We believe barriers to fitness shouldn't exist, one of the reasons we are a free fitness group (no money in, no money out) and our members don't pay any fees. Because of this, we need your help.
Dear November Project Universe, the time has come for another NP Homework, and this one is going to be stellar. It involves bicyles, the great outdoors, painted #GrassrootsGear shirts, and of course, awards for the best submissions. This year, our friends from Bern Unlimited will reward 10 of the funniest, silliest, most creative, or as we call it “The X-factor’est”, submissions from around the world with Bern Helmet of the winner’s choosing. To be selected in the exclusive group of 10, you have to follow the rules below:
Post a photo on Instagram between Monday, August 6th, and Monday, August 13th. Photos posted after midnight EST on August 13, will not be considered eligible.
You must:
Be wearing #GrassrootsGear
Have a bicycle somewhere in the picture
Be Outside (spin bikes will not work, sorry Casey Winkler)
Tag @novemberproject @bernunlimited #NovemBern #StayOutThere
Phone filters that alter photo color, brightness, etc are allowed. Tools that can add or remove items that are not in the original photo (photoshop or bunny nose/ear filters) are not.
The winners will be selected by the panel of esteemed judges, whose identity shall remain anonymous to prevent any attempts at meddling. Our 10 winning photos will be posted on @novemberproject Instagram on August 16 and the winners will post photos with their Bern Helmets after they arrive.
So folks, get out, get on your bikes, and get creative. As of right now, the NovemBern week is officially open.
Over the last six and a half years, the co-founders of November Project, Bojan & Brogan, have been expanding the movement while it continues to grow organically through passionate and dedicated volunteer leadership, weatherproof workouts, and supportive communities, all at the cost of zero dollars. But with expansion comes evolution and November Project is proud to announce the next chapter of the movement, as a nonprofit organization. This year, with the support of everyone in our community, the structure of November Project (NP) will be one that involves more than simply two co-founders.
The goal of NP as a free fitness movement will remain the same. At our future and existing
locations around the world, we will continue to work hard at cultivating a culture of inclusivity, and will never stop proving that fun, fierce, free, and efficient morning workouts have the power to positively change the places we live in. The new arm of the NP nonprofit is one which we are incredibly excited about. We aim to use the spirit of NP to host our first community outreach plan that aims specifically at youth. After all, the NP rulebook for accountability, human connection, intense fitness, and support for all fitness levels could make an even larger impact if we use these tools to train a younger generation, creating healthy habits from an early age.
Financial resources to support the efforts of the NP nonprofit, the ongoing movement, and to keep great humans in the NP family at an organizational level, will come from personal
donations, grants, in-kind donations, and strategic partnerships. One of those partners, The North Face, has been powering November Project movement for the last three years and will continue to support NP at a global level through access to outdoor training gear, storytelling via various media outlets, leadership gatherings, and the annual November Project Summit. NP will pursue other partnership that will broaden the opportunities to bring free fitness to more people, but The North Face will remain the exclusive apparel, footwear, and equipment partner, and just like the last three years in this partnership, will be the reason November Project is able to continue the growth. Details on how you can directly support (aside from just showing up) will be revealed in the weeks to come.
The November Project team and the Board of Directors are ecstatic to progress this movement into the nonprofit space and set even bigger goals to achieve in the years to come. Hold onto your hats, folks, it’s about to get even crazier!
18th March 2018 marked the 2nd Miri Marathon that organised by local Miri Marathon Association. This is also one of the station for the Great Borneo Series (3 major marathon series in 3 different cities in Borneo island – next will be in May at Kota Kinabalu then in August at Kuching city).
In the tribe, not many of us are fans of running. But because we workout as a tribe, hence we decided to participant this Miri Marathon as a tribe and show our town what November Project is all about. Close to 60 of us signed up for the event. The excitement got hived up into the next level in one of the morning breakfast session when everyone got “Jio” (mean Challenged) to upgrade their race distance to next level. Here is our own definition of the running categories.
5 KM – We call it kids run, hence no participation from us
10KM – Fun run, those who never take part in any running event took this challenge.
21km – For those who want to run more distance and hope they get lucky and find a beer station instead of water station during the run. Some of the initial 10km runner were lured to join this. The strategy we shared was “pay extra RM10 and you got to run additional 11km and a free finishing shirt, why not?”
42km – For those who want to experience more blisters in different part of their feet or perhaps more falling toe nails after events. Your core is just too hard!! (hardcore)
…to #justshowup and help us! Bring scrub brush and bucket…READ ON!
OMG it’s a November Project Malaysia blog! For those of you who missed the blog, here is the latest edition. We have not been posting these as regularly as we had because quite frankly, we really didn’t have anything great to share or big announcements to make…until now.
Some hip-ups which ended up more like some use your pants to clean the deck…well no more! when we are done, you’d be able to eat off this floor *try at own risk* Actually wouldn’t recommend it.
As many of you know, we are big into our community and giving back, here at November Project after all this is kind of what kick started November Project Malaysia. 2017 was a good year as we were official granted November Project tribe status, we were able to build out free fitness community as well as give back to our city (the bigger community). #NPGiveback in September 2017 consisted of PCAM Charity run and also Donation to Zero Strays in our Dog walk workout.
