Author: Emily Bryson

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February sticker charts and so much more!!

HEYO!

This morning we started celebrating our FIFTH birthday that happened during January of 2019! We decided that one day of celebration simply would not cut it on such a monumental occasion so you might notice kid birthday party themes for most of our workouts this month! We kicked it off with a Pin the Tail on the Donkey (PtTotD) flair to our morning! We think it was a hit even though only a handful of people across both workouts were successful on actually pinning the tail on the donkey!! Surprising how hard that was, right?! All fun and games except for the burnout of burpees and other shenanigans we challenged you with. read more

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Lizzie/Harkies/Coach/Hey-u-fuggin-guy is happy to be here!

HI BALTIMORE!

Fresh from your fourth new co-leader, Lizzie/Harkies/Coach/Hey-u-fuggin-guy, I’m happy I’m here!!!

First off, wanted to give a heartfelt “WAHOO” for all the excitement that so many of you have brought my way after Sunday. I’ll be honest – the NP_BAL Leaders are already so loved – I was nervous about the announcement. Would it be as exciting for everyone else as it was for me? Would people give their nod of approval or feel that I would “annoy them but louder now” (the latter is a direct quote, shoutout to Jess Lewis for her loving and kind words… the answer is most definitely YES). Would I add much to this awesome, supportive and all-in community? Some are yet to be answered but my hope is that the response is FUCK YEAH. read more

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Trash Dash wrap up!

HEY! We know tensions are high all over the place this week with current political arena. We just want you to know that providing a space at workouts for folks to gather and workout together has always been the goal. We’ve watched friendships form, businesses start and marriages happen that started with bonds made at November Project. We have also seen friends move away, administrations change, people experiencing a range of hard times. All this to say that on this roller coaster that is life we will go through ups and downs and one of the only things that I can say for sure will make those downs easier is having people there with you to make it easier. Don’t underestimate the therapeutic nature of being able to show up to a place for zero dollar to work so hard you puke or maybe take it easy and hand out as many hi-fives as possible. Both of those are options at our workouts. Don’t shy away and give in to the snooze button with the cooler temperatures coming – be accountable to yourself and drop your #verbal for the workouts the day before. The early bird worms are out here and we are always looking for new friends to join us! read more

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The StairMaster

HI !

It’s me again, Bryson! Thank you ALL for a rockin’ workout this morning. This week we are going short “Wisconsin Notes” style blog to highlight some important things that happened today:

  • We led a new workout which has now been named “The StairMaster” It is essentially a shuttle run of the sections of stairs + burpees. And a kick ass workout! We had several finishers today with the quickest coming in around 22 minutes. In the future we will t pay more attention to how long it takes them to finish this workout because we will revisit it again and you can see where you stand! Kind of similar to PR day in that way. We love these types of challenges.
  • Because The StairMaster was such toughie we brought up the vibe by having an epic rock-Paper-Scissor battle. The winner had the esteemed privilege to roll a die for the whole squad to see how many minutes of “plank party” we GOT to do. (you see what I did there…we didn’t have to do it. We got to do that. Because our bodies were able to get up and out the door to this awesome workout!! ) CONGRATULATIONS to the winners we hope you didn’t leave beaten down. We all got stronger cores as a result of your roll!!!
  • Liam Malone who is our most faithful youth attendee FINALLY won the positivity award at the 5:30 workout this morning! He is the type of human that just brightens your day when they #justshowup . Liam has been a rock solid member of our crew for a few years – notably more frequent in the summer or when school is not in session. This year we have been thrilled and SUPER SUPER impressed that Liam (& his family!!) has made the 5:30 workout part of their schedule before a long day of middle school and countless other commitments! I know that when I was in 6th grade anything before 9AM was wayyy too early for socialization. November Project is better with him around and we are so so happy that he is here! Can’t wait to hear what his classmates have to say about the positivity award!
  • DATES DATE DATES for the calendar:
    • Last week we published a blog with all of them but here:
    • October 17 – DRINKS AT The Ready Room at 7PM – this is a traditional NP libations club outing with the addition of poster and signage making for the Baltimore marathon!! Bring all your cool things and come on out for some none sweaty fun!
    • October 20—THE BALTIMORE MARATHON – one of the best days of the year. Cheer station on 33rd street if you are not running, you will want to be there. There will be two musical acts and all the fun. After party is at Checkerspot Brewing in South Baltimore. All of this information is in a facebook event page you can find on the Nomveber Project Baltimore site!
    • NOVEMBER 4 – super fun new event involving making a team, picking up trash and then making art out of it with fun collaboration with other rad groups. Sign up here!! and on facebook there is a little more info! 

