Birthday Blog (DEN)

First, Last, and ONLY NP5280 Monday sweat sesh

DENVER NOTES:

We got booted from Union Station…again.
The security guard even called up 2 of his doughnut munching buddies so they could stand there grumbling to themselves about millenials (shout out to my Gen-Y crossovers!), while stifling raging jealousy that we were having such a great time on their property.
There were birthday hats, birthday doughnuts, birthday songs galore.
Cards were flipped and war was waged to see who was doing burpees or pushups.
A little team relay with sitting V-trains for spice and a crowd surf to finish.

In the past few months we’ve been fortunate to hear thoughts from a handful of tribe members who’ve been willing to share their stories. I love these – all of them – and I want more. While many share a lot of the same general qualities, each has their own little wrinkles that makes it special and pulls us, hips in, just a little bit closer to the author. In the context of this ever-growing world takeover, it’s easy to #justshowup, give some sweaty hugs, grab your coffee, and head to work for the day. This is the bare minimum, in my opinion. We know this movement was founded on #freefitness, but it’s easy to forget that we’re working to build a community – a community whose stories are now so intricately intertwined, that you no longer know where one story ends and the next begins. Our lives are a function of each others’, and although our stories may be different, they are dependent, to a degree, on those who stand at our left, to our right, and in front or behind us. As our friends’ stories change, so, too, may our own.

I first heard of NP late in the Fall of 2013. A couple friends from grad school were living in Rapid City, SD, which was already experiencing one hell of an early winter. For a few weeks in a row, they posted pictures of their morning runs and workouts in a foot of snow. Hashtags weren’t so hot on Facebook then, but they always mentioned this ‘November Project’ thing in the captions. I got curious, sent them a couple of messages, then let Google do the rest. They weren’t trying to start their own tribe, they were just a (now) husband and wife tandem, holding each other accountable in the winter months, and growing closer in the process.

My first exposure to NP5280 was seeing pictures of Aaron Epps running Clovers (back then they were Crazy 8’s/Shamrocks with a different course) in full Holstein regalia, udders and all. Say no more. First, these people were running. I like running. Second, they were running while dressed for Halloween. I don’t care that much about Halloween, but give me any excuse to make people wonder, ‘WTF are those people doing?’ I showed up the next week, when NP was featured on the cover of Runner’s World. That’s when this torrid love affair began.

Most of us show up to our first workout for similar reasons – we’re curious, we want something different out of our workouts, we’re looking to improve our baseline fitness, etc. I’d venture to guess we show up to our second workouts also for similar reasons – first round was a solid workout, we had fun, it was just ‘different’, the people were weird/loud/funny. I came back for round 2 for the same reasons, but mostly for the latter. By people around me being weird/loud/funny, I then found myself being weird/loud/funny.

I’m not naturally a loud person, nor am I trying to be the one who stands out in the crowd. I don’t like loud noise unless it’s good music and I hate speaking louder than I think I should. You won’t believe this, but I hate yelling. Like force-feeding lima beans to a 3 year old levels of hate. Find me at a party or social gathering and I likely won’t be standing, demonstratively telling a story with my hands to a group of people. Chances are I’m seated, nervously sipping a drink while trying desperately to avoid small talk. Then again, put me in a room full of people I routinely spend a lot of time with and just try to shut me up.

It took me damn near until I was 30 and plugging myself unknowingly into a world takeover to find this out, but I was an ambivert. I naturally trend toward introversion, but in certain situations I relish the spotlight, so long as I can control how long the spotlight is on me. This was the first thing I learned at NP. I stopped telling myself that I had to be this or that, and that it was okay to be both, and that certain situations could dictate my personality. Not a groundbreaking, earth-shattering revelation, but it was something I hadn’t known about myself until then. These people were actively affecting the composition and structure of my own tapestry, bringing to life colors and textures that even I hadn’t noticed before. This was the power of a true community.

Extrovert, Introvert, or in between, I LOVE humanity. I’m insatiably fascinated by people and why they are who they are, or why they do what they do, and how their interactions affect others. I grew up in several small Kansas towns where everyone was so interwoven and connected that your mom only had to make 1 or 2 phone calls to figure out why you weren’t home for supper. I wouldn’t have survived in this era of cell phones and instant/constant contact. My excuses of ‘I forgot’ and ‘I wasn’t near a phone’ would no longer fly and I’d be on a metaphorical merry-go-round of 2-4 week grounding periods.

It was my grandpa who taught me most about humanity, and why, I think, I ultimately gravitated so quickly and so strongly to NP. He impressed upon me from an early age that the only things I truly have control over are my own actions, that those actions will almost certainly affect others, and to conduct myself accordingly. He is behind literally everything I do. It’s the notion and understanding of how our actions affect others that defines the word community.

Most often, we view the word ‘community’ as a noun – a group of people in the same vicinity sharing common characteristics. Based on what I’ve learned about humanity and how our actions affect others, I’d challenge the definition of community to be considered more of a verb. Forgive me for stating the obvious, but to me a community is defined not just by those within it, but by how those people live, work, eat, and play together. Those are all verbs. They require active participation on our part. If we #justshowup, workout, then go home, how does that make us any different than the throngs of people passing through “GloboGym’s” doors every day? Whether we realize it or not, learning a stranger’s name, then giving them a hug, high five, and fuck yeah during the workout could instantly change their day. If making someone’s day better is REALLY that simple, we need to be doing more of it. Not just within the friendly, utopian, Lisa-Frank-colored unicorn land that is NP, but in our families, with our friends, and at work.

November Project isn’t just a fad and we’re not on this planet simply to be born, go to work for awhile, then return to dust. These communities we’re a part of require active engagement and constant attention to maintain the tapestry that others have worked so hard to build.

My challenge to you for the month of April is to do something, ANYTHING, to engage in your communities. Take one day at a time and do just one thing to engage that you normally wouldn’t. First one day, then the next, and the next after that. I challenge you to discover what it feels like to actively engage in your communities every single day for a month. Blog about it, journal about it, throw it on social media, discuss it with your significant other or best friend. Whatever you do, spread the word, then sit back and think about how it made the other person feel, then about how it made you feel. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Don’t lose that vibe. Don’t fake that funk.

Woody