Team
haute-volee
You may have noticed in the last few months a lot of changes within the LittleWing group. Jess took the social media job with Oiselle, our assistant Daniel moved back to Tennessee, and Lauren retired from professional running. Which leaves Collier and Mel (who, for the most part, have been on the same team their whole lives) and Collier will be moving from the track to the roads. One could argue that that hardly makes a group or a team. So the question we've been asked - "Is LittleWing still a thing?"
The short answer is yes, but life is more dynamic than yes or no. Life happens. Injuries happen. Jobs opportunities too good to pass up happen. Our dreams change and no longer serve us or the day to day life we live. People leave and paths change. There have been a lot of changes externally in our group even in the last year, but the heart of LittleWing has not changed.
LittleWing started as a training group. A group of athletes already in the Oiselle family who had shown potential, gone through some hard years, and had stuck it out in the sport; knowing if you hang on and work hard the potential you saw will resurface. Very quickly this group evolved into more than a group of individuals training to be really fast. The Oiselle Team Manifesto lists the seven "Principles of Flight":
Build the sisterhood. Eat like a human. Tell your story. Race with fire. Compete clean. Be a superfan. Spread the love.
We've joked that "LittleWing isn't a team, it's a lifestyle." The thing about jokes is they are built on a palpable foundation of truth. Those seven tenets are what we, as a group and individually, have strived to embody. A womanhood who hold each other’s biggest aspirations as high as our own and a girl gang who root harder for each other than we do for ourselves. A flock which recognizes you won't enjoy the endgame if haven't enjoyed the run-through.
LittleWing will always be a thing. It actually has always been a thing. Before Oiselle, before long runs on the Deschutes River, before group treadmill workouts, before grocery store dance parties, and post workout lattes... in its essence - we all have a LittleWing. You have a LittleWing. We have a LittleWing (and not just because we possess the passwords to the social media accounts). Cultivate your flock. Assemble your girl gang regardless of where they fall on the life, running, work, injury spectrum. Those positions will always be changing but the players can be constant.
xo
LittleWing
For fun: How LittleWing Started