    That is all! Have an awesome Wednesday and do us a favor and tell 2 people how your day changed after coming to November Project!  read more

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OCTOBER H-Y-P-E !!!

Hey. Is this thing on? It’s been a while since I got behind the wheel of one of these blog posts. We have some **really rad** things in the pipeline and I wanted all the information in one place to make it user friendly. This also makes it friendly for you to share with colleagues/neighbors/friends/ family…I think you catch my drift! So, please, do exactly that! FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY we report back to the bottom of the Baltimore Street Hill. Baltimore and Linwood! Do not go to the Patterson park Central Pavilion. I repeat, do not go to the Central Pavilion! Not only will it be extremely dark but also you will be extremely lonely! read more

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A shared perspective

Thanks for an awesome Wednesday people of the NP BAL world! Way to work hard and  support each other through the WAVES firedrills. We are super happy you’re all here and working out with us as much as you can!

Today we share a perspective from a longtime November Project attendee, Gail Betz, who is a force of positivity consistently showing up, working hard, welcoming newbies and generally being a rockstar supporter of our movement! I’m quite sure most of you will recognize her face from the workouts but perhaps you haven’t had the chance to dive deeper and learn her story. We are really happy that Gail Betz is here (X4 years!!) and wanting to share her experience at November Project. Please take a moment to read her story and THANK YOU, Gail, for sharing!

Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, outdoor
Gail Betz, everyone!!

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I’m visually impaired. Long story made blog-length, my central vision is degenerating- so things like faces, signs, obstacles on the ground, are difficult for me to see clearly. If you’re curious, I have Stargardt’s disease

, and it hasn’t changed on me for a while now. So if I have ever neglected to say hello, I’m sorry! While I can’t make any excuses for forgetting names, forgetting faces isn’t my fault, I swear! read more

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A few of the reasons why I keep showing up

Tuesday evening track crew!

I still remember how awkward coming to NP felt the first few times I joined. Sometimes maybe even more than the first time of just showing up, even though I had no idea it meant anything at the time. After that first awesome workout, I quickly knew there was a lot here that I would enjoy. The difference of the workout from anything I could come up with by myself was one thing. I also loved how much it challenged me racing up those stairs with Nick and wondering if I was wearing him out, I know now that I wasn’t. The vibe of the group was also a major selling point for me since it was so relaxed despite the intense workout. read more

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Shaving cream for breakfast…PI DAY (3.14)

WE KNOW, WE KNOW. WE SHOULD HAVE USED WHIPPED CREAM THIS MORNING!

**warning! long post…scroll down for the Wisconsin notes..!

Wow, the small things that might make a if difference in a workout really escaped us yesterday when we were using our co-leader artistic license to create a PIE experience after our PI DAY workout submitted by the epic collab of Bill Logan and Lizzie Harkins. Last year we couldn’t do the full work out because it was 10 degrees and the stairs and lap were completely iced over. So this year we felt it was necessary to bring back PI DAY on 3/14 because it is Bill’s birthday and Bill loves numbers it all seemed way to perfect of an opportunity to pass up.

THIS IS BILL!!!

 

SO we crushed the workout and the bear crawls and then we gave you the opportunity to shove shaving cream in our faces…”WAIT, WHAT??” you ask, genuinely confused why we would chose to do such silly things before the sun rises. Well you see and most of you probably already know that this is exactly the flair of November project that must never get lost. We concluded the workout with a relay where the baton passed between teammates was a PIE (AKA a plate with shaving cream on it) and the team had to safely get the PIE to a cone and back while only holding on with one hand. This led to hilarity and also some lost shaving cream. The final person in the first three teams was granted the opportunity to put the PIE in the face of one of the co-leaders. While that was the instruction…I’m 99% sure every team got the opportunity to PIE one of us judging by the amount of shaving cream the landed on our faces. It’s telling to note that the first not one, not two but THREE, the first THREE pies went into the face of Nicholas Rodricks. I guess that’s what you get when you’ve been in charge for four + years. Congrats! We appreciate you, Nick, I promise!