Our bounce before the PCAM Charity Run for Love 2018 #weatherproofSome of the tribe getting in early and preparing to race …#grassrootsgear Photo credit to PCAM Facebook page.Dog Walk Workout, raising funds for Zero Strays
This year, we are looking to start earlier and hopefully be able to have more workouts/events that involves giving back and building our community. Our first giveback workout will be on January 26th and it involves some cleaning. We challenge you to invite your family and friends to join us, it would be a good time to show them how November Project incorporate workouts and fun times.
Our Friday morning workout location; Bulatan Park is huge and it would be nice to keep this place clean for us and as well as others whom we share this park with. As we use the deck quite often, we proposed to the tribe to have a deck scrubbing workout so our clothes aren’t dirt brown after some burpees and situps. So far this has been met with positive response as we have already had over 20 #verbals from the tribe. I am sure the list will grow as we approach the date and we look forward to more support from the tribe and the public on this and future #NPGiveback events while we continue to grow this #freefitness, #adultrecess, #connectinghumans #freehugging community.
If you opted to snooze this morning or stayed in because of the rain, you miss this lady’s bday!! Happy Bday Audrey!
Other News…
Buff update – there is no update
Miri Marathon 2018 – unfortunately, our group registration for special rate have closed but you can still register individually or as a group for discount and join the tribe on race day. Deadline is January 30th, 2018. Link to register is here.
Haven’t read the latest article about us that is generating some national awareness about November Project Malaysia, here is the link to Rojak Daily’s article.
I knew Mat (real name Mohammad Hadafi) since 4 years ago when we worked under same department but in different team. He is famous in our department due to his outgoing character and a very active person in our departmental community activities. He was known as Hadafi back then and now we call him “Mat”.
First met him in our free fitness workout about a year ago. Glad to see him again but he was on and off for the session until we officially become November Project in June. I can still recalled at his 2nd appearance in November Project, we were doing shirt tagging and he was asking if we will do tagging every week because he didn’t bring extra shirt that day. “Sorry buddy, we have to wait till next tagging session, probably next month” I replied. But after 2 weeks we did tagging again and he brought his shirt this time and wear it for the upcoming running event. Mat is one of the very energized and self motivated member in the tribe.
On 4th October 2017, Mat created a history of NPMAL by completing our Bumiko Hill’s PR (3 loops the whole hills within 30 minutes), thereafter we name the workout after him “The MAT”
Thanks for being part of the tribe, glad to have you with us Mat!
Here I would like to share his personal story with November Project Malaysia.
I Quit Because Of November Project!
I have a confession to make. I quit my job because of November Project! When I first join November Project, I was actually on the verge of losing myself. I was under major depression, a chronic insomnia, and I’ve got Plantar Fasciitis all at the same time. I don’t really know what to do and most of the time I feel lost. I can hardly sleep where I usually manage to sleep at 3am and awake at 4am without any reason. I go to work every single day with a blank mind and yet I will try to avoid talking to people and colleague which very hard to do because in my line of work, I have to talk to people a lot in order to supervise and give them orders. I have to work from 6.30am till around 7pm, and there are times where I even have to go to the office on Saturday and Sunday (well… most of the time actually for almost 2 years). There are times where I fall asleep during driving which almost got me into accidents. I was under Prozac and going for a counselling every single month feels like a burden to me. I know something is wrong with me and yet I don’t know how to handle it. Nobody knows about it. Not even my family or close friend, accept my wife (who is very supportive and the reason why I’m still alive).
But I suppose miracles do happen. One day my wife have asked me to give it a try in joining a workout group called “MYY FITNESS” (before it became NOVEMBER PROJECT). Since it’s free, I didn’t think it will hurt to give it a try. For one hour, I feel something that I haven’t felt for a very long time, the sense of living a life! I was sweating and yet working out with all this “unknown” people makes me feel so satisfied and happy. I can see the satisfaction on everyone faces. The awesomeness is there!! The best part is for the first time I manage to sleep at 11pm and wake up at 5am! It made me think of what I have actually lost.
The first session of workout is good. But the second one is even better! I get to know few people that is less fortunate than me and yet they do the entire workout like they have done it thousands of times, and they never complained. Victor, who has hearing and speech impaired always perform at his best to complete whatever workout that is being asked to do, and yet he never show that he has disabilities! Irene, a lady who is very dedicated to working out that I even met her going to the gym at 12pm alone! I can see she lost a lot of weight now. And then there’s Robert, a guy who is full of dedication to become a long distance runner. He is getting faster now. But what makes me feels lucky towards November Project is because we have 3 very dedicated co-leaders, Ridley, Harry, and Ing. These guys have made everything looks possible. Even during heavy rain, we still working out and these 3 guys are always there to lead us!
