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.