 

This shaving cream choice led to WAY TOO MANY questions about why we chose shaving cream. Truth be told, we aren’t 100% sure. It was the first plan we thought of to get weird and was unanimously approved plus something about the Orioles using shaving cream in their pies…also who would want to waste pie or whipped cream for that matter, seems unnatural. But I did have an “ah hah” moment as soon as the first PIE was smashed in my face…”wait a minute, WHY did we not think of using something edible?” and that was the theme of the morning.

Quite possibly the most silly part the questionable decision making of this is that WAY WAY back in another life of mine I worked at a summer camp, shout out to YMCA Camp Woodstock in good ol’ CT. When I worked there we had a tradition of waking up other staff members up by putting cake in their face. Pretty sure none of this would fly at this point in 2018 but it was pretty much the most fun way to spend the hours of 2AM-3AM when the majority of our time was making sure the rug rats at camp were getting to the right activities on time or sneaking out of their bunks. This goofy, easy and simple old fashioned fun is exactly what I love about the people who seem to be attracted to November Project. The “yes” folks who are willing to step out of their comfort zones!

*Seems important to note, I am definitely not endorsing this activity now in “adult” life, which is why we volunteered ourselves for the PIE-ing.* However, it does make me wonder why I couldn’t take two more steps in my line of thinking to realize maybe just maybe we wouldn’t want a mouth and nose full of shaving cream…alas, we had a hilariously absurd morning and I just want to THANK all of the humans who came out and had fun with us this morning. If I know one thing for sure, I know that if you’re willing to get up a little earlier, come out and connect with other people at our workouts, engage in the little things that make us smile the tough parts of life will get a little easier, and you will probably be a happier human. SO GO NOW SPREAD THE NP VIBES and tell a few people about this crazy group of yahoos you run around with in the early hours of the AM.

Wisconsin notes:

  • It’s Bill’s birthday. Bill likes numbers. Bill submitted PI day workout for 3.14 (with collaborator in Lizzie Harkins) we crushed their workout
  • PIE relay to follow…would have been better with whip cream but still several folks got to PIE one of the co-leaders when their team finished.
  • Everyone left with a goofy smile on their face to go and enjoy Pi day because you witness debauchery before 8AM. HOORAY!
  • The beauty of NP lives on.
  • GO GO GO HAVE AN AWESOME DAY and bring goofiness to all the areas of your life. It will make all the hard things seem easier. I promise.
  • SEE YA FRIDAY…PATTERSON PARK! 6:30. BE THERE.

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    PR DAY CHARM (2.28.18)

    The funny thing about PR day is that it is a 30 minute work out that really doesn’t hold any weight outside of the world of November Project Baltimore…and yet people have such strong reactions to it. There is always a couple of “oh shit, I didn’t know it was PR Day” palm to face reactions at the sight of the rubber bands.  We know there are folks who just flat out look at their calendar and don’t show up to NP on PR days. We get it, PR Day is one tough workout BUT let’s bring it back to the foundation of November Project for a second. The goal was to get stronger/faster/fitter together in your city by pushing each other and encouraging all those around you to make the city a smaller more connected place. SO PR day is 100% made up but it is not just any 30 minutes. It is 30 minutes of 100% HARD effort. It still gives me nightmares sometimes and I’ve been stuck on the same whole number PR for about a year…! (March, I’m coming for you…8.1, there I said it!) It’s no secret that getting to the .1 is the hardest when you’re trying to reach a new PR. It is 5 burpees and ~200 meters of gut wrenching sprinting to get there but DAMN when you get to that point and break your PR it feels GOOD. It’s the one day per month we lace ’em up tight and throw it all out there and you are stronger for joining and pushing yourself.

