Tag Archives: oiselle

Where the Magic Came From

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And now, for all the fun things in Eugene where I didn’t wear a bib or have Clif Shot caked to my face.

An homage to everyone/thing that made HugeEug Part 2 everything I dreamt it’d be (& much much more)…

  • These Girls; for being the easiest-to-get-along-with roommates equally dedicated to running hard and celebrating hard – and for falling asleep after me if any of you snore

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kelli, robyn, sad kristina, me, meghan, sweaty

  • Oiselle; for making this group of strangers feel like sisters, and supporting our sport so whole-heartedly

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sophia getting a mile 9 five, lots of birds at Ninkasi post-race celebratin’ (source, source)

  • (related) Oiselle Cheer Squad; for brightening up the hardest parts of the course with your endless energy – teammates, friends-of-friends, and anyone with an easy-to-read name on their bib “yeah, Joe! go orange shorts!” 

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mile 16 – bubbles, cowbells, chicken hats, (unpictured) banana suit – (source)

  • Em & Meghan; for your inspirational pints & planks performances, and for cheering your absolute hearts out even though I know both of you would’ve KILLED to have traded your cowbells for timing chips

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yes, we ARE all impressed with the sideplank cowbell (source, source)

  • Pro Compression; for letting me hang out in the booth a while and for making the perfect orange sock to match my singlet

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code “BLG13″ for 40% off  + free s/h on any marathon sock or sleeve

  • Every person that said hi (or shouted during the race), for being so nice and making feel super cool. Also thanks for not making fun of how I sound in person. Loved putting so many @____’s with faces and hearing race reports instead of reading them! Oh and sorry to grey-shirt-girl-at-mile-16, who I yelled “I told you NOT to wear that shirt!” at… I hope you had a great race!

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thanks for taking our picture, courtney <– new BQ’er, btw

  • Nuun; for hydrating so many runners/cheerers/boozers to all-around PR-caliber weekends

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if it’s good enough for a 3:17 marathoner, it’s good enough for me (tell K you want a guest post about her race!)

  • (related) Mason; for another year of perfectly executed and SERIOUSLY HOW WERE YOU IN ALL OF THOSE PLACES AT ONCE magical pacing duties for so many. I suspect you’re already getting requests for 2014…

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with Molly at mile 16 en route to a killer PR (source)

  • The Internet; for “introducing” so many rad people, and for making this group shakeout run on Pre’s Trail happen (& Robyn the former native for guiding us bc I fa shur would’ve gotten us lost)

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Pre’s Trail with new running friends – can this be every Saturday, please!? (source)

  • (related) House 2; for hosting the pre-race carb fest

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Corey, Steph, Molly, Laura, Holly, and Allison

  • Lauren Fleshman; for being an inspiration to women and runners everywhere, and taking the Oiselle “boob heat” off me for a sec.

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she has like, national records, and stuff. and a baby growing inside of her. and obvs I think we’re BFFs now. oiselle bio

  • Meggie & Jocelyn; for being the funniest little glitter tattoo Mary Kate & Ashley twins and providing endless entertainment

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Or as that guy on the course says – “Thank you for being YOU!” (cc: Holly and Monica)

  • Picky Bars; for the awesome post race party and not unsubscribing my club membership after spilling IPA all over your tablecloth.   * p.s. The new flavor is coming! Success! Pre-order/back HERE if you want some

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Steph you’re so cute and no that’s not the speed goggles talking (source)

  • ALL OF THE OREGON BREWERIES; for providing so many delicious liquid carbs, the premium fuel in which OUaL runs best on

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some of the Day 1 haul

  • (related, sort of) The VooDoo Donut worker, for “donating” that late night we’re-lost-trying-to-find-our-car-but-hey!-here’s-voodoo!-let’s-go-in! snack when I didn’t know it was cash only and only had card

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whatever it was you let my no-cash-carrying mouth have was delicious (source)

  • Verizon; for honoring an early upgrade so I can replace my nuun-soaked dead iphone

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until then ol’ Flippy and I are getting our T9word on

  • My Photo Memory (ok, w Mason’s help); for memorizing the course map and clocking 13.09 miles garmin distance (NO I’m not claiming the course was “short”, I’m claiming I ran fucking awesome tangents)

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  • And the biggest ‘thank you’ to Kristina; for being the best training partner, travel buddy, and friend. Running that last 1/4 mi with you into the chute was probably the best part of my weekend. I’m so proud of you and can’t wait to see what you do now that you actually know how damn fast you are. And I’m tearing up again…

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(source, source, source)

And thank you everyone from HugeEug, for unknowingly letting me steal all of these photos.

