Free Fitness Movement. All you need to do is show up!
The last ten months have been like a rollercoaster of new adventures and brilliant new challenges.
The day I have been asked/slightly forced to verbal my first attendance at November Project was the moment I knew directly this is where I can get stronger, where I can get faster and also where I can learn how to motivate others and myself!
In a couple weeks, I will leave you – my badass tribe – for the weeks leading up to summit. But before I go, I am going to leave you with a few important #hashtags. LISTEN UP.
#six2summit: During the six weeks leading up to summit, every Wednesday morning will be different – in a good way, a really fucking good way. These six weeks include April 26, May 3, May 10, May 17, May 24, May 31. Here’s the deal: each week, leading up to the workout, you will find out some teasers for the next Wednesday – for instance, maybe who’s leading it and therefore will be able to hype the shit out of it. Saskia is not going anywhere, she will always #justshowup, but this is an opportunity to see what you people got in terms of remixing songs to bounce to and coming up with the most awkward things possible to make your fellow adult children do at the ass crack of dawn. I’m gonna say it again, this whole thing is going to be really f*ing cool. Moving on to…
Today more than ever we felt the strength of November Project Amsterdam. To be frank: we crushed it. Saskia stood quiet and dumfounded in happy tears for an entire 45 minutes. There was confetti shot in the wrong places, there was a lot of sugar, a lot of stairs, and a lot of hugs. And it turns out that the tribe pushes harder when the workouts are up to you – looks like you all enjoy telling other people what to do – I’ll remember this. To follow, is a note from Edoardo – a guy who pushes his limits no matter what, and never forgets to drag you all with him. He thinks today was good. He thinks every day should be like today. He’s right, don’t you think?
It’s International Women’s Day. Here is what that means:
Beyonce led our bounce.
The women crushed it.
And so did the guys.
Today may be International Women’s Day, but we all run the world. Each one of us is in charge of our own world. Each one of us – equally – has the power to make our day, our community, our week, and our world, great. It starts the minute your alarm goes off, and as BG explains HERE, that moment after deep and peaceful sleep, when you are jolted awake by an unusual series of foreign noises, is the moment you get to make your first decision of the day. For all of you at the workout today, f*ck YEAH. You took that moment and embraced it full force – you knew that that shitty, shitty moment was happening in bedrooms all around Amsterdam, and just like you, your #weatherproof NP friends would be embracing it too.
Sometimes November Project isn’t about seven different kinds of burpees and never-ending staircase- sometimes it’s what makes your city home. From our Maya Papaya with love:
When I started writing down my thoughts this morning, I did not have the intention to send this off to Annelise, but here I am proofreading, and realizing that I get quite cheesy! Yikes…. but truthfully….#sorrynotsorry.
She’s a smile queen and a recruiting machine. The thing about recruiting – it’s great to have more people, we always want to have a big crowd bouncing and racing and encouraging others (and freaking out a few new people – and welcoming them into the tribe- every week is fun) – it’s not about how many people you tell to come to NP, it’s not about talking their ear off and selling yourself or the group, it’s about exuding an energy that tells that new stranger that the vibe is like nothing else, the workout is tough, and the value of just showing up is undeniable. She has such genuine love for this community that her words and spirit burst from her every time she’s near, and that’s what speaks for itself. Here’s a few words from out key lime pie sponsor:
This blog post is brought to you by Hans Carlson, a tribe-less helluva guy that [sometimes quietly] spread his smile through the cities he visited. He showed up to one of the biggest days – biggest not in numbers, but in significance – for NP Amsterdam last October, and as the rain poured down in the darkness, he never lost his positive light. Thanks, Elliot, for tricking this guy into an NP #traverbal road trip and bringing him into our crazy cool family.
That’s really not a question. Today’s blog post is brought to you by Roderik, who quite frankly, reminds me of Dug from Up.
Where did 2016 go?! It seriously felt like it just flew by! Anyone else? IT’s kinda ridiculous how you can just blink and it’s another week, month, holiday and now year! Yikes. But it’s also SO awesome because you get a big “REFRESH” button now.
This morning demonstrated the impact that each and every one of you have on this tribe, this movement. You get out of November Project what you give into it. Know that that extra high-five or “good job,” or that purposeful hug for a newbie or “missed you today” text to a regular goes a long way. Felicia is leaving Amsterdam, but her impact will stay. In 2013, Felicia hung up the cover of Runner’s World Magazine on her vision board. It featured November Project founders Brogan and Bojan, along with a few other core members of the Mothership (Boston). She said she wanted to be as happy and carefree in running as they looked. I think her constant smile says it all.
For the last day of November, we rocked bridges with our bitches and hills with our homies and I tried to speak Dutch. Some things went better than others.
Oost vs West: it was a tight race, but Oost came out on top. This is the only acceptable outcome of the story, by the way. But no matter which side of Amsterdam is better at carrying little gum-balls, ONE at a time, across a bridge, without being tempted to eat them all, every one of you bitches and homies won today. Here’s why: you all got to see who in the tribe lives on your side of town. Now, it’s your job to get your stalker game on and find out which of your new friends lives in your neighborhood. OR you can just ask them. OR you can just check the google doc (and fill it out yourself). Know why? Because having an accountabilibuddy, someone who is going to text you on Tuesday night to wish you sweet dreams and wake you up in the cold, dark, probably wet, Wednesday morning, is GOOD. You know Robbie lives in a baller apartment in the Jordaan, right down the street from you? Tell him you’ll meet him on the corner of Rozengracht and Keizersgracht at 6:05, rain or shine, to run, bike, swim, or fly over to NEMO together. Know that Roderick drives his lazy ass to NEMO right through your neighborhood every Wednesday morning? Wait, you didn’t know that he drives?! Called out. Tell him to man up, meet you on a random street corner in the far Zuid, and keep each other company on your journeys to NP. You get the picture.