     

    For whatever reason that comes with February, this morning PRs seemed to be dropping like hot cakes! Perhaps it was the weather that let us run faster, or maybe it was the extra work you’ve been putting in on the side, maybe it was whatever your roommate made you for dinner last night that got you all fired up to race. Was it the high-five at exactly the moment that gave you the turbo speed you needed it. The truth is it was probably a collection of reasons why you got up, showed up and pushed as hard as you could to beat your previous record. And we are damn glad got here to do exactly that. There were some beautiful things happening out there this morning!! We wanted to highlight a few of the beauts just incase you were too busy sucking wind (like I would have been) to notice.

     

    At 5:30 we had Gail Betz celebrating her birthday by DOUBLE VERBALLING (on PRDAY, WHO DOES THAT?!) and crushing her PR by .8!!! Gail set this goal and asked Nick to pace her to a PR at 7.1 but little did she know she would have the speed, grit and determination to demolish her PR by much more than that. Congrats to you, Gail and HBD! It’s takes guts to put it all out there. Kudos to you!

    The other beautiful thing I wanted to highlight was at 6:30. Coach Shaun (Alder) brought some students from Digital Harbor High School to see what the fuss is about at November Project. We welcomed them right in, let them yell FUCK YEAH and show no signs of remorse then we showed them what this PR day thing is all about. Impressed by their ability to get themselves up and at a workout before school and countless other commitments we wanted to give them a gift that will surely keep on giving. And so, a sweet potato it was. Thanks Shaun, for bringing and inspiring the young athletes – we look forward to seeing more of them in the future!

     

    Wen won the positivity award!!! If you don’t know Wen, now is a good time to get over to him and hear what he’s all about. Wen showed up after a few weeks of questioning all aspects of NP through facebook messages. We are 99% sure he hasn’t missed a workout since. He is the one who is silently crushing the workout, showing up to any and all NP events including the gin riot which was the furthest he has ever run AND asked for a bib for the Virginia Beach Half Marathon. He is going to red NP like a champ at that race and we are so happy he finally found us! FOLKS, find Wen, he is usually sporting a very sweet tracksuit that we have all had our eye since he started wearing it!

     

    WISCONSIN NOTES:

  • PR day rocked our socks. PRs and birthdays were had.
  • Student Athletes from DHHS came and crushed their first NP work out and PR day with Coach Shaun. We rewarded them with a sweet potato we found in my backpack.
  • Wen won the positivity award in style! Find him, hug him and get to know this rockstar!
  • MARCH WE ARE DOING A MARCH MADNESS WORKOUT SUBMISSION CONTEST! We want your ideas, and help to lead some workouts, all of them! No it doesn’t have to be basketball themed, but it can be! We are taking ideas of Wednesdays and Fridays à reach out with question otherwise hit up the google form: https://goo.gl/forms/vMmo3TsdkwxEjJ4c2

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    Post #theginriot thoughts

    Three days later and I’m still trying to put pen to electronic paper about how fun #theginriot was. Indulge me while I tell you the story of the gin riot or how it was played out it from my POV. Probably 1.5 years ago, months before I was asked to become a co-leader some NP friends and I saw on the socials that Boston NP had done WOAHMAN which combined their PR day at Harvard Stadium with a run to their hill and some other details which I don’t remember. What I do remember is thinking OH that is really badass and I think we could pull that off AND people would get behind this in Baltimore. We kept the conversation going but inevitably it got lost in the comings and goings and constant activity of our lives. It also takes time to think about, logisticize (technical term) and make happen. We couldn’t have done this without some epic volunteers to keep everyone safe and of course the racers who participated.

     

    Fast forward to September this year, Nick, Kaye and I were standing on Mount Royal Avenue we had just planned our destination Friday workout and we threw out the idea of having a whole month dedicated to people earning PRs at PR day…I think we called it #OCTOPR after some other debatable names got thrown in the mix. It was at this moment that I remember dropping the idea for the gin riot. Nick and Kaye agreed we should sit down and plan it out. October was a rad month in NP land because we had so many people training for The Baltimore Marathon and other fall races, OCTOPR made many a human despise us but when PR day came almost half the crowd PRed! This was quickly followed up with the Patapsco Valley 50K where #NP_BAL showed up with a squad of 20+ racers. It was at this point that we realized our tribe had been pushing the distance for a while and the urgency of creating this race was sealed!

