At it again this weekend at the Dempsey Indoor Track for the Husky Classic! Cheering on more of our Haute Volée runners on our side of the track, the side that we call the Nest!
Last time we were here, we were stoked to be welcoming back UW alumni Christine Babcock and Mel Lawrence to their old stompin’ grounds…and it was the first time they raced post collegiately indoors in Oiselle at their alma mater. How cool was that? Lauren Fleshman started off the day with a 4:42 mile with an amazing last 300meter kick to finish 2nd. Talk about inspiring to moms everywhere! She finished looking strong and extremely happy – her finishing celebration included the one and only Jude the Dude in her arms and smiling.
Then we had the pleasure of watching Mel, Christine of Little Wing and Amanda Winslow and Lauren Penney of NJNY-TC led by the fabulous and super speedy Kate Grace as their rabbit! Sporting none other than the New Lesko Shimmel and Mac Rogas from the Spring 14 line. Talk about great debuts: Amanda won it in 8:56:37 and Lauren P. in 8:56:44 both 3k PR’s. Christine followed in sixth place with a personal best for her as well.
Across the country that same day we had Lauren Wallace and Amanda Mergaert at the JDL Fast Track’s Camel City Invite in the 800 and Mile respectively, finishing 3rd and 4th in their races. These two are new to racing and training together as you might have read in Amanda’s blog from a few weeks ago.
To top off this fabulous weekend we had the honor and privilege of welcoming none other than Kara Goucher to our post meet festivities and Sunday morning team long run. Talk about an inspirational weekend – #amazeballs as some of our team members would say!
And then we just kept rolling! The next weekend’s highlight happened to be the dynamic duo from NJ again: Amanda Winslow and Lauren Penney raced at the Boston University Valentine Invite. If you haven’t seen a track meet there yet, put it on your bucket list: Lauren says it is unreal. She spent many a meet there while at Syracruse. And that electricity showed in their races finishing again 1-2 in the Mile with 4:26:28 and 4:31:30 looking smooth and strong! Check out their race – I watched it like 10 times since last weekend – so inspiring.
In true Oiselle form, we capped the weekend off with none other than a Oiselle Washington team tradition – three years in the making – the Love ‘em or Leave ‘em 5k at our hood, Green Lake! To be in a race with 14 of your teammates is awesome. For me to look up and see a line of Oiselle women in their colorful Volée singlets in front of me, inspires me and makes me proud. Like all things we attempt to do here at HQ, our goal is always to find a connection between the most elite runner out there and the average Jane like me…putting one foot in front of the other trying each day to be a better runner and person. It's loads more fun to do it with run sisters like these women.
Speaking of run sistas everywhere: this weekend is another fabulous meet at the Dempsey Indoor track and we get the pleasure of watching some seriously loaded fields: Tomorrow night the 5k – including two of our Haute Volée women: Kara Foster from PA and Megan Rolland from CA. I can’t think of a better way to spend Valentine’s Day – sitting in a restaurant with a bunch of couples all celebrating the same thing….nah, let’s go see some fast women kick down 16 laps and some change on an indoor track. That’s some #runlove right there.
We hope to have some more of our enthusiastic Oiselle fans back on Saturday as well to welcome back for her second race at the Dempsey this season, Lauren Wallace. Joining her will be Amanda Mergaert her training partner in Davis, CA. Talk about two great heats in the women’s Invite Miles! Looking forward to another strong Oiselle duo there. Not to mention that we get to watch some of our #fangirl favorites, Colleen Quigley from Florida State and College of Idaho phenom, Hilary Holt.
And that’s not all folks…Millrose Games! Can’t ever forget Millrose Games! Put it on your bucket list of track venues to go to! Saturday we have Amanda Winslow in the Mile there. Yep, 3rd in the world in the mile, Amanda Winslow. The field is loaded: Mary Cain, Alexa Efraisom, Core McGee, Traniere Moser, Morgan Uceny, Katie Mackey, Nicole Sifuentes! Wow: talk about action packed weekend! Have fun track fans: Go Fast. Take Chances. #birdnation
KMet
