Today we met at the stadium for our typical Wednesday on the stairs: 5:30 & 6:30am.
But today was not a typical day.
Today, the workout was #Raceman. An invention of eager minds a handful of years ago to challenge NP_BOS in a new way. An opportunity to not just do more and more sections while still finishing before time is called. But in the other direction–to run each singular section as fast as possible–and to try to win each time. A race. An old fashioned, you vs. me, head-to-head race, 31 stairs from the bottom to the top. The first person to get both feet on the top step wins, and advances to the section one number higher (or to the right, if you’re facing the top of the section). And the person who gets there second? Well they never lose, in my opinion, because they just gave it everything they had. But they finished after their competitor, so they move one section to the left/the next lower numbered section. The racing continues for 5 minutes, which gets repeated 3 more times. And then a burnout of 3 final races.
It’s simple enough in concept. But make no mistake. #Raceman is fucking hard. It’s brutal. It’s the kind of workout you dread, or fear, or you debate just leaving the stadium once you hear that’s the workout. But when you do it… when you put your foot on that first step and start to race… when you eeeek out a win… when you get absolutely burned by someone way faster than you… when you push through the “I can’t feel my legs anymore, are they under me?” as you get 4 stairs from the top… when you wonder if you’ll puke… or you do puke… when you get to the end of the workout s o m e h o w and then you realize you’re done, you realize the fear isn’t there anymore. The dread is lessened or gone entirely. And you remember that debate to leave or just not do it, and a wave of gratitude, or “awwww shit, I just did THAT,” hits you. And for a moment you might just love it. And hate how your legs feel. But love is definitely a part of the equation, even though it wasn’t before.
This is racing everything. This is giving it everything you’ve got and pushing to the edge (or even way past the edge) of comfort, of certainty, of reason. And it’s giving YOUR EVERYTHING. Regardless of whether you race every single race out there in the world, or see yourself as a competitive person, #Raceman gives each and every one of us an opportunity to give it our all in a very finite way. And that feels good every now and then. It would suck if that’s all we did Wednesday after Wednesday, so we don’t. But when we pull it out of the bag and challenge everyone to step to the bottom stair and get ready to race, it’s a moment to race everything.
That’s all with the context that some days it’s not your day to race–so you do the kickass workout of #Robotman on the other side of the stadium–just like in life it’s not the day to take on the biggest challenge out there, even if it’s an opportunity to discover something amazing about yourself. Because usually on those days, when it’s just not the day to take on the biggest challenge out there, it’s because the better challenge for you to take on is one of making choices that care for your body, mind, soul–and that means stepping back, slowing down, noticing the need for rest, recovery, and tending to all your needs.
This is the dance–sometimes we need to face the hardest stuff, and other times the hardest thing is not doing those things blindly or carelessly. But no matter what, no matter how we choose to challenge and to “race” ourselves, the most important thing is that we do it wholeheartedly, with purpose and intention, and give it YOUR everything.
Thanks for showing up today, NP_Boston. This community is changing the city and helping to change the world. Let’s keep showing up.
super important announcements
YEARBOOK PHOTOS ARE next wednesday ON JUNE 19th at 5:30 & 6:30am. We will take individual photos of everyone to post in a Facebook Album…and YOU will get to TAG yourself so everyone else knows your name. AND THERE IS A THEME: “morning at the movies“
On Saturday, June 22nd, November Project Boston is racing a 26×1 relay against twenty other local running club teams, hosted by the Somerville Road Runners at Hormel Stadium in Medford: https://www.srr.org/26-x-1
Each person on the team runs a single mile, as fast as they can, and as a team this adds up to a whole marathon!
If you’re ready to #RaceEverything and run your fastest mile, please join the team! Even if there are more than 26 people registered when you sign up, that’s okay – STILL SIGN UP. We’ll include as many NP Boston regulars as possible on the final team, and do our best to make sure everyone has a fun fast time. But it’ll be a downer if we can’t field a complete team, so please make sure you’ll be able to attend before signing up.
Joev is not only the captain and is coordinating the NP team, he also
fronted the team registration fee, so if you end up running, we’ll ask
you to then (not yet!) pay him back $15. If this is a hardship, see us
(Emily Saul or Chris Capozzi) and we can work out other arrangements –
we don’t want finances to keep anyone from racing.
To sign up, click “Join Club Relay Team” at https://runsignup.com/RaceGroups/75237/Groups/615116 .
Don’t be alarmed by the registration fee listed there – you won’t
actually have to pay anything since the team has already been created.
If you’re asked for a password, it’s “AwwwYeah”. You’ll also have to put
in a guess for your mile time. Do your best to make an aggressive but
accurate prediction, and we can use that information to help decide
what order the racers will run.
And if you don’t end up racing, we still want to see you there cheering! Let’s make it a party!
KNOCKAROUND PHOTO CONTEST / NP HOMEWORK is still going on until June 21st. READ THIS BLOG for all the details, but you could win a free trip to NP Summit 7.0 in Las Vegas (airfare, hotel) + 52 pairs of knockaround sunglasses!!!
NEXT MONDAY 6/17 is at Harvard Medical School Quad lawn. Right HERE on the map.
Share via socials:
