Free Fitness Movement. All you need to do is show up!
And right after you are done explaining why the movement is called November Project, you are then asked “and you do this all through the winter….?”
Make this the winter of you. Make your January 1st resolution November 4th this year. Make this the year you don’t wake up in April and say “shit”. Make and keep November Project MSN part of your life as we head into the cold dark abyss they call winter.
During my flight to visit Madison, WI for the first time, I was reading my most recent (Oct 2013) Runner’s World issue. On the cover were several people wearing shirts with spray painted words “November Project”. They represented an exercise “flash mob” started in Boston two years earlier. Reading with interest what the editor (Dave Willey) had to say about them, I discovered that Madison had a “tribe”. I did what they suggested ~ “just showed up”. There was a vibe. Positive. Palpable. Contagious. And we worked hard! I was hooked. (Funny since my purpose in Madison would be studying addiction).
What better way to attack your day than to wake up along with the sun and then sweat with friendly people for free?
November Project is a truly a unique blend of community, physical challenge, and personal competition. There is something inspiring and invigorating about walking up Madison’s Bascom Hill, or approaching the Wisconsin State Capitol, to see dozens of people rocking NP gear (usually in bright, vibrant colors) while talking, smiling, and laughing at the crack of dawn! Everyone is gathered together to exercise and connect to people they’ve come to know.
In a rare dash of NP democracy the Tribe voted the Capital Deck as their workout of choice this Friday morning. Hilarity lies in the fact that this luck of the draw workout stands second to none in terms of vocal griping and slapstick armswings of frustration. The deck is rigged. The deck hates me. “Say hi to ya motha fa me” says the deck. Is this deck fucking kidding with me? Where are all the good cards?
We “got a little bounce” at the end of the workout……….is that weird Boston?
This Friday morning MSN saw former leader DG for perhaps the last Friday for a while. MKE is barrelling down the 100 human threshold and will perhaps be adding a second workout soon. Go get your Friday Milwaukee bretheren.
Chicago boys welcomed by MSN and MSP hugs
It is difficult to explain this past Sunday to a person who lives next to an ocean……….
Mad jealous of seeing all this beautiful East Coast crossover brotherhood, some Midwest Tribes got together in Madison Wisconsin for 6 miles of smiles around beautiful Lake Wingra. On this weekend we welcomed our youngest Tribe to NP17-Chicago. MSN, MKE and Chicago tribes were united on Saturday evening and wasted no time talking about how great tomorrow’s run would be, and wasted less time jawing shit about how the MSP leaders were about to bitch out and miss such a great NP unifying event.
Today was May PR day for the Bascom Classic, MSN’s original hill workout fathered by DG. mmmmhh respect.
Bascom Classic finish line – touch that toe !
Seconds before the dust began kicking up, a graceful solo runner heard the screams of an inviting Teddy T. Johan, a ringer indeed, crushed his first Bascom Classic with a podium finish. He was fifty feet tall if he was five. 11 stone. Minutes later he was gone, he was tall, he was kind, he had those legitimate ass socks, he seems to have a job, he will be there Friday?
In honor of our first southern Tribe, Madison battled through the reoccurring fitness march that is The General Sherman (google idiots). A four-station power circuit as you descend away from President Lincoln down the hill, only to about face and shoot from the bottom – clear north to the crest as many times as possible in 30 minutes. Does that look like a dude that would lend his name to a soft morning?
What do a cowbell, vuvuzela and whistle have in common?
By 7:15am the tribe hated all three. The hill dashing tribe was interrupted often and super randomly by the sounds of the MSN band. PB rocked the vuvuzela, signaling rowboat abs. Jeff Morris jammed on the cowbell for Hoisties. And when Teddy T hit the whistle the crowd went wild with pushups. The recurring groans and cursing of 60-some audience completed this morning’s MSN quartet.
It was Saturday morning and my alarm awoke me at 5:05 a.m. and that there begun a 6 day adventure that would entail much more than beers, confusing metro systems and 15 hour driving dance parties. That 6-day excursion brought us 100 new friends, 3 different tribes and a fresh born belief of just what November Project love can entail. Love that pertains way before the vocal straining scream of “GOOD MORNING!”