Comrades and colleagues,
First on the docket: we’re #weatherproof baby! Respectful nod of the head to those who came out to play this morning. Let’s keep that firing burning!
Secondly, I’d like to take a moment to publicly ride out my high from this past weekend at the Northface Endurance Challenge in SF, and share some thoughts with you all.
#1. November Project is kind of a big deal. But, really. It’s easy for NP to melt into the weekly routine. Sometimes I find myself forgetting to stop to smell the roses. NP5280 is a centerpiece of who I am, yet it’s only one piece of 33 piece puzzle that is constantly growing. Anyone who has gone to an NP-Nation event can agree that its eye opening to be surround by so many people doing what we do but with their own flavors. This movement is big, and its wonderful and everyone who just shows up is a part of it. While it may not be in everyones budget to make it to SF, or to a summit, I’d like to encourage you all to check in on some other cities, maybe read Vancouver’s blog, maybe do a deep facebook creep into Mineapolis’ latest positivity award winner, try to determine on a scale of 1-flipcup just how bro-y the Philly tribe is, or crunch the numbers on where San Diego stands with the whole #weatherproof thing. Take a moment to recognize that when you woke up to join your Denver tribe in the snow this morning, that people in 33 cities around the world were doing the same thing. That’s pretty cool.
#2. Some of you are still mourning, and some of you couldn’t care less, but we need to confront the truth that Denver came in a shocking 4th place in the #ultratribe contest this past weekend. This all despite 1) having the most runners in the race 2) the biggest presence at aid stations 3) the top two runners in the 50k (out of NP members) and 4) came up with the hashtag in the first place (+5 points). So with all of that, if Denver couldn’t win it, who could? Shannon Kane of NP-Victoria, that’s who. This year’s winner of the #ultratribe award (which was a gold spray painted pair of Paddy’s old running shoes) only had one member in the race, and she was also the only person from her tribe even there. So why the heck did she win? She won because she was an angel on the course to many, including our very own Ryan Wooderson. Stopping to help a fallen tribesmate without regard to her own time, literally pushing him up the hill when he thought he was going towards the light. Basically, in a sea of competitive racers looking for a prize, the #ultratribe contest turned into a tribe wide positivity award. Que a speech about the essence of what NP really is about. I’ll just let that marinate.
#3. But, like, objectively if you want to look at the data, we did win, so, sorry Shannon from NP-Victoria….Courtesy of Turbo Dan (28th place finished in the 50 miler) and Julia Griffeletti (2nd place 50k finisher of NP-nation).
#4. Whether you raced 50 miles, 50k, 5k or even just wrote a goal down at our event the other week, I am proud of all of you. Let the tribe to push you. It’s impressive what we can accomplish when we have someone (70-100 friends) believing that we can.
Friday: Performing Arts complex (14th and Curtis St).
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I am looking for Volunteers for The Berkeley Half Marathon on November 20th. I would love to have The November Project present in some capacity at our event.
Please let me know if your group is interested.
Thank you!