Free Fitness Movement. All you need to do is show up!
As we look forward to celebrating another trip around the sun, NP_IND and the rest of the November Project universe offers the world a sincere “You’re Welcome” for waking that puppy up every week. And so the final #raceday of the year came and went with the quickness, kind of like 2016. The same race day routine but with many different results. Lots of PRs and even a few first times times close out the year.
Believe it or not (and I choose not to) today is the last day of November, which means it was #raceday!! However, being the end of November in Indiana…Mother Nature served us up a gem of a morning weather-wise. The day came with a lot of PR’s and several “what the fuck was that’s?” for those newer members who partook in their first ever race day.
In the week leading up to the Indy screening of “ Showing Up”, the positive vibes were flowing this morning. With the amazing guest blogs shared by a few of our people along with the general reinforcement that this tribe, this movement, and all of you are THE SHIT we made sure to remind ourselves of that today. It was, well…beautiful.
This week we are leading up to our screening of the Dooster made film “Showing Up” powered by The North Face which highlights eight November Project tribe members from around the world and how November Project has impacted their lives and their journey. As we learn about these amazing individuals, most of whom we have never even met, we also want to highlight some of the smiling faces we see each week at NP Indy. Sarah Myer is a FORCE in Indianapolis, when she’s not at her day job as the Marketing Director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, she is volunteering at or serving on one of a thousand boards of organizations around the city. She is the reason we get to have our screening of the movie at the fucking IMAX theater. She is also one of my best friends, one of the best people I have ever met, and there is nothing that she can’t do. Even the most certified of badasses have concerns about going to NP for the first time. She shared the same fears that I get from a majority of the people I recruit to show up. But, she got over those fears, decided #justshowup, and here is her story of how November Project and the Indy tribe helped give her some perspective during one of the toughest periods in her life. If you haven’t met Sarah…what is wrong with you? If you have met Sarah and haven’t been to a November Project workout, she will be there this Wednesday and will have a hug and an eyebrow curl waiting just for you.
Fall decided to hold off another week for us as we had a perfect morning for the workout this morning. Around 60 degrees at 5:30am means we are #weatherspoof for a bit longer. Lots of announcements today so let’s get to it.
The Workout:
A variation of an up and over with lunges going down the west side of the memorial and (Cubbie!!) bear crawls down the west side of the memorial. At the south end we rotated 10 V-ups and 10 supermans before heading up the south stairs and at the north side it was a rotation of tricep dips and decline push-ups. Those bear crawls are a….beast (pun kind of intended).
We asked Anne to write a guest blog because the story of her journey to becoming a runner is what November Project is all about. She went from never running at all to running a half marathon IN ONE YEAR. She set a goal, decided it was going to happen, and the rest is history! No excuses, #justshowup…and we are so glad she did. I can’t wait to cheer her (and the rest of the NP_IND badasses) on at the Monumental Marathon and Half-Marathon on Saturday. If you’ve never met Anne – she can’t wait to meet you on Wednesday morning 🙂
The tribe was looking sharp AF for NP_IND Homecoming this morning with their finest dresses, suits, hats, corsages, boutonnières, batons, football jerseys, and other high school memorabilia (which would be suitable to bring to a national monument).
The Pep Rally:
After getting the day started with a little cheer medley, the tribe got right into the big game with a Hot Mess Workout.
The hype was REAL leading up to this morning’s workout. With a little “cross country sisterly hype” that found our own JKeys hyping Jooooorrrrgggeee and the San Fran tribe to get their asses to the workout, and #NPSF’s own Weston “Macho Man” McBride shouting out to NP_IND and James Laker that excuses will be met with a body slam from the top rope, the tribe was bouncing before we even started…bouncing. Speaking of, as much as I love Randy Savage, and I do, nobody hyped me like the Nature Boy, so naturally (see what I did there?) Ric Flair inspired the bounce this morning, and after a few WHOOOOs, the bell rung.
You know it’s going to be an amazing day when the date of a workout matches perfectly with a song to bounce to. Earth, Wind, and Fire teed it up for us this morning for a bounce we can use once every seven years. After harmonizing a bit, the tribe was ready to roll…
The Workout:
(That ever growing 5:28am Crew)
Can’t stop, won’t stop this #freefitness movement from growing, both here in Indy and across the world! As we welcome Amsterdam and London into our (now) 31 tribe family, we made sure to pay homage to the rookies of the group. After passing the torch with an Icelandic Viking bounce we kept the theme focused on London and Amsterdam.