Free Fitness Movement. All you need to do is show up!
2 years ago today I started my tenure as a Co-leader of November Project – NYC, and since then, it has been a WILD ride…that I would not trade for the world. Agreeing to step into November Project Leadership is one of the best decisions I have ever made (and I made the choice to get 2 bagels this morning – so there is competition). Ultimately I am super thankful for the people who have come into my life as a result of me being a leader.
It is with great pride that I say Happy Birthday November Project New York City! I want to take this moment to reflect on the past 5 years (a half decade, that is crazy!). I have been a part of this group for about 4.5 of those 5 years. It is interesting to see how this group has evolved, some of the personalities that have come through it, some of the experiences we have had. It has been quite the ride to be sure.
Hi All,
As I sit back and reflect on the crazy (yet amazingly fun) weekend, I just wanted to express how grateful we as leaders are, for all of you and how special you make it. Marathon weekend comes with a lot of anxiety for the leaders. There are a lot of events going on. We need to advertise a lot, we need to make sure that everything is awesome – especially because there are usually other leaders around, and it seems like nearly an endless stream of events from start to finish. People come out of the woodwork for the NYC Marathon, and it is both exciting and nerve wracking, energizing and exhausting; but through all the stress and planning, this is still our favorite weekend of the year thanks to all of you.
There is a nervous excitement that overcomes the city, as travelers from near, far, and VERY far have voyaged to the biggest city in the world, for the biggest marathon in the world. On Sunday over 50,000 runners will take to the streets of New York City. This city shuts down for very little. Even blizzards do not completely shut down the streets. But on Marathon Sunday, the streets are closed, navigating the city is next to impossible, and the only thing you can do is cheer on the runners. Some will complete the race in a matter of 2-3 hours, others it will take 8-12, but at the end, all who cross the finish line of the grueling 26.2 mile course will be champions. But today is Friday, most of those people haven’t even retrieved their race bibs yet, and the attitude of the athletes is still relatively light, as they prepare their bodies for Sunday.
As the most colorful month of the year comes to an end, I would be lying if I said I haven’t been a little emotional the past two weeks. You see, if you had told me a year ago that I would finally be comfortable wearing rainbow everything, I would have probably called you crazy. Getting here, to a point in which I am finally comfortable in my own skin, had a lot to do with you, because if you think about it every day is like Pride at November Project.
Ok, let’s take a quick survey: who is still riding the high from this morning? Everyone? Yea, that’s what I thought.
I present you with a challenge. Now I know what you are thinking, Rob, extra spice happens 3 days a week, could we like not? And my response is, this is a different kind of challenge, with a DOPE prize at the end. So check it out, I have developed a points system to keep track of the new recruits that all you beautiful people bring out to the workouts. It will work like this: Starting on Wednesday, and continuing until the Happy Hour in June, we will record the newbies you bring to come workout and socialize with us. The points work like this:
November Project NYC has a few traditions that are just EPIC every year, and one of them is coming up in just a few short weeks. The
Sometimes those faces are super happy to be outside working out with friends.
Recently, I came across the following poem I wrote in college:
Flaky People
If you really want to piss me off,
Like, really
Please be flaky.
I hate flakiness more than I hate passive aggressiveness.
And that’s a lot.
As hilarious as this is in retrospect, I remember the exact moment I wrote it. I was (obviously) upset because a friend had flaked out on me and I was really looking forward to seeing him. This wasn’t the first time this happened, and this friend was far from the first to flake out on plans. In looking back on my life, especially the years following high school, it seems like most of my social interactions involved me worrying that plans I was looking forward to wouldn’t end up happening. Take that and multiply it by twenty for dating and I slowly learned that in our Snapchat-obsessed, swipe-right-if-you-like world, when you make plans with people a few days in advance, generally they aren’t serious, and when you remind them, they have become inexplicably busy.