Have a nice weekend – good luck to everyone racing, long running, cinco de mayo’ing, whatever!

Sarah OUaL

Pass the Duct Tape? My Ass-Kicking Button is Broken.

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This will not be your normal weekend recap post. Not that you expect anything normal or regulated around here in the first place, but I felt the need to preface with that anyway for some reason.

Sarah Mac – Oiselle teammate, marketing guru, and sweat-wick model extraordinaire – was in town (the story behind the visit HERE). Despite the trip’s unfortunate circumstance  and my anxiety over ‘OMG how do you entertain an elite runner who’s missing their goal race?!!’ we managed to have a pretty good time.

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Sweat-testing some new threads including YES THE NEW SPORTS BRAS (more on those later this week), lawn games in the alley bc duh you can’t drink on the beach, Nuun mixologizing, brown bagging at a delicious BYOB Thai place, running the pool table AND the jukebox at the skuzziest dive in all of Newport, Vine and driving biking, auditioning (and failing) for a bird model spot, duffy boating and getting to know a teammate a little better.

Solid 27 hours, IMO.

But since weekends are for long runs, lets talk about running for a second.

We’re seven weeks out from Eugene, and my ass-kicking button is broken. I (somehow) ran 49 miles last week, half of which I didn’t wear a watch for and 98% of which I didn’t give a flying F about pace or effort or what type of “workout” it was supposed to be. Just plain old running. Junk miles.

I *hate* junk miles.

This is the heat of training and I’ve pulled my inner “but I don’t wannaaaa” five year old out way too often for someone who usually thrives on those ball-busting workouts. Yes, it’s better than last week where I completely bagged the miles all together, but my lack of enthusiasm towards running hard is slightly concerning. And I want it back.

So I did what every normal person (at least I hope) would do – I signed up for the ultimate pain-fest reality check, a 5K this weekend.

My unofficial “wtf is wrong with you?!” psych self-evaluation during LR walk break #15 is that I don’t have that fear that marathon training instills in you. Like, you better freaking get those 20 milers in or you might really not survive on race day. With the half, I’m all,

“Whatever, I can go run 13.1 miles right NOW, what’s this run going to do? Shave a few seconds off my finish time? pshhh, whatever. Let’s go get froyo.”

(related : Yogurtland has Lucky Charms marshmallows now. all those years picking them out and leaving a bag full of boring cereal have been redeemed!)

Just getting miles in and enjoying the simple act of running would be fine if my goal was just to finish in Eugene, but that’s not the case. I want a PR. I want to run fast. I want to see what I can REALLY do. I want that fighter back.

And this Sunday will be a nice wake up call on how much work I’ve got to catch up on to get there. I’m scared excited already.

Sarah OUaL

ps the RACER Wall Frame winner was Shanna C! (she already knows) Congrats!

5 Days of Taper Giveaway – Oiselle

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I can’t believe it’s the last day of taper. Or that I actually managed to get all these posts up and on time. This has been super fun and I’m sad it’s over – mostly because that means race weekend is here and I’m simultaneously scared shitless and ready to freaking run 26.2 miles.

Anyway, my newest superbly-hydrated friend is…

nuunnum

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Congrats Jennie! I’ll email you with details on how to claim your Nuun gift set and also the details for my flight to SLC because holy crap that sounds so good. See you soon.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

And on the last day of taper, OUaL (with the help of some birds) put an end to poofy diaper butt.

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the running shorts metamorphisis

I really didn’t expect the Rogas to have such an effect on the way I looked at running clothes. I was perfectly content with my brand medley of clearance rack finds – purchased solely on color or discount, with no thought to fit, functionality, or durability.

But then I got a peak of them at the Marathon Trials.

I knew nothing about them other than how great they looked. No idea about the fit, material, or that the woman running in them was actually the one who designed them. All I knew was they were like no other running short I’d seen, and I wanted them.

So I badgered @Oiselle pretty much daily begging to know when “the awesome pink shorts from Houston” would be available. $44 was more than I’d ever spent on non-shoe running gear, but once I got those Violet Rogas in my hands I knew the splurge was a worthy investment.

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Insta-obsession

It was love at first touch, first wear, first debut run. I was a goner – officially on the Roga Revolution and never looking back.

The fit is super flattering – a slim cut that is somehow neither too-tight nor too-baggy – and the material is tissue’y soft with just the right amount of stretch. The yoga-style waistband adds detail and eases even the most paranoid of muffin-top fears.

