We thought we had this thing figured out didn’t we- did anyone else have a momemtary panic they were going to miss the workout this morning, when you signed in and realized you had no idea WHAT the password is? Have I ever had to put in a password? Did I miss a post? How early is it? FOMO is at an all time high. The possibility of missing it is a real challenge. The workout has been posted, I can do it on my own, but I woke up to do this WITH everyone else, on zoom and at 6:29. Well, at 6:26-6:32am, multiple messages being tossed about the virtual world, “What’s the password?” “it’s not working” “it won’t let me in” well, you were not the only ones my friend. We were just as surprised as you, and in fact, we made the NP link so long ago, that I’m not even sure how we would have found the password for that original link. Well, it was great while it lasted. Security is up, which is great, and another change tossed our way. But how quick did things adjust this morning? In about 6 minutes. We were moving that spoon about bouncing while people logged in around 6:33 to the new zoom code SO quick, and jumped in to Row, Row, Row your boat, and quickly into the movement of the day.
The Best (Ottawa)
Do you remember when we did the Sunrise 6K two weeks ago? There was something about sharing how we felt, and connecting together virtually that was pretty special. Today was the exact same distance, early morning 6k, same, same, but yet, we shared the sunrise with the entire world.
Some of our most memorable physical accomplishments may not have been personal records or the most successful attempts. Through these tense times, our goal is to celebrate the privilege of being able to move and create a connection with our fellow humans. In reflecting together, the connection continues with your story from this morning that you can share with the world.
Another shared sunrise (Ottawa)
Today we got to share the morning and the sunrise with Newport Beach, who joined in on the zoom workout. Shout out to Chicago for the pot workout, it was SOLID.
Although this is a challenging time, without our regular activities, visits and human interaction, as well as the stress of health and finances, we are grateful to have this community. It has created a coming together, even of cities we have never worked out with before! When else would we have been able to workout with people from Newport Beach and Ottawa at the SAME TIME? It just makes us appreciate this shared experience, and making the most of these times. Not just surviving, but making new connections, new relationships, creating new memories, and putting smiles on people’s faces early on a Wednesday morning. The bonus of coffee time together post workout is not getting old. We are all in our living rooms/kitchens/dens/decks?/basements having a cuppa Joe, while learning about other people.
A Guest Blog – Meet Alex (Ottawa)
Alex reached out to us about a women in sport event she was helping out with and to see if we may be keen to get involved. We often will be excited to chat about new ideas that come forth, and will suggest they show up to NP, come workout with us, and go for coffee to chat more about it. So that’s exactly what she did. And then I’m pretty sure she has showed up basically every Wednesday she is town since. We’ve been able to see Alex’ role in the community evolve through time. We’ve seen her take on the lead of welcoming newbies, of being a consistent encourager of others, of inviting others to coffee, just to make sure they know it’s available post workout. She makes this community we share stronger, and through these isolated and challenging times, we still get to see her smiling face on Zoom, still lighting up the morning for others. Thanks for showing up Alex and for continuing to make us better.
A little exploration (Ottawa)
How many parts of this city have you yet to explore? What little nooks and crannies, parks and park benches have we yet to burpee step up on? With each year that goes by, we get to collect memories from mornings together, in different parts of our beautiful city.
Last week was one of those memories- never forgetting that sunrise and a few reactions in awe of the views. It makes us so proud to be using those spaces, to see Parliament Hill from various angles, to explore the Quebec side of our region. This week, we went over to gather memories at a brand new spot.
PR day (kinda) (Ottawa)
Today we adventured on a new route to get to our PR location. With some gates, barriers, and ice patches, it didn’t stop us from moving today. Some variation of hills, walking, running, jogging, and movement for 25:01 took place.
We appreciated the messages and heads up about the closures- we feel so supported when people in the NP community are looking out for things happening in the city, and are so familiar with the regular routine, that you can keep us posted on possible barriers to accessing those. So thank you.
A Holiday Monday Workout (Ottawa)
Today is Monday, it’s Family Day. We started off the holiday Monday bright and early, 6:29am, in the darkness, a nice brisk morning, buffs required for extra wind protection. Though some people were heading off to work, those individuals were sent off with the exercise/social/positivity endorphins to take with them for the rest of the day. Others climbed out of bed extra early to maximize this Monday off, though it would have been easy this morning to roll over and snooze, feeling like it’s the only time to sleep in. Yet, out in the winds you went and just showed up to take on the deck.
The moments before the bounce (Ottawa)
Every morning when we show up at a different location, I always find the couple of moments before we gather and bounce very surreal. I take a couple of deep breaths, think about what we are about to do, and the feeling of anticipation never seems to fade. There is something so special about the silhouettes coming from multiple directions, the darkness of the morning is so real (as in, it’s really really dark at that hour in the winter), but you can still see people hugging, connecting, introducing themselves, and new people being welcomed. That is what you all do to create community. It’s the simple routines, norms and culture that has developed and evolved over time that you see come into action every Wednesday morning.
A morning in January (Ottawa)
Another morning in January, but different than yesterday, and different than last Wednesday. Today we ventured to the Rideau River Adàwe Crossing for 30 minutes of movement. New Wednesday, new bridge, new workout, new people! We bounced, we worked on our ability to not dominate the entire bridge for the commuters and we moved.
London Bridges Falling down (Ottawa)
This title has nothing to do with the workout and everything to do with the “bounce” we did to start the morning off. We sang and played a game you may or may not have played since Junior kindergarten. Just a reminder not to take ourselves so seriously. Some how those mornings bring that kind of spirit out in us, even if weird, you know nobody is judging you for singing and laughing and enjoying the childish entertainment. We played on a bridge, ran around, worked with a team and moved our incredible bodies.