Free Fitness Movement. All you need to do is show up!
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!
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?!
Theme. “Runaround”. What does Runaround meant to you? Running fast? Running slow? Running in place? Running in circles? Running solo? Or with friends? There are no right or wrong answers so show us what you got! Runaround.
Rules. To enter the contest, post a photo to Instagram and make sure to tag @knockaround @novemberproject and use hashtag #NPKnocks. In your photo, you must be wearing a pair of Knockaround sunglasses. Bonus points for #GrassrootsGear. You’ll be judged on creativity, fun, humor, x-factor, and authenticity so photoshop or other photo altering software will not be allowed. If your Instagram account is private make sure you open it to the public otherwise we won’t be able to see your submission.
What if you don’t have a pair of Knockaround sunglasses? This weekend only go to http://knockaround.com and with code NPKNOCKS receive 35% OFF your entire order. The sale kicks off at midnight EST Friday and will end at midnight PST Sunday, June 2.
Timeline. We’ll be accepting submissions starting Saturday, June 1 and going all the way through Friday, June 21. Our friends at Knockaround will pick 6 favorites, which will be hosted on their website for the world to vote on. The voting will start on Sunday, June 23 and will end Friday, June 28. The photo with the most votes will be named a winner and officially announced Sunday, June 30th.
The Prize. A trip for one person to November Project Summit in Las Vegas, NV (flight and hotel) + a different pair of Knockaround sunglasses for every NP workout week for a full year (52 pairs of sunglasses)! Incredible, right!?
So get your creative hats on and start cranking those homeworks out.
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.
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).
Leadership Support and Training:
Our leaders are our most important assets. Their willingness to selflessly wake up before dawn and lead workouts is the only reason that this movement keeps growing and prospering. It’s vital to us that we continue to provide them with support and resources so they can continue to excel in leading their city. One way we do that is by connecting them with other leaders at our annual gathering we call the Meeting Of the Minds, or MOM for short. At MOM, the leaders have the opportunity to share stories, learn from each other’s successes and failures, and foster relationships that transcend geographical boundaries and time zones. We discuss everything under the leadership umbrella such as creative ways to recruit new members, how we can improve inclusivity, ways to plan an efficient workout, as well as addressing ‘Corporate’ topics with strategic decisions that we at NP HQ are working on. We also bring in specialists who have a unique perspective on diversity and inclusion to challenge us to shift paradigms. And even though the hashtag #safetythird has seen its fair share of usage on social media channels, we take the safety of our members very seriously and offer CPR certification classes to every co-leader interested.
Day-To-Day Operations:
November Project, Inc. has two full-time employees, Brogan Graham and Bojan Mandaric, and one part-time contributor, Laura Green. This trio is in charge of all non-workout leading operations including, but not limited to, designing and executing NP strategy, planning and operating an annual budget, communicating with leaders, growing the new and existing NP locations, and collaborating with our sponsors, partners, and local communities. As we move into this new space, the job description is now expanding into the growth of the non-profit/youth program and fundraising that may require bringing on more hands on deck.
Administrative Cost:
And finally, the not-so-sexy yet extremely valuable tools associated with administrative duties which include website hosting and maintenance, accounting, legal expertise and compliance, mailing, and printing, just to name a few.
We hope this gives you a more transparent view on how your donations are used to grow the movement we all love and appreciate. If you’re interested in supporting November Project, click here.
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.
#NPSUMMIT
This year’s annual gathering of all November Project members from around the world will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, November 15-18 at The Rock’n’Roll Las Vegas. The races on Saturday (5K) and Sunday (10K, 13.1M, 26.2M) actually shut down the iconic “Strip” and don’t start until the sun sets. There is so much more to come, but for now, plan to partake in various activities that will kick off with the workout on Saturday morning and conclude on Sunday night. We will be sharing NP-specific registration codes soon but if you’re so excited that you HAVE to register immediately, who are we to say no?
We’re stoked about all the incredible things that are ahead of us but for now, please join us in welcoming Brooks to the global November Project family!
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.
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???