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I was a little self-conscious of the more figure-hugging cut at first – I never ran XC or track and the thought of “shorties” or “bun huggers” or spandex in general makes me a little nervous. Not that the Rogas are anywhere near that level of skimpiness, I was just “aware” of the missing extra material swishing around I was used to. (Oiselle does have a Long Roga if you prefer extra coverage)

That didn’t last long.

They come in great color combos, and I’ve got it on the inside track that Spring13 has some incredible new colors and PATTERNS in store…

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from Oiselle’s FB

Plus, on top of everything else, I swear to Runner’s World these things don’t ride. No more tugging material out of your crotch mid-run!

Looks AND functionality? Major win-win.

As far as sizing/fit goes, I’m a universal Medium in pretty much all brands/styles, and the Roga is no different. (Keep in mind I’m 5’9”, so everything gets a little extra leg and seems a little shorter than normal.)

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In medium Nike Tempos for size comparison

Every one I’ve seen in them (and after Totally Trials, I’ve seen a lot of roga’d booties) looks incredible. Regardless of how firm or flat, how Shakira hip’y, or how much space there is (or isn’t) between your thighs. Whether your main race concern is chub rub or catching the lead pack, you’ll love these shorts.

They’re magic. I want you to see for yourself.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Yup, up for grabs for the final 5 Days of Taper is a pair of Oiselle Roga Shorts. AND, because Oiselle is awesome and always looking out for their fellow runners, they’re going to throw in a matching tee to go with them!

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Here’s how to enter :

  • I want to hear your MOST EMBARASSING run story. Wardrobe malfunction? Portapotty faux pas? Snot Rocket gone awry? Spill it. (if you’ve got too much good juju to have a story, just make one up)

I had a portapotty opened on me at HTC, have let out seemingly-silent farts on the gym treadmill, and took a tree branch to the face while turning to wave to a friend. But popping a pull-the-spandex-to-the-side squat at Eugene (so ladylike) and being “congratulated” at the finish by two dudes that passed me during it takes the cake. Not that I had any energy to care or be embarrassed at the time.

*** Update *** Now everyone can be saved from the diaper butt! Oiselle is offering 15% off any Roga (long or short) order with code “ROGAREV” now through Race Day (12/2). Booyah, saggy ass.

Sarah OUaL

#TotallyTrials – Away From the Track

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Obviously the main event of the weekend was the business being had at Hayward and the whole finding-out-whos-going-to-London-to-represent-our-country thing.

NBD.  Kind of  exciting.

2012 Olympians within iPhone camera shooting range

But turns out track meets don’t last all day.  And when you’re in Track Town, surrounded by a billion other runner enthusiasts, on the wings of an awesome women’s running apparel company (wings pun intended), you won’t be troubled finding things to fill your days with.

The Oiselles

I was blown away by how incredibly welcoming, friendly, and AMAZING all of these women are.  The ladies of HQ are so inspirational and amazing – as runners, business women, and humans in general.  I want to be them.  I’d (obviously) already been a head-over-heels loveboat with Oiselle’s product, but having this chance to connect with the people who dreamt it & brought it to life has brought that infatuation to a whole new level.

… the #girlcrush hashtag is currently suffering an overuse injury.

with Sally, Founder & CEO;  reliving the night before through Jacqueline’s catches-everything camera

Every single person there repping Oiselle gets permanent OUaL BFF status.  Friendship bracelets are in the mail.  From the HQ girls to the team members to the supporters (Leskos – that spare room is ready for us, right?) this company is stacked with ridiculously awesome people.  It was like a big happy family from the second we set foot on Eugene turf to the last teary hug goodbye.

The House/Digs

Oiselle put us up in a cute little house half a mile from campus with a few other team members.  We kept joking it was like summer camp – immediately being thrown into close quarters with a bunch of complete strangers you have some common interest with.

Yes, the “Track Pad” had a trampoline. No, @KlutzyEmily didn’t break anything.

Luckily my IRL social ineptitudes fly out the window when it comes to geeking out over running. Put me in a sweat-less group situation and I get all clammy and stuttery, but start dropping favorite races, shoe specs, or Bloks vs Chomps debates and I’ll go all endurance social butterfly on you till you beg me the shut the F up.

Ok that’s a little far, but at least I won’t stand in the corner trying to hind behind a tequila shield.

I picked the brains of all of these amazing athletes – from Oly Marathon Trials qualifiers to NCAA standouts to super stroller-pusher moms – and tried to soak in as much of their bad ass-ness as possible.  Coupled with the insane showdowns on the track, I left town with a head full of ideas and legs itching to run.  BAD.

Studio One Cafe with Em, Carla, Jena, and Meggie

Yes, I took myself out in public looking like that.  When everyone in town is fast, pretty, & looks better in compression than you do, it just doesn’t matter.

