A New Beginning with the Team

I had comfortably settled into my 30th year of life when it finally happened. While I had dreamed about it in my younger years, long before this I had made peace with the fact that it likely wouldn't happen and was just fine with it. The closest similar experience for me was my four years of marching band in college, but while an incredible experience I knew it wasn't quite the same (although some, including myself if I wanted to, could argue against this). 

Then, one magical summer day in Seattle, it all changed. During a tour of headquarters* - when it was one small-ish room and the shipping warehouse was another room down the hall - an opportunity arose and I jumped for it. This was probably one of the few times when I didn't have to think about the pro's and con's. I knew I wanted it and went for it. Less than a month later I was officially on the team. Oiselle Team.

For me, being part of the team is much more than wearing my singlet at races or adding the #flystyle hashtag to social media posts. I've had the opportunity to meet incredible, strong women from around the globe who bring to the team, and to running, their unique stories, goals, and personalities. Beyond this, I've made new friends and have received encouragement through tough times and loud resounding cheers in good. Being part of the team has given me another reason to test my limits and strive for things bigger and better.

Yet over the several years I've been part of it, I've felt like there was a bit of a void. That in-person connection with other birds wasn't as strong as I'd wished it would be. And for this I will definitely take some responsibility for because all it really takes is initiative (and time). 

With the addition of The Flock in 2014, our Colorado team has grown a lot but we hadn't done much to bring everyone together. Wanting to connect the local (as in all of Colorado) team, I hosted a "post-holidays holiday party (and cookie exchange)" at my house on Saturday. While a number of birds couldn't make it, the nine of us who got together had a great time!

Meeting these women (only two of whom I knew IRL before Saturday), talking about our running - and non-running - lives, sharing our goals, and plotting our plans for group runs and races added a shot of inspiration and excitement to the new year for me.

 

I'm excited for this new year and the new opportunities to connect with the team. Getting advice on things - or empathy - from my teammates will be an especially huge help as I work with my other team towards our goal of 2,015 miles this year (I'm 22 miles in)! Saturday alone I learned about races I hadn't heard of before and we bonded over our differing levels of anxiety about running on ice (which is currently unavoidable around Denver).

Wondering what made our list of individual goals? 

Stay consistent & believe in me! * Run my first 10 mile race and stay healthy * Organize Every Mother Counts events in Denver, raise more $$$ for EMC, & stretch more * Marathon PR, have fun & stay healthy * Run sub 4:00 marathon, 50M ultra & explore Colorado! * Stay injury free, marathon I feel proud of, more group runs * stay healthy and run sub-3:20 at Boston!

And, we ate cookies, really delicious cookies. Needless to say, Woody was not unhappy about all the cookies in our house after the party. And he deserves them because he was a huge help in getting ready for it!

Looking ahead I currently have two races I'm planning on: Cherry Creek Sneak 5 Miler (April 26) and the BolderBOULDER 10K (May 25). Plus, we're talking about organizing a few Colfax Relay Oiselle Teams!

Have you started picking your races for 2015? Have you already run a race this year?

*Please excuse the small photos and text. I've learned a lot about blogging since I wrote this post!