Free Fitness Movement. All you need to do is show up!
You thought you all were rid of me. That you’d never have to read another slightly too long blog post from me again. Wrong. NP is full of magic fairy dust glitter and I’m glue. We’re stuck together for good. So deal.
Enough arts and crafts, let’s talk history. Here’s a little story about my quest for limelight – I mean, Starlight.
Today marks the final time that I stood before this tribe as a co-leader of November Project San Diego.
Almost three years ago myself, Ashleigh, and Jessie Craik brought this little known thing to San Diego. At that point there were 4 cities, a couple hundred members, and no rules. We saw this group of brightly colored, spray painted T-shirts running around and smiling like idiots in Boston, Madison, SF, and Edmonton and thought – “San Diego could use one of those.” And so we brought it here.
May Gray is in full effect in San Diego (yes, that’s a real thing for all you non-Southern Californians) but that couldn’t stop the tribe from taking over La Jolla Cove one last time in our red, white, and blue.
We thanked our current and former servicemen and women with a super awkward group hug (I hung out on the outer edge to take a photo, it must be incredibly weird to be a newbie on the outside of the group – ALL NEWBIES, get in the middle of the group, it’s way less uncomfortable, surprisingly) and pledged our allegiance to the flag, we ran hills and stairs and did exercises and played odds and evens and odds (well done, despite the very confusing instructions), we self categorized as slow and adorable, totally average, and fast cats and raced our tails off, we gave a few hugs, and then we took a photo.
Sometimes our workouts bring us to nicer parts of town, parts of town where they believe that one should be able to sleep in until at least 7AM without the possibility of being awoken by other humans. In such places they place upon the books a law commonly known as a “Noise Ordinance.” I think the fine people of NP Boston have heard of such a thing.
After this morning I think we can all agree on a few things:
This morning you rolled out en masse to get in your routine Wednesday morning (or new routine, if today was your first day). A routine that involves hugging strangers, wearing party hats, sweating a lot, and getting perfectly good clothes spray painted – all before 7:30AM. It’s safe to say this isn’t what most consider a “normal” Wednesday morning. So why do you keep coming back? Sure, the workout is hard, but you really keep coming back for something else: the community. The feeling of being surrounded by “your people”, the feeling of positivity in the morning, of being supported and supporting others, and the feeling of celebration. Celebration of wins, of accomplishing something that is physically difficult, of celebrating your city, and of celebrating each other.
IF we had held a workout today at the only location in San Diego we’ve been banned from, and IF 100 or so people showed up dressed as ninjas to that workout, and IF we ran stairs, sweated, high fived, rock paper scissored, and raced Talladega laps in silence… IF we had done those things, I’d imagine the group photo would have looked something like this:
… only bad gear.
BOOM. Truth. This phrase was spoken to me this morning by a newbie. A first timer that showed up despite the wet stuff falling from the sky.
Because here’s the deal: when you attend a November Project workout (whether it’s your first or your 200th) you become part of something bigger than yourself, bigger than your group of friends, bigger than even your city. You become part of a 30 city, multi-thousand person tribe. When you show up to a November Project workout you show up to make the world a better place, to make your community closer and more friendly, and to make yourself healthier and happier. Just showing up is all that it takes. And you can just show up once, maybe only when you’ve gotten 8 solid hours of sleep, when the workout is convenient to your house, when you know it’s not a PR day (cause man you hate PR days), or when the weather is 70 and sunny and perfect. Sure, you can just do that. But then you’re kind of missing part of the magic. The magic that happens when people just show up for each other (and for themselves) when everything isn’t perfect. When they’re tired, sore, or cold. When their days or weeks aren’t going so great. There’s unbelievable magic that happens when people come together not only during the good times, but also during the tougher times.
Here at November Project SD, each of the three leaders has a distinct personality, something they are known for, and even a nickname.
Well, today #SmashFace was born.
Let me back up.
Let’s start with Angelo, otherwise known as Barnacle Boy. Angelo is known for his good looks, his amazing abs, his speed, and his fearlessness – which occasionally results in him falling (and by occasionally, we mean often). Sometimes these falls happen on feet, sometimes they happen on a bicycle. And sometimes those bicycle falls result in him landing in a pile of barnacle covered rocks, barnacles embedding themselves in his fingers, and the nickname being born.
Names are interesting. Your parents start thinking of what they want to call you before they’ve even seen you. Then you’re born and given this identity. You spend the rest of your life being John, or Timmy, or Blue, or North (what… seriously…why). And then one day you roll up to November Project and it all becomes clear – that name was given to you as a blueprint for this one workout.
Today I learned two things at November Project SD:
Other things that happened this morning:
Be happy, be strong, be bright, be polite to meteorologists!
READ HERE SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO ASK US QUESTIONS:
– Every Monday in March, where Hill Street meets Sunset Cliffs Blvd, 6:29AM.
– Every Wednesday in forever, by the Natural History Museum in Balboa Park, 6:29AM.