    One of the founding principles of November Project circa 2011 is to “race everything” which meant tie those laces up tight and get ready to toe the line against friends and strangers alike. We knew Baltimore was ready to roll with this idea and as we started spreading the news to people the excitement was palpable, or maybe that was just MY excitement. In all honesty, I think I was probably the most jazzed person for this day! What can be better than watching people who have been throwing down faster miles and further distances push themselves in one tough race against friends and frenemies alike?

     

    One of the tricky parts about hosting a free event is that you have no idea how many people are going to show up. In planning, we were thinking 50 racers would be a good number. I told Johnny Rads that 50-70 people was a fair guess for the after party. Well on Sunday January 28th (!!!!!) EIGHTY-FIVE PEOPLE (!!!!) came and signed their name on the dotted line to take part in the first ever race (second in history, thank you Kaye for reminding us): The Gin Riot. Some weeks we barely get 85 people to show up on a Wednesday and then we plan this epic endurathon and 85 racers come out of the woodwork to race. This is the really fun part of NP. Watching people push themselves in ways that they maybe haven’t done before.

    SO who showed up? Threw down? Took home the gin? Thanks to Chris M. we have this handy list we *think* we got it right but if we are missing something or got it wrong, let us know #honorsystem. We had a few new faces in the mix to throw off our regulars. There was a squad of five speedy guys who were leading the pack from Rash Field over to Patterson park until a few made a break away mid-hills. Some special mentions have to go out to a few notable participants: to the father daughter racing pair in Mike & Lizzy Peper who escaped before we could properly document the occasion with a photograph! To Hallie and Liz Harasty (and possibly some others I am missing!) who started the race almost 10 miles into their casual weekend long run and still crushed it! To people like Grant, Louis, Wen and Adam (and I know there are so many more!) who got to a new distance PR while racing hills and stairs. We had many an NPers who has not yet graced the Friday hills with their presence…this led to a few course questions but those Friday hero’s (and the epic course markers like Tammy/Mary/Chris/Ros and friend!) showed the way to the hill. And now you know just how close the Friday workouts are, so see you this week?!?!? We had a few people cursing the course as they rounded out their second hill but the incredible camaraderie and supportive atmosphere kept people moving to get to the finish. It is my personal favorite to watch the people who are on the newer side to NP, come to all the workouts and embrace it with all the cool-aid drinking, not not a cult loving, community building they can muster!! It makes us the most happy to see everyone embracing this free fitness community with hips in hugs and so much HYPE. This shit is good and don’t let anyone tell you any differently! 

    One of my favorite lines of the night came from one of those newer NP faces, Mads, who we awarded the most smiley racer ever to which she replied “someone told me one time that it takes less energy to smile than to frown. So I just keep smiling.” Well Mads is just about the smiliest most positive spirit I’ve encountered and her smile is contagious.

     

    Thanks to the kind folks at Caledonia Spirits and Barr Hill Gin we had a pretty legit prize of a bottle of gin to give away to the top male and top female racer. The gin brought home by none other than Elizabeth “COACH” Harkies and Adam Driscoll, newbie ringer brought it just to push our regulars.

     

    We know it was a challenge; it was designed to be hard AF. We hope you had fun throwing down. We sure did and it will be back..! Keep showing up and giving each workout, day and race your all. You’re stronger for it and we are stronger with all of you with us!

     

    See you at Patterson Park on Friday. 6:30 AM

    HAPPY WEDNESDAY! And like Mads says, don’t waste energy, just keep smiling!

    Bryson

     

     

    TL; DR/WISCONSIN NOTES:

    **The gin riot was a seriously awesome night and celebration of the hard work the tribe puts in week in and week out. Thank you for coming and getting excited about these things like we do.

    **Support the rad people and drink Barr Hill Gin who also got excited about our silliness and design cocktails like “FUCK YEAH”  and of course Johnny Rads for closing their place for us to stink up on Sunday night!

    **Casey Lyons was overdue x a million for the positivity award and finally got that shit this morning! Showing up and recruiting faces all while crushing 50ks and the gin riot like it ain’t no thang!! If you aren’t lucky enough to know her yet, get to know her!