The Running

There couldn’t have been a better place for me to wind up during a tumultuous ”break up” with running.  I said it in April, and I’ll say it again, there is magic in Eugene.  We were able to hit the trails everyday except Thursday (unless we’re counting the sprint to Hayward upon arrival) and every step rejuvenated my cranky runner soul.

More miles and probably a little speedier than my body was ready for, but there was no way I was sitting out on any of this action.

Run love, welcome back.

Fun running with Em & the Oiselles on Pre’s trail and the Willamette

We ran past Galen Rupp one AM and didn’t try to chasing after him with a sharpie and our Trials programs.  Fan girls?  Nope, none here.  We’re totally cool…

(we wouldn’t have been able to catch him even if we tried)

Track & Fun Party and Fashion Show

Saturday night was the big event – the Oiselle Track & Fun Party and Fashion Show.  Unarguably the biggest hit to the running circuit party scene.  Every detail – from the A-list guest list, to the dancing & photo opps, to the picky/hydration centerpieces – was Track Town Gold.

Lauren Fleshman, photo booth, Nuun for rehydrating and Picky Bars for late-night snacking? Party perfection.

Before things got too legit to quit (foreshadowing), Oiselle sent some of their athletes strutting the new looks of Fall 12 and Spring 13 down the RUNway.

The girls told us before the show that they were nervous and wanted us to cheer as loud as possible for them – obvs not a problem for SweatyOUaL – but they rocked it like pros.

Here is the official coverage (you can hear a few woops and hollers from yours truly)…

It was a tough debate, but I picked a few of my favorite, must-have, can’t-wait, might-break-into-Oiselle-HQ-like-our-application-video pieces from the line.  Realistically I’ll probably wind up putting one of everything in every color in my shopping cart as soon as they hit the shelves, though.

(Brian, you don’t have to worry about any birthday/christmas/anniversary gifts for a while.)

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source

Stealing the show?  I’m voting a 3-way tie between Lesko’s “Drop and Give me 20″, Kate Grace wearing her namesake shirt just hours after racing the 1500m semi, and Mac looking all sorts of RIDICULOUS in the new competition kit.

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Told you.  #girlcrush.

Once the girls were done rocking the catwalk it was time to bust some serious moves on it.

Because that’s what you do when MC Hammer and son Booby are manning the mics.

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left : Oiselles are equally talented dancers as they are runners, right top : little Lesko says “forget a run off, how bout a dance off”, right bottom : recovering with Meggie, Lindsay, and Em (from linds’ instagram)

We thought maybe MC might want some DJ consulting from two poppy/country iTunes’ers (source SOAD)

Alysia Montano, 800m champion, stealing the mic and freestyling (source, source)

Such an incredible night.  I can’t count how many times “OMG remember when…!?” was said the remainder of the trip.  Definitely the talk of the trip and the town.

We managed to squeeze a few other fun shenanigans in during our time in Eugene – at the expense of sleep, which despite Em’s 3 hour time change handicap wasn’t hard to overcome.

A few other highlights :

  • Huddling around an iPad with 20 Oiselles watching the “just released” footage of the RUNway show
  • Storming the Brooks house and petitioning the resurrection of the Launch
  • Nightly walks home from Wild Duck (getting lost everytime)
  • 1 am race-walking competitions
  • Guitar’d sing-a-longs fueled by Nuun cocktails
  • Eating every other meal at Eugene City Bakery
  • Realizing it IS possible to be Grade A cheerleaders without cowbells
  • Spending time with “old” friends, meeting & making new ones, rekindling my love with running, and being inspired to “go fast take chances” 

Thank you, again – times a million – Oiselle.  For one of the best weekends of my life, and inspiring me to be a better runner and person.

Let’s do it again [REAL] soon.

Sarah OUaL

Totally Trials – The Main Events (aka you run, I’ll cheer)

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I’m having a tough time being depressed the weekend is over and questioning whether it ever really happened in the first place.  So incredible.  I have no words.  I’m going to try to put some together, but let’s just disclaim now that nothing I can say will do justice to this weekend’s Olympic Track Trials experience.

But before ANYTHING else, I need to thank Oiselle & all of the people behind the brand that made this all possible.  For the opportunity AND for being the most inspiring and welcoming group on the planet.  I am filled to the brims with gratitude and honor, and will try my hardest to pay my debts in Roga love & threatening to move in to Lesko’s basement – because how else do you thank someone for the best weekend of your life?

