Two years ago I had plans to finally move home to Austin. I remember the feelings I had very clearly. After 12 years in Los Angeles (and half of my lifetime spent away from home), my long experiment of wandering the wilderness had come to an end. I found myself wanting a change, any change; something to excite me or some big, profound answer to help give me perspective. But those things don’t exist, at least not outwardly. And they are not often satisfied by a change of scenery because the changes you are looking for are changes that you carry with you.
What I was looking for was community. And I’d already found it, a year earlier in joining the LAX tribe. But my plans had already been put into motion for myself and my ex-wife and I remember asking our then co-leader Angelo (now in San Diego, this conversation took place in late 2014) if there was an Austin tribe. My reaction to the news that there wasn’t one is pretty telling. It really gave me pause to move to a place that didn’t have a tribe. After 12 years in L.A. I’d finally found my community, and now I was going to leave? “You should start one”, Angelo told me. Oh man. I dunno. By that time I was so resigned to the multiple defeats in my life that I had no faith that I could put anything together, much less a community. And I remember my father, a former ultra-runner and the man who introduced me to running no Town Lake as a kid, witnessing what I had at the LAX tribe and asking me “are you really going to leave this?”
The truth is I couldn’t. I was running away from a lot of things I didn’t want to work through and hoping that there was some universal Reset button that could put me back in my starting position, right here in Austin. I saw a move to Austin as a second chance but it was just a way to skip the hard work I knew had to be done. So I stayed in Los Angeles and I chose the community that I had. It was the right choice. Things got a bit worse for me and this last year was a real kick in the pants, but I’m better now because I chose to address what was going on instead of me changing the scenery. And because I chose community above all else.
And now there’s a real growing community here at NP-ATX… and a great one. I’m so proud of Gina and what she’s put together over the months and years. Project Austin was a little frustrating to me. It’s frustrating to know that you’ve got something good and REAL and for others to not realize it. I was disappointed in my home town. It was tough for me to see the place I love most pretty much ignore the work Gina was trying to put into her community. But she kept with it. And I loved working out with the Project Austin group when I’d visit home and see it grow bit by bit.
Well, look at you now! I couldn’t be prouder to call you all my Hometown Tribe. You’re a young NP Tribe but you’re strong as hell. Edwin is a fantastic, charismatic and enthused leader and you seem to be growing by leaps and bounds. I’m amazed at the work you’ve all done and I know it’s going to keep going.
But as you continue to grow and people pour in from all over the country and the world, let’s get real. This is Austin and you’ve got responsibility. This is still my home, where I grew up with a city-wide mantra that made us all proud, and I need you all to KEEP IT WEIRD.
And I don’t mean “keep it weird” like yelling at your Tribe that their “ancestors are watching” them (although it’s great motivation) or that your planks and squats have to be so strong that “Channing Tatum can eat sushi off your back” (although that works too). Sheeeeeeit. That’s just my own flavor of weird born and raised right here in the greatest city in the world! You can take it… but you can’t make it, baby!
I’m talking about WEIRD in a way that is becoming rarer and rarer in the world today. It has become WEIRD to care about your neighbor and help them up. It’s now WEIRD to be kind and welcoming to strangers. It’s WEIRD to inspire others through your positive actions. It’s really WEIRD to smile and sing and laugh just because it feels good. It’s WEIRD to celebrate the good in yourself, the world and others. It’s WEIRD to be charitable. And it’s totally WEIRD to give complements (squat-lements?) and to celebrate a community made up of weirdos of differing colors, beliefs and backgrounds. Look at the world right now and realize just how WEIRD these things are. And also how rare and special.
I’ll let you in on an NP secret. LA is widely seen as the weird tribe. We’re loud. We’re annoying. We have Maggie Nolting. And none of us seem to have real jobs (because we don’t). But F that. You all need to take it back LOUDLY. We all know what really keeps Austin weird and what we’re best at (and if you already forgot read the above paragraph). Do me a favor. KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD starting right here and keep it going and growing as living examples in this Tribe, my Hometown Tribe.
I love you all and hope to see you out West at an LAX workout or at a race or Summit somewhere very soon. Maybe I’ll see you right back here in the heart of Texas where I leave mine every single time. Take care of it for me and take care of each other until I come back. And for fuck’s sake KEEP IT WEIRD! Your ancestors are watching you!
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