Author: Derek

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Derek’s last blog post

My latest favourite workout- burpees to tubthumping

Winnipeg Notes (Quick history lesson; we write ‘Winnipeg Notes’ as a version of Cliff’s notes/Coles Notes or whatever you want to call them. In the past, NP cities woud write Wisconsin Notes at the top of their blogs to give a brief summary, as the leaders in Wisconsin argued that not everyone reads the entire blog, or something like that. We realized that at this point, writing ‘Wisconsin Notes’ doesn’t make sense for people from Winnipeg that don’t know that back story from six years ago, so sometimes we write Winnipeg, sometimes we write Wisconsin, just to keep it clear as mud). read more

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Belated Birthday Blog

Photo by Janelle

Winnipeg notes

  • FIVE years of NP
  • Global Run Day
  • Yearbook photos next Wednesday- theme is denim
  • June 21- Trash Stigma with Junel at Garbage Hill
  • July 17- Workout at Investors Group Field

Yesterday, we celebrated five years of NP Winnipeg. Five years of showing up for each other every Wednesday morning at six in the morning. Five years of building community and connections. Five years of changing the chemistry of the city we live in. Five years of birthday workouts.

We filled those stairs in front of the CMHR and it may not have been our biggest turnout for a birthday, but it was definitely one of the hardest workouts. There were a heck of a lot of sweaty and smiling faces by the end of it. We had a whole bunch of new faces out there this morning, largely thanks to lululemon bringing the hype with the speakers and a big group of lemons. read more

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Name Game (YWG)

good doggo

Wisconsin notes:
– We did the full tubthumping burpee workout
– We got to know everyones names
– Megan and I will be in Edmonton this weekend; guest leaders for the Friday morning workout
– Next Wednesday- prize for whoever recruits the most people, and tagging shirts for PR day
– Next Thursday- Peg City Scramble, details here
– June 5th- Birthday workout, Facebook event here, and global run day event in the evening, event details here
– Amie Seier’s new gym is open, go check it out here read more

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Fast Times at NP High- Guest blog by Toby (YWG)

Today, we have a guest blog from Toby Bergmann. All 49 November Project cities are dropping guest blogs today, and we chose Toby for a few reasons. He is one of the few high school students that come to the workouts, and he shows up every single week. Also, he is fiercely competitive. Not many high school students will wake up at 5am to go do a workout before going to school, so we commend his commitment. read more

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positively punctual (YWG)

Frosty crew of NPers enjoyed a beautiful sunrise this morning

Wisconsin notes:

  • PR Day
  • Buffs-$5, we still have many
  • Jody- Positively Punctual
  • Today- still cold, more -31 badges were handed out
  • D takes a break

Today was a frosty PR day (again). As Dom said at the beginning of the workout, you are all amazing and tough for showing up all winter long. It might still be a bit chilly out, but we are at the time of the year that the sun starts to rise half way through the workout, and it is a glorious feeling.

It was a tough day to PR, the ramps were slick and the temps were frigid, but those that did manage to hit a PR were treated to a November Project key chain tag (thanks to Yoga Steve from Buffalo). We’ve got more, so push yourself just a wee bit harder next time and you can earn yourself one. It was also -32 with the windchill this morning, so a few people got badges, including the newcomer, Ricky. We only have a dozen or so badges left, which means 200 different people have come to workouts that were -31 or colder over the last three winters. That’s pretty impressive.

We’ve still got quite a few buffs to sell. We ordered a good amount, as we normally sell out. Some cities pre sell theirs, and others will only allow one buff per person, but we have confidence in the group that the buffs will sell and we wanted to give people the option to buy several if they wanted more than one, so we just ordered a bunch and hoped that they’d sell. Tell your friends buffs are available, snap some pictures of yourself in the buff, sorry, in your buff, and tag #NPbuff. Where else can you get a really nice buff for five dollars? read more

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Record setting PR day (YWG)

Wisconsin Notes

  • -40C, -52 with windchill= new November Project Record for coldest workout ever
  • Jody is one cool cat- earning the Positivity Award
  • Pop Up workout this Friday morning at The Forks at 6:14 am
  • The Great Skate this Sunday at The Forks at 8am

Frosty D here, coming at ya with a blog and some pics from the coldest workout on record for all November Project cities, ever. I showed up early this morning to a very empty Forks area, and I had one of those moments where I thought to myself ‘Is this finally the day no one shows up? Is it too cold?’ That lasted for about a minute, and then people started rolling in. We are Winnipeg, so when we see windchill of -52, we just throw an extra layer on. Some things we saw today; ski goggles, Carhartt coveralls, layers on layers, frosty beards and frozen lashes, and Jon Hunt’s bare face. We had close to 40 people show up this morning, which is really cool but also madness.

