Author: Rob

“Runway. That’s what he called you.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Well runways are flat and he’s trying to say that you’re uh…”

That happened in middle school. Those words cut into me. Just like the middle part of my bra would cut and continually chafe my skin whenever I ran, because I was insecure about how a sports bra would make me look. I’d keep running, adjusting every now and then, but there was no way to avoid the stinging. And like those words, the chafing would only burn more when left to treat it in my own privacy. read more

The alarm rang at 4 am.

It’s just a number, I tell myself, as I rise gingerly out of bed and climb into the running gear I laid out the night before.

So many ask why I would wake up so early, and it’s hard to describe why, especially when they utter the words, “well, I could never do that.”

I think we all remember our first November Project workout: the sound of that first alarm, the crazy reason that was good enough to drive us to depart our warm cocoon and enter the unknown, and the first time we watched the shadows of people emerge from the darkness in every direction. read more

On segments of a few of my runs lately it has felt as if I have fallen into rhythms where I can feel my speed, but not my effort. I feel relaxed, comfortable, happy, I feel home. I feel like I could run forever and not get tired, every muscle firing at the perfect time, the lazy swing of my arms carrying me through every stride, each footfall exactly where it needs to be, landing on the perfect spot on my foot and effortlessly transitioning through each stride. Each time I fall into this rhythm it gets me thinking about something from The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown, if you have not read it, I highly recommend it, it is a fantastic telling of the 1936 US Olympic Men’s 8 Heavyweight rowing team and their journey. read more

Guest Blog from Justin Lam. Justin, thank you for sharing, we are glad you are here:

Building community through #freefitness

Last week, I was honored with the Positivity Award. I always figured if I were to win it, it would have been after finishing my first race (I still haven’t run one yet), or after completing some insane PR, or after actually having a streak of being on time to workouts (Mary, I’ll try to stop blaming the A train for being in the 6:40 crew). read more