BIRDCAMP 2015:THE NUMBERS

As many of you know, I just spent five days out in Leavenworth, WA with my Oiselle teammates. A little background info...Oiselle is a fresh, fierce and fabulous women's running apparel company.  The word Oiselle is French and, loosely translated, means female bird.  Thus, the best way to describe this vacation/retreat/bootcamp/lovefest that we all just took part in is simply BIRDCAMP.  I have had the privilege of being a team member/ambassador for the brand since 2011 and this is our second annual bird camp gathering.  I know several of my fellow birds, along with the company itself, will likely post blog entries with detailed descriptions of all of our goings on.  Thus, I have tried to spin it a bit differently here.  I am going to attempt to break the whole thing down for you in numbers.  It's hard to put in words the experience that I just had with my birdfamily.  So, I'm feeling like this is going to do the trick.  For you and for me.  Flock on.

BIRDCAMP: THE BREAKDOWN IN NUMBERS

90 women

18 professional athletes

1 former Olympic athlete (Regina Joyce)

2 Bro-birds (Daniel & David)

1 Birdcamp Spotify Playlist 

64 songs or 4 hrs 14 mins

200 pairs of sneakers (at least, probably more)

My own sneaks on day 5. Time for new ones.

1 hugely anticipated reunion w/ Ashley & Nicole

8 meals in the Kingfisher dining room

5 yoga sessions w/ Bree from Jasyoga

1 morning meditation (also w/ Bree)

#BIRDSISTERS

50 pounds of food (at least, probably more)

*Including but not limited to:

1 - 5 lb of chocolate chips (yes, they were ALL eaten)

Thousands of jellybeans

Hundreds of ounces of coffee

Hundreds of gallons of water

Hundreds of tubes of NUUN

5 lbs of pretzels

150 bagels

200 apples

* thx for the data JJ

Pre-race w/ Nicole & Holly

1 5K w/ the team

2 wrong turns (definitely NOT KMet's fault)

1 bear sighting (didn't get a photo)

7 high fives (that I was part of, I'm sure there were more)

Pre run w/ Kimmie, Tammie, Ellen, Christy & Sheila

note: we had NO idea what we were about to tackle.

1 16 Mile Run

1 accidental port-o-potty walk-in (He didn't lock the door. Come ON.)

3-4 stops for water & fuel

2 major hills...er...mountains

The Strava breakdown

2,512 feet of elevation gain

4-5 'F' bombs

2 twisted ankles

1 contact lense removal (due to dust)

several words of encouragement from Tammie (bless her)

3-4 tears of joy shed when we finished

Taking it all in mid-hike

2 popped tires (one elliptigo & one bike)

1 dead car battery (sorry Mel)

1 insanely beautiful & challenging 9 mile hike

2 lakes (though, I only saw one)

LAKE COLCHUCK

1 float down the Wenatchee River

67 tubes

7 paddle boards

2 kayaks

dozens of Bavarian pretzels (though, I think Sydney ate several of them)

#FLOATIN'

6 lectures (including, but not limited to)

~ Physical Therapy/injury prevention w/ Jay Dicharry

~ Goal setting w/ sport psychologist Adrienne Langelier

~ Design process w/ Oiselle owner Sally Bergesen

~ USATF politics w/ pro-athlete Lauren Fleshman

4 breakout sessions

1 Jungle Chicken Presentation (I'm not going to be able to explain this one)

Erin Block (aka Jungle Chicken)

3 birthdays (including Penelope's 1st)

5 injured birds

5 little birds (children of mama birds)

Penelope & Sarah Mac

30 miles (my own mileage for the trip)

2 very early wake ups (thx for the ride JJ)

200 hugs (probably more)

A shit ton of swag

#BIRDSWAG

And a partridge in a pear tree.....

Sleeping Lady gardens

.....or something like that.

Listen to this:

RADIO - SANTIGOLD or listen w/