I was walking #rhinopug down Queens Road the other day when the craziest thing happened. We were walking by a crosswalk and as we passed by, the ticking noise that signals that it is time to cross the street started up. Rhino took an immediate 90º right turn and headed for the intersection. It might be because he knows that we would have to cross the road to get to the dog park but I have to believe that reaction to the sound was behavior that he unknowingly learned from two years of walking the Hong Kong streets. It’s easy to recognize the Pavlovian behavior in dogs, but it’s harder to notice these changes in ourselves.read more
BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: ONE DAY ONLY (valid from April 21st at 12:01AM until April 22nd at 12:01AM) 40% OFF DISCOUNT for ALL RACES at #ECSDC. AFTERPARTY DETAILS BELOW.
When we say “Endurance Challenge Series” it’s a lot like grassroots, free fitness. There’s a lot of info packed into three words. We want you to get HYPED about both.read more
The 5th Annual November Project Summit, the weekend-long party/race/training/homecoming event that wraps in all of the tribes from around the planet into one city, will take place in Boston, MA on the weekend of June 9th-11th around the newly added The North Face Endurance Challenge Massachusetts trail race. Use the code NPINDV25 for a 25% discount on your individual entry. At this point, our main NP event of the weekend, the Marathon Relay, is sold out, giving us room to tackle new distances for those of you who are ready OR join the family mob high above the start/finish line at the first ever Summit Cheer Station (details below in Saturday). If you’re new to this event, you’ll see that there are racing events from 5K all the way up to 50K and we encourage you to sign up for whichever one fits your liking.read more
Wednesday mornings I show up and immediately receive a couple dozen expected and purposeful high fives. After that I get a few really awkward ones from new participants and as I try to introduce myself and this unusual (to some) greeting tradition.
This past Wednesday, as I walked up to the fountains I heard, in an unintentionally American accent, “What’s up man!” I looked over to see a pair of wide spread arms and NOVEMBER PROJECT stenciled across the chest.read more
Written today at 12:50pm (12:50am EST)
I thought is was time to take a break from refreshing my browser to reflect on something that I actually believe in.
For several months, November Project Hong Kong (formerly #justshowuphk) has been quietly building a community around a simple phrase: “Just show up.” We started with a rag-tag bunch of Sun Yat Sen Park wanderers, work colleagues, and peer pressured friends with a few things to prove: that there is a reason for Hongkongers to be awake before 7am, that hugs or high fives are an acceptable form of greeting, and that #freefitness is eating the world.
Just like the other pledges, we spammed our social feeds, solicited co-workers and schemed our way into local publications. More and more, we became pretty obsessed with the numbers in the pictures and the fans on facebook. Maybe we (I) became so concerned with growth that we weren’t aware as we could have been of the development of a group that has come to define its name. Finally, there was a transition and the people who just showed up became a tribe and that was right about the time we became #32.
Lisa, Rebecca, and I have been are happy and proud to see individuals, and a group as a whole, accept the norms of inclusion, positivity, and cohesion. We regularly enjoy representation from over a dozen countries with a wide array of “how I ended up in Hong Kong” stories. And the best part about it is that all we have to do to enjoy it is show up.
Spartan Race Hong Kong
One last story: This last weekend, nearly 20 of us participated in Hong Kong’s first Spartan race. The good news is everybody PR’ed. The better news is that Lisa was 3rd overall for women, Elena was top 3 for her category, Janelle was first in her category, and many surprised themselves by getting up the rope… or finishing! The best came from some who said they never would have raced at all – if it wasn’t for the group.
That is the only news I am willing to talk about.
If you or anybody you know wants to come to Hong Kong.
For several months, November Project Hong Kong (formerly #justshowuphk) has been quietly building a community around a simple phrase: “Just show up.” We started with a rag-tag bunch of Sun Yat Sen Park wanderers, work colleagues, and peer pressured friends with a few things to prove: that there is a reason for Hongkongers to be awake before 7am, that hugs or high fives are an acceptable form of greeting, and that #freefitness is eating the world.
Just like the other pledges, we spammed our social feeds, solicited co-workers and schemed our way into local publications. More and more, we became pretty obsessed with the numbers in the pictures and the fans on facebook. Maybe we (I) became so concerned with growth that we weren’t aware as we could have been of the development of a group that has come to define its name. Finally, there was a transition and the people who just showed up became a tribe and that was right about the time we became #32.
Lisa, Rebecca, and I have been are happy and proud to see individuals, and a group as a whole, accept the norms of inclusion, positivity, and cohesion. We regularly enjoy representation from over a dozen countries with a wide array of “how I ended up in Hong Kong” stories. And the best part about it is that all we have to do to enjoy it is show up.
