Last weekend, I went to Oiselle's Big Bird Camp! The camp was open to the Oiselle Volee team. Some years they have regional camps, but this year it was one camp for all Volee! Luckily it was only a 6 hour drive from Cleveland.
Upon my arrival, I was greeted by foreign "pool boys" who swarmed me and it was very overwhelming experience but hilarious upon reflection. From there I walked in, and was greeted by Sally Bergesen, the founder of Oiselle. I shook her hand because clearly I thought I was at work and then we hugged it out.
Each cabin was named after some kind of bird (Oiselle's main logo and branding are bird-related), and I was in the Cuckoos cabin! I was the first to arrive. Our swag bag awaited us on our twin size bed.
The wooden "medal" / name tag was super neat. Inside the bag were a new pair of Goodrs (sunglasses) - a style that was actually just released that day, a Oiselle miir (insulated) water bottle, Oiselle journal, a couple of Nuun containers, a Picky bar.. and I can't remember what else. We also had Salomon trail running shoes awaiting us on our bed.
I couldn't get my tempo run in that morning, so I decided to do that workout the next day (always smart to do the day before a long run..) and go for a short run with my fellow campers. We quickly discovered that the first 1.4 miles of our go-to running path was straight up trail and super hilly. Which was good prep for my trail race after camp!
From there, we snacked. The options were glorious. There was also pita, hummus, cheese, many bags of chips, chips, salsa, guac..the usual snack faves.
I have no idea how much La Croix I consumed.
Camp started off with an introductory song by Lauren Fleshman, retired pro runner for Oiselle and co-founder of Picky Bars (With her husband and Stephanie Bruce).
From there we hiked up a huge steep hill to "The Playhouse" for a goal setting session. Becki on my right in the red was one of my cabinmates and actually lives in Columbus. She is a member of the Haute Volee for Oiselle - so she is one of their elite runners. She already qualified for the 2019 Olympic Trials for the Marathon with a 2:41 earlier this year in Eugene. Molly on my left lives in Ohio too and we actually first met during Glass City Marathon in the middle of the race.
The Playhouse. The coolest part of this Goal Setting session was writing down two of our goals on pieces of paper then taping them to the pillars on the sides of the room. We had all of our night sessions here so those were always sticking around.
The next morning I did my 8 mile run..which was glorious because it was below 60 degrees and not humid. My body finally felt good for once and I was talking to one person or another during the run, even at my tempo pace. I enjoyed my Picky Bar after.
Afterwards, I went to a session about running form, and then a writing session with Lauren Fleshman, which was surprisingly intense. It was really good though!
Then I went to an Ultra Running Q&A Session with ultra runner Cat Bradley. She won the Western States 100 miler last year in Colorado and she literally just finished the Ultra race that circumnavigates Mont Blanc in France/Switzerland today and came in 8th place, first American female. She showed everyone her new warm-up routine after. Additionally she had Trail Running 101 sessions each morning of camp - I always had a conflict but I heard each session was great.
From there I went to Kara Goucher's session that focused a little bit on her new book, but was more of a Q&A. I actually caught the end of her session the next day as you will see..I didn't have her new book at this point so I bought it afterwards and got her autograph and picture with her the next day. She was very open and emotional during both of her sessions which was really cool. She talked a bit about her next race, her 2009 Boston Marathon mishap, and the doping scandal that turned her bronze into a silver medal 16 years after the fact.
The Oiselle Pop-Up shop was a very dangerous place. Luckily I only bought a half zip pull over featuring some new logo ;)
Then there was a Q&A session with Lauren, Kara and Allie Kieffer. Allie Kieffer seemingly came from out of nowhere last year and finished 5th female in the NYC Marathon. She was the 2nd American Female... after Shalane. Allie ran a 2:29.
Had some zen time which was nice!
Then we met up with our state team.
Of course, the O-H-I-O :)
The day ended with a powerful session about body image.
Sunday.. the Long Run! This is one of the camp photographer's photos (she is actually one Oiselle's elite runners), I am wearing the white socks and red shirt in the middle. I failed to mention before that 3.5 miles into this run, there is a killer hill. This is the beginning of that hill. It was 1.5 miles of just climbing - 300 feet. Doesn't sound like much...but I promise. It was rough. Coming down though? Glorious.
At some point during the run, I felt like I was being stared out, and then I look over and a horse is starting me down from 10 feet away. Then when I came back these fellas above decided to race me..
So.. this was documented as well by camp photographers/videographers. I am hoping to stumble upon some kind of official documentation of this! On that note... those photographers/videographers were everywhere. Also there were drones. Also we had aid stations set up every 2 miles or so, so that was awesome.
I saw Kara, Allie and Becki run the other way when I was coming back, and then naturally they passed me right around my 12.5 mile mark (I ran 13.1). I posted this to my Instagram story and literally 2 minutes after that, Kara walked into my cabin (exchanging numbers with Becki), and then Allie messaged me on Insta to say she loved the photo (and a few days later asked me to send it to her!).
Alissa is one of my Ohio teammates! Her current marathon PR is 3:23. She and another teammate ran with me for the first half of my long run which was great.
Then after brunch, I casually ran into Allie on the way to her session so we talked a bit while walking up that terrible steep hill.
She was completely genuine like Kara, during her session. It wasn't until I saw this photo later that I realized she looks exactly like my friend Chelsea. Which may explain why I tried to like reach around her for a half hug for the photo. Completely normal.
At some point in the afternoon, I went to a Restorative Yoga class which was amazing. After some down time, I went back to the Lodge to catch the tail end of Kara's session. I don't talk with my hands at all.
I thanked her for being so open about her emotions and being OK with it. She told me not to cry because then I would make her cry, lol. Little did I know this would not be my only photo alongside Kara.
When I registered for camp, I said Yes to being in the fashion show, just thinking, well I'm registering late I'm sure they have this figured out already. Well...they picked me. I decided to do my extremely embarrassing attempt at the "floss" in front of the 275+ campers.
I walked right behind Kara as well so I figured more attention may be on her anyway.. A lot of the outfits featured un-released Oiselle logos, so I'm hoping more pictures come from this soon. Each piece of my outfit is available for purchase today though..hence why I'm posting it.
I did like the capris a lot! They recommended for those of us with layers to casually un-layer during the show but uhhh... my floss was already enough attention, lol.
After that, there was a dance party!
Luckily on Monday morning we were able to get a cabin photo which is naturally one of my favorites from camp. We all got along really well which was awesome! I would definitely go to Camp again - it was such an awesome experience!
