I remember growing up and hearing about parents having “the talk” with their kids. I’d see it on TV, usually instigated by a youth who’s curious about where they come from and how it happened. The birds and the bees, all that good stuff. “The talk” is a rite of passage, signalling that one has come of age and painting the picture around love, relationships, and adulthood. I couldn’t wait to have it; it would be so cool to have it happen just like on TV. Unfortunately, it did not.
#NPSummit7
Hey! So this is Adi. You know me. This is a long read but so worth it.
I know you all know Spevy … or Dave (??). He’s tall. He’s funny. He flies planes. All around cool cat. So this is his experience of Summit.
“Let’s be honest. I had zero idea what was going to be going on at NPSummit7. Prior to Sunday I didn’t even know what twitterbook or SnapGram was. They all sounded like crazy sugar Cereals that Steve Morrison would crush before pounding out a 3:10 marathon. All I knew is that 8 of my fellow NP Kelowna friends we were going to JUST SHOW UP and Viva the Las Vegas.
Hey there, Hi there!
Hey there, hi there we are Kurt and Mitch! Also known as Denim on the Diamond
We have been attending November Project for a year now and the support we receive not just from Steve, Kwame and our former leader Roz (which by the way last year looked like Mario in denim overalls and we loved it) but from every person who attends those workouts and encourages us in fitness but also supports whatever crazy vision we have that day!
That “Tights” Guy and even Tighter Community!
I am not someone who considers themselves a blog writer, but in particular, on this occasion, I feel very excited at the opportunity to write one! Especially for November Project (NP)! Roz approached me back in March about writing a blog for NP and I knew I wanted to but it had to be the right timing. That timing is now!
If in doubt, spray paint it!
Last summer I outperformed my own expectations and miraculously qualified for the Boston marathon and all of a sudden a race that I’d figured was more a dream was going to be my reality. Last month as I packed I was sure to lay out my November Project #grassrootsgear.
I remember the first time I saw these random spray painted shirts at a big race in Vancouver. I gotta be honest the whole messy spray paint, ‘ruining a perfectly good t-shirt’ thing didn’t jive well with my OCD tendencies. I also couldn’t understand why so many people had the same graffiti – what was this November Project thing?!
The Series of NP Friendships
OLIVIA’S STORY
So as previously mentioned I joined NP in February last year and for the first solid like two-ish months I barely talked to anyone and would linger on the edges of groups and conversations (which is actually what I still do but now I know a bunch of you guys ) and was generally there for the hype but due to intense social anxiety had a really hard time actually approaching and making conversation with everyone. Near the beginning of May last year that changed. I think the first big difference actually came with Josh bringing Kali to a workout. Dogs are magical that way, the bringers of friendship and whatnot. Next was Adi running the BMO Marathon for his birthday. I struck up a conversation with him about that and that was kind of the beginning of our friendship. Leah’s birthday was a couple weeks later (on May long) and a bunch of us were going skydiving. We needed a certain number of people to get the cost down so I started bugging Josh (who really had become a friend to me over the previous two weeks due to me taking Kali to NP while he was in LA) and eventually convinced him to join us in skydiving. Adi tagged along the day of and the three of us kind of hung out and joked and had a ton of fun. I ended up going to Kelowna that evening and hanging out with Adi and a few others. We went out for drinks and had a group games night in the park the next evening and then Adi and I went on a short biking wine tour with some people from his lab on the Monday. It was such a fun weekend and was the most natural friendship I had ever made. Everything about it was relaxed and easy and it probably helped that running, biking, swimming and all the other crazy things we do were something we had in common. And yeah, that’s the story of how Adi and I became friends! And kind of how Josh and I became friends too.
The Family I Never Knew I Had
Did somebody say Traverbal? What…? Is that even a word? Did I just vomit a word into that opening sentence? Maybe? It’s fine. It’s a word. It’s a word that describes one of the things I’ve learned to love to do. If Webster was to create a dictionary definition of the word it would sound like this. Traverbal: To do cool, fun, crazy, random shit that makes you sweat with other crazy, fun, random people all around the world. Often very early in the morning, when the regular people of the world are busy sleeping. Oh, and you bring a passport shirt, or blanket, or both. Maybe even a puppy sweater. A hat? Anything you want. Then you get it spray painted with the unique tag of that location, it’s kinda cool. Mine’s the best for sure (shout out Joel to tie-dyeing my shirt for me in LA).
NP YOU ARE AMAZING!
November project… There’s no other way to describe it other than an amazing experience! When I first heard about it I had to ask Roz “Will I be the oldest person amongst the 20 somethings?” She assured me that there would be others closer to my age group, over 30! I committed to go if it was not colder than -15. When I woke up that February morning 2017, it was actually -15 exactly and I don’t like to break promises.
Passionate, loud, happy even at 6am.
Sarah:
We got into the November Project much like most people in Kelowna: peer pressure from Roz.
I was working at Boomers, and Roz would come in to cheer on Grant. She kept mentioning that she was leading this thing called November Project Wednesday mornings and I should come.
The problem is, that I’m an EXTREME morning person. By 6:30 when it starts, I’m usually finished my morning run, and my morning workout. Not to mention I usually start my day job at 7 am. I figured it was one of those events that fell into the “awesome, but not great for my schedule” and kept ignoring Roz’s advances.
What Time???
When I moved from Calgary a few years ago, I began looking for a different kind of group work out that would be fun! I did not have any success until last year. I was running in the Hungry Half and a group called November Project was doing the warm-up portion of it. The person that led this warm up was Kwame and he stated that this group runs every Wednesday morning, meeting at the Sails at 6:29 am. Rain or shine. It is free. JUST SHOW UP!!! WHAT 6:29 AM???? What sane person would wake up so early to do that???