sunday morning turns out to have been a metaphor for my life right now. Taking a hard knock and coming back up swinging.

I'm feeling better than ever, passing gobs of people going up Dynamite, hitting Hog's Back breathing beautifully, muscles all in sync, when all of a sudden, a nagging tight left calf muscle rears its ugly head.

As I stopped in the first meadow, grabbing my lower left leg and saying things to myself about the situation that are better left out of print, gobs of people began to pass me back. It hurt like an 8 of a 1-10 scale. Like a cramp run amok.

I had a couple of choices. Quit, taking my first ever DNF in a race (I've been racing for 36 years), or hobble on and focus on the body parts that WERE working perfectly. I picked B. It's just a calf. Get to the top of Cardiac and then it's downhill.

Now I don't always recommend running or playing through an injury, but in this case, as I limped along, my calf realized that it hadn't beat me. It decided to play along. And it worked.

I had been headed to perhaps a top 100 place, as I had done several years ago, but rejoiced in my 193rd place and headed to the medical tent for ice. It was an enormous triumph over adversity.

Which girls do every day. To read vivoGS Intern Ryanne's latest Riff http://www.vivogs.com/buzz/opinions/ryannes-riff-hey-uncle-bob-were-real-sports-fans-too, it just motivates me even more. Yeah, Ryanne!

Can you believe that just last week, my daughter's friend's father actually said to me that if entrepreneurship was easy, "women would do it"? This was his answer to me when I said that starting a business is HARD (which makes it more worthwhile for me). If it was easy, everyone would do it. Then he made the disparaging comment about me and all my sisters who have successfully started businesses. THEN he tried to back up and say that they say the same thing about football, "if it was easy, women would do it." Stop talking!

Luckily vivoGS is surrounded by angels and investors who do believe in the power of women and the strength in their passion and commitment to sports and excellence in all aspects of their lives.

Whew. Now that my calf is better, thanks for Dr. Ron and PT all week, I'm going for a run to feel my own strength and determination.

vivoGS Girls, this is YOUR community and your business, we're building it for you and all of your friends and teammates in middle school, high school and college. We will not let you down.

P.S. Can you believe that the US was denied the winning goal over Slovenia this morning? What was that ref smoking on that play? This will fuel the boys to kill it over Algeria, I said it here. What a second half. Well done, Yanks, from one of your biggest fans.

Ajax for boys. Fine but what about the girls?

Well, it's been awhile. Not sure this is the best place to post a blog b/c some vivoGirls have said this one is too hard to sign up on. Any other opinions out there for me?

Enjoyed the article on the Ajax in the Netherlands in the NYT Mag on Sunday. But just curious, how do the girls of the Netherlands feel about this? Why no comparable academy for girls there?

This is the kind of things that just riles me up.

Summer Internships - Don't Be Shy

I sit here on a bluebird day in Mill Valley and feel happy it's Friday. I've been thinking alot about not only all of our new fans in facebook, but also these awesome brand ambassadors we have representing us on college campuses across the country.

Amanda, Brittny, Amber, Roya, Renee, Ryanne, Sarah, Amy, Katie, Brooke, Lindsey, and others, thank you for joining us on our mission to engage and inspire girls to just keep playing. I love Ellen deGeneres as Dorie in Finding Nemo, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming". Today's society seems to be trying to make girls conform to some ridiculous skinny version of "beauty", and we are here for all the real girls of the world. The ones who will take over the world. 15 million who play sports in the US alone!

But I am hopeful with this space to share something of value for our vivoGirls. As I ran yesterday, I realized that getting meaningful summer internships is not that easy to do. But "not easy" should never stop you!

I suggest that you ask yourself, who is the company, who is the leader, who is doing things that just make your heart sing? If you could work anywhere at all, knowing that all day your "work" would be play to you, where would that be?

Then call, send a beautiful written letter with your beautifully written resume, email, the very top most person in that organization. Ask them if they provide summer internships. If they say no, say, "I want to work for you so badly, I will empty your trashcans."