Jody has been showing up for a couple years now, and she is at everything November Project. She recruits, and when her recruits have car trouble (frozen cars) and can’t make it to the workout, she goes out of her way to pick them up and make sure they get there. She wears grassroots, she encourages, she inspires, and she is fire on a frigid and frozen morning like today. Jody, we are glad you’re part of this family. read more

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That NP Feeling (YWG)

  • Today’s blog is brought to you by Darren Spurrill. He started writing a personal blog a few months ago, and I’ve enjoyed reading them so I reached out to him and asked if he’d be willing to do one for NP YWG. As expected, he nailed it. I’ll attach his blog in one hot sec, let me just hit you with some important info first (in point form to make it fast and easy)
  • The month of January is the showing up challenge; every time you show up, it counts as one entry. Every new person you recruit counts as an entry. The North Face gear as prizes, drawn at The Great Skate. We might do one draw prize outside of The Great Skate for those that can’t make it, but don’t count on it.
  • Tomorrow’s workout will be a new one, and it might be one of the hardest ones yet. I’m excited for it. It might even be a -31 badge day if we are lucky enough for the windchill to drop it that low.

Here is Darren’s guest blog; enjoy!

How do you feel after an NP workout? If you’re like me, you’re sweaty, exhausted, and a bit sore (or maybe that’s just my old muscles…). You’d also have just finished interacting with a bunch of great people, and you’re experiencing “the NP feeling”: having more confidence in yourself, optimism about the coming day, and a greater openness to others. It’s a great addition to the physical benefits of aerobic exercise. read more

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verbal

Yesterday, I was reminded of the power of the ‘verbal’. If you’re unsure what it means to ‘drop a verbal’, it is basically a promise to be there, there being a workout or a social gathering. November Project has been around for a while, and in early days dropping verbals was much bigger than it is now. I’d like to bring it back. I’m guilty of moving away from verbals myself. 

On Sunday night, I gave Janet my verbal to show up to Run Crew 204 (they meet every Monday morning at the corner of Tache and Provencher and run a 5km loop) as it was her 365th consecutive day of doing some form of physical activity. Pretty impressive for someone recovering from a significant post-concussion syndrome. It’s been a while since I’ve had to drop a verbal; as one of the co-leaders I have 50-100 people relying on me to be there on Wednesday mornings at 6:14am, so dropping my verbal for those workouts is a bit redundant. read more

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frosty np’ers (YWG)

Here’s a picture of Kaithleen making coffee for us after the workout. No particular reason, I just liked the sweater she was wearing, and coffee is good.

Good morning! Today was nice, because it finally felt like winter. I don’t know about you, but until there is snow on the ground, those cold days can really drag. Even though it was a bit colder today, the little bit of frosting from the snow made it that much better. 

We had some travellers in from NP Edmonton (Shane) and Regina (Aaron). They were complaining that our hour long workout was too long, as they only do 30 minutes back home (they weren’t really). It was great to have them, and I think everyone was very welcoming of them, so thank you.  

Also, as it gets colder, we have an opportunity to help those in need. Last year’s winter clothing drive was a great success, and we are going to do it again this year. Over the next two weeks (Wednesday or Friday), bring in winter gear for Koats for Kids and we will drop it off to the United Way. This includes jackets, pants, boots, gloves/mitts, and toques. 

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mean mugs of winnipeg

It’s been a while since I’ve done a blog post, I can’t even remember how this works. WordPress has also changed the format for writing posts, so when I last tried to write one I got fed up with trying to figure it out and deleted it. But I’ll give it a better go today. Oh yeah, Wisconsin notes; I’m back, workouts are staying hard, peg city scramble Nov 1st, Minnie vs Winnie on Friday, Hecla and WFPS Half this weekend, and some other stuff.  read more