I had a conversation with your dad, Roger, last week and in it, we talked about what November Project has done to his racing career. I learned how November Project was the source of his racing excitement – that November Project and the people who love it are the ones that convinced him that he could run a running race in the first place – that seeing people from November Project at these races excites him and gives him life.
And I feel the same way.
I had done a few races on my own before I first raced with November Project. And when I say “had done”, I mean that I showed up on my own, or was dropped off by my family, ran it alone, had a banana and a carton of chocolate milk after it alone or with my family, and then I left, off to my day to day life. And that cycle repeated.
There’s nothing wrong with racing alone.
There’s nothing wrong with being afraid to race or thinking that it’s not possible.
There’s nothing wrong with hating running.
We’re not trying to convince you to race, or to run, or to fall in love with this whole active community. We don’t care if you show up once a month, sweat it out, then reset your alarm to a later time. We want you here, with us, but we won’t try to influence your decisions.
What we will try to do is to show you, to pound into your head, that it is so very possible for you to race if that’s what you want. That you don’t need to be afraid of the hundreds of other people who are faster or stronger than you. That you don’t need to worry that you’ll have a bad day on your legs, or that your stomach won’t behave, or that you won’t finish.
And do you know why you don’t need to be afraid of those unknowns?
Because we. are. here. for. you.
We are here when you have a 18 mile training run. We are here when you have no one to drink a post-race beer with. We are here when you don’t think that you’ll be able to PR and you just need someone to help you pace yourself. We are here when you have to complain about how much you hate your training schedule, those don’t-get-me-wrong-i-do-love-running-just-not-today days, those times you can’t do another 800 meter repeat, those days you just don’t want to even leave your bed. We are here for you. And so are 30, 50, 80, 100, 150 of your friends. You might not even know their names, but maybe you’ll meet your next training partners at a Wednesday workout.
That’s the magic. Come drink in the sweet, sweet spice, believe in yourself and all that you are capable of, and #justshowup. Show up to your first race. To your fifteenth race. To your fiftieth race.
And show up to support everyone else who’s showing up for their first, fifteenth, fiftieth races. Taste the racing-leg, racing-heart, racing-mind race magic.
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