Today’s blog is brought to you by Tom. Like we mentioned when gave him the positivity award, Tom is a pillar of this community. Some of my earliest memories of NPCan is of Tom and Christine and I can say with confidence that this group wouldn’t be the same without him. I hope you had a great rest of your Wednesday and we’ll see you Friday at Walterdale hill. And check out details about Summit 10 and our NPCan tracking doc so you can see who is all coming and who is interested https://november-project.com/summit-10-yeg/. Without further ado…Tom Loo:
The Positivity Award…. to me, Tom Loo? How could this be?
While I was very pleasantly surprised, humbled and honoured to be recognized, it is hard not to feel a tiny bit like a fraud. I am aware of the long list of deserving people that have been recognized with this award. That bold and friendly personality that welcomes us at 6 am; the happy and smiling person with endless words of encouragement; the powerful athlete that inspires by just bringing it to the stairs and the hills. These are some former award recipients.
I am far from the most vocal, outgoing, friendly or positive personality, and I hang at the back of the crowd. I do my bounce at the back, at the fringes and I like it there as it is very different from my day job where I need to stand at the front. Despite wearing various costumes and outfits to workouts throughout the year, I am not that outgoing and not an extrovert. I like to avoid being the center of attention and you might find that hard to believe since there have been light up gloves, Hawaiian shirts, Christmas sweaters, onesies, blow up dinosaurs and a Princess Peach gown. I will admit that my wife Christine is the primary instigator for these outfits.
What I am most proud of is just showing up three times a week. That is one of the main principles of November Project. JUST SHOW UP. I tell myself that three times a week and since June 2014, I have been doing just that. We have never stopped and even continued with the virtual workouts through the pandemic. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I have no excuses or reasons to not show up, if we are in town. Other than sleeping, I have no plans or meetings scheduled. I might be tired or grumpy but I just show up and tell myself that no matter how fast or how slow I go, this is good for me.
November Project has become a fabric of our lives and I expect to continue to just show up indefinitely … and indefinitely is a long time. We have been to a number of other November Project cities and one summit. I have hugged countless strangers just because they were wearing a shirt or jacket tagged with November Project on it. Being a part of this community is a very positive element of my life and I have each of you to thank for that.
Tom
Last week Christine and I were away on a ski trip, so here are some of my adventures with the positivity award:
On the road! Highway 93 en route to Panorama.
Ski jumping in Revelstoke at the Nels Nelson Ski Jump
Landed the jump! Must be all those November Project Canada workouts
Banff Pedestrian Bridge
The apres-ski ice cream, Lake Louise
Going for a run on Easter Monday, Banff
