On segments of a few of my runs lately it has felt as if I have fallen into rhythms where I can feel my speed, but not my effort. I feel relaxed, comfortable, happy, I feel home. I feel like I could run forever and not get tired, every muscle firing at the perfect time, the lazy swing of my arms carrying me through every stride, each footfall exactly where it needs to be, landing on the perfect spot on my foot and effortlessly transitioning through each stride. Each time I fall into this rhythm it gets me thinking about something from The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown, if you have not read it, I highly recommend it, it is a fantastic telling of the 1936 US Olympic Men’s 8 Heavyweight rowing team and their journey.
In the book, Brown talks about the rowers and the boat finding its “swing”. Brown quotes the team’s boat builder, and rowing guru George Pocock regarding swing:
When you get the rhythm in an eight, its pure pleasure to be in it. It’s not hard work when rhythm comes – that ‘swing’ as they call it. I’ve heard men shriek… when that swing comes in an eight; it’s a thing they’ll never forget as long as they live.
The swing is when every member in a boat is rowing in perfect harmony with their fellow rowers. It is where pain and struggle disappear, and technique and rhythm combine to produce maximum efficiency with each stroke. Unlike some members in November Project, I cannot relate to this kind of “swing” but believe it exists in other forms, like the run I described about above.
Mary, Jason, and I babysitting our first workout together.
I think it is important to find your swing in everything, and it is something I am working on to execute over all facets of my life. