Free Fitness Movement. All you need to do is show up!
If you don’t stalk the other tribes all over social media like some people do, you might have missed the fact that the buffs have finally arrived! They’re bright yellow and warm as hell. And the final cost was a little less than originally forecast. Like 50% less. $5 Canadian. Bargain of the year.
Wisconsin Notes: Tracker. Hashtag. Michelle “Smooth Arms” Roest. Phone Numbers.
Ok, so here’s the deal. You guys all go sign up on the Tracker, regardless of whether you’ve already signed a waiver or not, and we’ll explain the title of this blog post. Preachy and/or blackmaily for sure, but it’ll make all our lives that much better, so I’m cool with it.
Pre-prose note – click here to log your times on the Tracker.
How do you judge the success of a morning? If it’s based on hanging out with awesome people, this morning was a success. If it’s down to how many high fives and hugs you exchange whilst most people are still asleep, this morning was a success. If there’s a correlation between success and how muddy you are post-run, I did pretty well too. If however, the true measure of a successful morning is down to how many people don’t get lost* whilst running a route in the dark that you planned, this morning was perhaps less of a success.
Ok folks, here’s the eagerly awaited information.
ROUTE. MEETING PLACE. 6:25AM. WEDNESDAY 23RD DECEMBER. RACE. 6KM. FLASHLIGHT/HEADTORCH. FUN.
NON-WISCONSIN NOTES:
WHO:
You. Your friends. Your neighbours. Your crush. That runner who is dancing at the stoplight next to you. Your parents. Your siblings. Your coworkers. Basically anyone you can persuade to wake up early and come run with some awesome people.
Every damn Wednesday. Every damn Wednesday you show up and throw yourselves into what we do, no matter how weird it might be. Be it passing pumpkins in the rain, noisy games of Rock, Paper, Scissors, or running as many laps of the castle as possible, you take it in your stride. It makes me happy. I may not be able to run, but I can run vicariously through you guys.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little intimidated by this morning’s workout. 10 decks in 11 days courtesy of #DeckADay (I still need to double up once more to fully catch up) is taking its toll on my body, and I ate a huge chunk of cake last night at Claire’s birthday dinner. So I was worried.
Yesterday morning. I feel like writing about it is easier than talking about it, because apparently if I talk about it no one can understand a word of what I say. P R? Pee (Andrew, that’s not a command)? Hee Haw? Haw Hee? That bounce was fun.
The laps were fun I assume. I was too busy tagging (and too injured) to run, but people were flying by with grins on their faces, which kind of points to people having fun. Which, ultimately, is what this is all about. Even on PR Day, when you’re running a 700m loop with a steep ass hill, it should be fun. If it isn’t, we’re doing something wrong. People were smiling despite having woken up early and dragged themselves out of bed to run up a hill. Doing. It. Right.
Pumpkins. Sebastians. L… [If someone’s got the L please let us know.]
So as I sit here drinking my post steak-dinner-for-one cup of tea and obviously icing another part of my body, I cannot help but reflect upon this morning and feel a huge surge of pride. This morning, it rained. Really rained. Like, being back in England kind of rain. Like, the tail end of a hurricane kind of rain. This is the first time that we’ve had serious rainfall since we became November Project Toronto, and I’m ashamed to admit, I was a little concerned about how many of us would show up. It was cold, it was dark, and staying in bed was always going to be a very enticing option. I didn’t give our tribe enough credit though. They were there, pumpkins (and in some cases, umbrellas) in hand. We were ecstatic.
Yeah, topical blog post title, but limited relevance to this particular post. I just can’t resist jumping on the bandwagon.
So, this is another two-in-one post. The downside to having a real-life adult job is that I have just enough time for a shower after Wednesday workouts and the I’m on the subway to the office, without time to write anything. On the plus side, at least I’m still in Canada!