After the second session, I have made up my mind. The best way to solve a problem is to make it go away right? So I decide to quit my job. I try to focus on the thing that is more important, which is my health. Some people told me that I’m crazy for leaving my job (due to the good salary wise), but November Project have made me realize that a good health can give you happiness, and when you have a good health and happiness, I’m sure things will become better. It’s great to have lots of money, but it definitely can’t promise us health and happiness. By the time I’m writing this, I have stop taking meds and I don’t have to go to counselling anymore. I’ve manage to sleep early and I’ve start running again. I never expect joining November Project will bring me this far, but as for now I’m enjoying my life to the fullest! Ridley, Harry, and Ing… if you reading this, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for making November Project Miri possible.
As I watched the tribe finish the last sprint, I asked myself “How did I get here?”
How did I get so lucky to know these awesome people?
And it was because of Esther, Ridley’s wife. A chance encounter at the park that led to a conversation of free fitness led by her then boyfriend. She doesn’t join us much anymore because of cute Madison and another baby on the way or Ridley chain her up at home I don’t know really… but I will forever be grateful for that conversation, that push that led me here today writing a blog about which other lucky person met some other lucky person who shared with them about November Project and encouraged them to just show up.read more
Six years ago this month, two guys dared each other to a daily workout in the cold winters of Boston. One month turned into two, two months turned into six, six months turned into 6 years and this movement is still going strong. The attendance have also grown from the two of them to thousands of people gathering every Wednesday, Friday and Monday for free fitness in farty-four (44) cities in the world.
First Friday workout for November Project Malaysia
To do our part as the only tribe in Southeast Asia, November Project Malaysia have also added a Friday morning workout this month. November 3rd was our first session and over 30 tribe members showed up for some pushups, squats, mountain climbers, plank and dips at Bulatan Park. A new venue, a new vibe and hopefully a lot more newbies in the upcoming weeks. #recruiteveryone. The addition of Friday was due to several requests from the tribe but as the tribe grows closer, once a week was just too long between workouts to see your beautiful faces and glowing 5 AM smiles.
Trio mountain climber, plank, dips relay…Squats and Push ups…
On another note:
I want to personally thank all the out pour of condolences and support this past week during a very tough time for my family. On November 1st, I lost my aunt and uncle in a car accident while my cousin was in critical condition. Sadly, she too passed away on the 2nd of November. I appreciate the thoughts and prayers and am especially touched by the private messages from the other co leaders and members of the other tribes.
Their funeral was held this past weekend and the number of people who came and paid respect was overwhelming. Just goes to show that they must have touched a lot of lives and there was a lot of sadness from this unfortunate tragedy. From this event, I have a few things I want to share :
“ If you are thinking of giving your mom a hug today, or saying I love you to your dad, or a thank you to a sibling…do it because you never know, once this opportunity passes, you may not get another chance”
“Do good! Be a positive influence on as many lives as we can so that when our time is up, we leave this world a better place that it was before us.”
“Be grateful! Have dreams, hope and goals but appreciate this very moment for there are others who have less, or is unable to do the things you can. Be grateful”
Up Coming stuff:
Wednesday 515AM Bumiko Hill, we will continue and wrap up our co leader challenge ( from October). This challenge was based on which co leader’s team would be the most consistent in showing up, which was fittest and fastest. Points were allotted for attendance, repetitions and also winner of races. Wednesday will be one last race. Current Score; Team Ing in the lead with 53, Team Ridley at 47 but still holding on and not out of the race is Team Harry at 36.
Friday 5:18AM Bulatan Park, our second Friday of the month, tell your friends and family in the neighborhood. Always fun, usually weird, definitely a hard sweatsesh. #justshowup #recruiteveryone
Lastly:
As we roll into year end and school holidays, we are certain people have planned their holidays, we also can’t wait for parents to bring their kids out to join us.
We are celebrating our last workout for Sunday and welcoming official November Project workout on every Friday 5:18am at Bulatan Park. It starts this coming Friday 3rd of November 2017.
2) Good Heat-Proof Test during Iron Leg Challenge 2017
Date: 28th Oct 2017
Venue: Piasau Boat Club, Miri
Time: 12noon (30 km category), 3pm(1o km category)
Cheer leader squad led by NP tribe member – Audrey and gang. Brilliant idea for bring water gun into this heat testing endurance run. Extra booster for the participants for the final km.Some NP tribe finishing at top 10 in their categoryThis one is insane!! Last minutes sign up for the 10km challenge and won the Champion Trophy!!Pre & post race gathering of the NP tribe
**Credit all picture to all NP tribe, Ironleg running club and whoever taken it and accidentally shared to us unintentionally. We thank you for that!
Announcement:-
Yup, Friday NP official is for real!!! First session start 3rd November, 5:18am at Bulatan Park. Yay, now you will have 2 recurring weekday alarms in your smartphone.
Yearbook pic taken last Wednesday will be shared out once is ready. Hope it will appear at your FB profile
NP buff order was closed. Printing are in progress, it will arrive when it is delivered. So don’t bother asking “when it will arrive har?”
Tomorrow is our PR day. Get the best out of yourself for “THE MAT“
Our last team challenge resume next week. We are all out to chase for the point!! go go go Orange and Yellow team! black/white, Pink/Blue.. go go (away!)