How will they say no to that? Chances are, if they are an established business, they will even muster up some kind of minimum wage to engage you for 8 weeks. This becomes your perfect opportunity to work within an organization that believe fits with your personality and your goals for yourself. Don't worry if you get there and you hate it... you have to stick it out, and do the best job you can, but then check that off your list!

I thought I might want to work in banking, til I worked in a bank one summer. I thought I might want to go into sports/fitness, til I worked in a gym. I like hospitality/restaurants, til I realized how hard that was to work every night (but everyone SHOULD wait tables at some point in their life... you will respect waiters for ever more.) But when I got to Turner Broadcasting in Atlanta the summer before my senior year at Carolina, I realized I belonged. I LOVED it. This was the start of CNN, MTV, HBO, all of what we now know is 10 gazillion niche channels of "cable TV". It was a blast.

Now here I am, still in media, but combining all of my passions, all of my experience, everything that I love in one awesome job. Keep in mind, sometimes you have to create your own favorite job. And I'm here to encourage young women to go for that too.

Go for it. Don't be shy. If you don't believe in yourself, no one else will.

Elective surgery and other scary places women go

So, I'm reading Elle magazine recently, which my daughter and I bought for some beach reading last week, and I totally love Fergie. She rocks. And she admits that keeping her body fit and strong is an ongoing exercise in diligence and responsibility. Like, if you want to feel good and strong, then you have make little decisions every day to eat healthy food in moderation, work out nearly every day, say no to those things that may bring that momentary satisfaction but that don't contribute to your overall longer-term happiness and sense of well-being.

The Dalai Lama talks about the distinction between short-term pleasure vs. an internal sense of happiness and self-worth. I believe that participating in sports, sweating every day, contributing to a team effort, training yourself to reach the next level, lead more to that internal sense of self-worth and happiness, than if I fixated on the wrinkles around my eyes that are now there to stay (literally laugh lines), or the ready availability of short-term "fixes" that abound in our society that promise pleasure or some immediate gratification. Fast food, drugs, even cosmetic procedures which belie nothing...

Can we talk about this whole direction our society is going in for women, where plastic surgery is like the new, fast way to "beauty"? I'm troubled that teenagers today are entering womanhood, only to be confronted everywhere they turn with women who have had so much altered on their bodies they all start to look the same. I mean do we really think that Heidi Montag is happier in her soul for completely and permanently altering her appearance so drastically? And what kind of husband encourages and supports this full scale attack on her body and face? What happened to for better for worse, did he not love her fully just as she was?

Horse poison injected into your face? What is up with that? I mean really. Large and hard breasts on an otherwise slender body? You undergo elective surgery, pay thousands of dollars, and for what?

I think it is time someone had the courage to stand up and say, yes, a little make-up is tons of fun. Women have had fun with make-up for centuries. I love lipsticks and eyeliners and all of it as much as any girl (in moderation please). But when do we say no to undergoing the knife to have your fat sucked out, your face pulled taut to beyond recognition, breasts that are obviously not what your parents and God gave you?

Girls, just say no. Love your bodies just how they are. And take care of them. Eat good food, get that run in, and hang out with friends and guys who love you just like you are.

You are magnificent.

P.S. Someone please tell me Fergie hasn't had cosmetic surgery...

Facebook Fan Page Joy

Facebook contest today was a hit. Before I even knew the post was loaded up, we had 3 girls already commenting! Sharing their most favorite food! Not happy about all the food choices :-), but very happy with the responses.

I just felt like giving away some t-shirts and other assorted swag today to our vivo girls.

It was so much fun, we're just going to keep doing it.

Fan page is a blast. Can't wait to hit 10,000 fans. What other contests can we do? We're open to any and all ideas.

vivoGirls love summer sports camps

So, seeing our Vivo Girls Sports fan page take off is exhilarating. Here at the beach for spring break with my family, I am desperately trying NOT to check my iPhone, with new facebook app added my daughter, constantly to interact with the new fans there.