Without further adieu, the #totallytrials recaps.  If you’ve been following on Twitter or have checked out the album on Facebook, hopefully this fills in some of the detail cracks and explains these wretched withdrawal symptoms I’m having right now…

The Main Events

(business at the Hayward Oval Office)

Landing in Eugene Thursday afternoon was wild.  After 3+ weeks of build up it was finally here!  Track Town put together a pretty high profile welcoming committee for us…

As someone that’s still really new to the sport (participating and spectating) I was excited for the thrills and anxious to soak up every ounce of energy from the weekend.  Reading about all of the athletes’ journeys – Lauren Fleshman’s rebound from injury, Amy & Dathan’s fourth place finishes at the marathon, Amy Acuff gunning for her FIFTH Olympics (can we call her the Dara Torres of T&F?) made it so easy to get helplessly wrapped up in the events.  Like every time the gun went off I’d be watching my own kids running.

Em landed shortly after I did, we cabbed it to the house to ditch our bags, and sprinted – literally, sprinted – the .5 miles to Hayward.  After some TSA-style security including a thorough bag search and metal detecting we finally made our way inside.

We got in our seats just as Heat 1 of the mens’ 1500m went off, and just like that, our Totally Trials experience was underway.

It took about .2 seconds before I was hoarse from yelling and enthusiastically clapping along with all 20,000 spectator neighbors.  The roars of a lead change, eruption at the bell lap, and “OMG CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??!!” made it impossible not to get completely 100% invested.

The mens’ & womens’ 5000m finals capped off our Day 1 in the most dramatic of fashions – Rupp topping the podium after taking top spot in the 10k a few days earlier, and Kim Conley surging out of nowhere to overtake 3rd and grab A standard for her spot on the team.

insane finish photos from NBC (chills again)

Fan favorite Lauren Fleshman also ran, after gutsing her way into the finals on 11 mile training weeks while battling back from IT Band Syndrome.  (great interview here on that)  That qualifying round was the first time she’d run 3.1 miles all at once for MONTHS, and watching the pain and struggle of doing it again just a few days later was terrible.  She came in dead last, but you could see the determination in her face the whole way.  I had flashbacks to races where I’ve thought “I literally cannot give anymore, I’m done” and shamed myself while watching her push through every last step.

Lesson in mental toughness, completed.

Mac with the custom “Fleshman Flyer” trials shirts they made, and LF’s “C for Courage” (source)

Day 2 provided some extra-extra excitement by way of two Oiselle athletes competing!  After a day full of sprinting, hurdling, throwing, and jumping, we settled onto the very edge of our seats to watch Kate Grace in the 1500m semi-finals!

slight ordering snafu left anyone with boobs & non-toothpick arms in need of some (oiselle-approved) scissor action on the K8 shirts

Kate missed qualifying for the finals but ran an impressive race, and it was fun bumping into other fans in K8 shirts and pretending like we weren’t total strangers.

The night finished with the women’s Steeplechase, which Oiselle’s Jamie Cheever ran.  Again, so fun to have a teamer to cheer for, and I got goosebumps for Sally (Oiselle founder) when the PA rang out “from Oiselle” throughout Hayward.  In a world full of big brands and the land of Nike, it was so cool to hear her “baby” recognized.

Day 3 (Saturday) was the final day of event spectating for me, since my flight home was scheduled to take off before the final events Sunday.  This is how that made me feel :

Our seats were perfectly stationed right in front of the high jump pit and facing the finish line so we squeezed every last ounce of Trials excitement out of the day, capping everything off with an insane Allyson Felix 200m win.

Brigetta Barrett flying to 2nd place and a new collegiate record

Allyson Felix (lane 6) cruising to first by nearly half a second

Our Day3 Section U Oiselle cheer group, aka DON’T MAKE ME LEAVE YET

So much drama.  Excitement.  Heartbreak.  Being there in the crowd at Hayward Stadium and seeing the emotion from the athletes truly caught me by surprise – I can’t think of another sport where each individual’s heart is put out there so exposed for everyone watching to see.  I wanted to cry tears of joy or disappointment for every single athlete.

(chills again)

Being a distance “runner” (I no longer feel qualified to use the term after being in the presence of the country’s best athletes all weekend) I knew I’d be slightly biased towards the longer events, but I found myself so enthralled and unable to tear my eyes away from whatever business the cleated athletes had down on the oval.  Jumping things, throwing things, running through water…

I’m officially declaring ”the whole damn thing” my favorite T&F event.  Too hard to choose.

Of course there was fun had outside the oval – fashion shows, ‘too legit’ superstars, and many #runlove-rekindling miles of the non-Olympian sort – but they’ll have to wait for next post.

Sarah OUaL