Our vivoGS girls seem to be in the summer camp mode NOW, and we hope they realize how cool their closest university or college camps just might be for them. Day camps, overnight camps, lots of opportunity for fun and bonding with other girls who also love to play.

Seems once girls are teenagers they are ready for more than crafts and kum-ba-ya. I actually love crafts and kum-ba-ya, but I also wanted to get better at the sports I played, so I can relate. The best sports camps incorporate lots of fun stuff along with the sweat and competition (which some of us think IS fun :-) ). Can't wait til they all go and report back to us their faves so we can form a summer sports camp "vivoGS Recommends" list for next year. Good and bad, we want to hear it all.

Oh, before I sign off, I have to tell you that we had Animal Planet live here in the low-country of South Carolina. We witnessed an alligator with a half-eaten mammal of some sort chomped down in his mouth. Like a 30-ish pound mammal, right there in his jaws! It was totally crazy. Glad it wasn't my dog Poppy, and that she is safe and sound in Mill Valley, where we don't have to worry about alligators. Guess a golfer here last week went to retrieve his golf ball in a pond and an alligator ate his arm right off! Truly! They retrieved his arm from the alligator but it was too mangled to try and put back on. TRUE STORY.

Okay, that's enough. I digress.

I don't think anyone is following this blog yet, but that's okay, since I'm not really sure what blogs are supposed to be all about anyway. Does anyone really want to read what I'm thinking or doing? I mean, who has time to follow these things? They tell us all CEO's should be blogging, so hopefully eventually some vivoGirls will jump in here and comment and ask me something meaningful.

I don't know much about much, but I do know about teenage girls who love sports. I was one, I coached a bunch of them, and I have two daughters who qualify.

Wonder if I post the alligator-eating-a-large-mammal if that will get some comments? I'll try it.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee + Me

Okay, I'm having my perfect day. Starting with... wake up, realize I can sleep in, sleep in.

Run with my daughter on a bluebird day on the beach. Make donuts with teenage daughters and friends who have never had a "home-made donut" (the special cheater way, and don't worry it is the once-a-year treat from Mom), sit in sun and catch up on all the reading I never seem to have time to do, listen to Michael Franti with handsome husband, and just now.....

Come to check in on vivoGS, which is rapidly approaching 5,000 facebook fans, and Jackie Joyner-Kersee noticed that I became her "fan", hoping she would dig vivoGS.com and she friend requested ME. I am now her "friend". She has no idea how much she influenced and inspired me as a teenage track runner. I ran the 60 and 110 yd hurdles and the 440 yd relay (before we had the sexier "meters"), and we all just wanted to BE Jackie. I hope the teenage girls today know about Jackie. Read about Athletes for Hope here. http://www.athletesforhope.org/jajo.html

I love my new job more every day. Seeing what the girls are writing on our facebook fan page tells me we are onto something very important and I am determined to get it right. My Olympic-level vivoGS team and I are committed to pulling the best that technology has to offer for the girls who love sports. Or even "like" sports.

Rome wasn't built in a day, but we'll keep trying til we get it right. Here is where my damned impatience can do the most good.

Hey girls, just keep playing.

I love girls who love sports. It's the reason for starting this business. I want girls who love sports now, as teenagers, to continue to play and have the same fun playing all their lives.

The teammates you have as a teenager will be your buds for the rest of your life. When I was a teenager, my sports were my sanity and my teammates were my saviours. Still, one of the primary ways I identify myself is as an athlete. Top 6, up there with mother, wife, sister, daughter and friend.

Watching the NCAA semi's now, the interview on the White House bball court with President Obama and Clark Kellogg. Yes, team sports get you "outside of yourself". They give you that time every day to play. Just play.

Have fun with your sports, girls. And just keep playing.

Bullies

So this whole bullying thing is really troubling. What can we as a community of girls do to try and prevent these senseless deaths in the future?

What if Phoebe Prince knew those mean girls were nothing but a short blip in her life? That they would become a distant, if painful, memory? What if she had even one bold upperclassman to depend on? What if one of the adults actually took disciplinary action against the bullies? What if someone had been monitoring the ridiculous activity taking place on facebook? The what'if's are agonizing.

We've all had our own experience with mean girls. It hurts. But you learn who your real friends are through the process. You learn to dig deep within yourself and rise above it. And for me, track practice after school and my teammates made all the difference. I think there is a confidence and strength from playing sports that can make a difference in your self-esteem and identity.

I hope the older teenage girls will mentor the younger ones and tell them they will get through it. The 15 year olds worship the 17 year olds. My own teenage daughters were lucky to form strong bonds with seniors when they were freshmen, largely through playing high school sports. That made a ton of difference in their lives.

It's not easy being 15, a freshman in high school. Are you keeping up with this story? What can we do to prevent this in the future?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/us/30bully.html?hp=&pagewanted=all

Getting fired up to train for the Dipsea

This time of year is always very happy for me. This is the time of year that my friends and I train on the Dipsea trail, the famous 7-ish mile route from downtown Mill Valley over Mt. Tam to Stinson Beach. This year the race celebrates its 100th anniversary. It is the second oldest footrace in the US, only the Boston Marathon has been run more years. This will be my 20th running, would have been 23 except for pregnancy with my oldest daughter (I planned the second one better), a knee surgery and an ankle surgery. So I'll do my 20th on the 100th.

And with any luck, my daughters and my sisters will be able to do it too... the most wonderful kind of family affair.

Something transforms within me when I start out with my friends here in my driveway, do a slow warm-up to downtown, gradual pick up to the bottom of the stairs (673 steps?), then slip into that awesome feeling that occurs when you hit your stride on the trails. We lose ourselves in the spirit up there.

There is a peace I find in long-distance running on the trails that really centers me. In the midst of so much exhilarating activity that is vivoGS, this is where I have my best thoughts. My most important thoughts. I'm able to put everything into the right perspective and solve problems that I may not have even known needed solving.

This is a transitional year for my little family. My oldest girl is leaving for college in August, following her own dreams. She's as independent as I am, as her dad and I raised her to be. She takes me with her in her heart, I hope, and I will be in her heart as she returns to the soccer pitch after acl surgery last August. She is stronger than ever for the experience, and her dad, sister and I are proud to watch her go and make her mark on that team in Chapel Hill.

My girls play with all their heart, every play, every day. We know of no other way.

vivoGS is the culmination of all of my experience, my passion, my dreams for all teenage girls and young women everywhere. We are working to hard to make it relevant, helpful, engaging and important. Stay tuned as our team takes it to a new level of interactivity. We've learned alot from this beta and direct feedback from the girls; now it is time to apply it.

Wow, that Stanford game showed some kind of heart. Who says the girls' game isn't exciting?

Hey, girls and young women. We're building this site for you, your teams, your buds. I want to hear straight from you what you feel you need as a young athlete. And what you want.

We created this company b/c we feel like girl athletes are still not given the respect they are due. Nor do you have all the information at your fingertips that you need to be successful.

We want to show you other athletes across the country, introduce you to one another, and enable you to learn from one another. And have some fun too.

We're considering specific apps and games and functionalities that will let you pick the content that most interests you. Where to get all the stuff you need to play, answers to questions about health, nutrition, recruitment, all of that too. Or maybe you want to know all the news on college women's basketball or soccer or whatever your favorite sport is.

The Cold Stones of the internet, for teenage girls just like you. We're building a way for you to pick what interests you most. Do you need a reminder on your cell phone to ice your ankle? To drink electrolytes and eat right after you play so you don't get a headache?

Should we take our site into facebook? Would that make it easier for you to get the info you need and want? To check in with your teammates about the game tomorrow? To chat about your coach who isn't very supportive (aka being a jerk).

Tell me. I'm all ears. I've loved sports my whole life, and I bet you do too. Vivo means "I Live". We know you love and live for your sports.

Yours truly,

ML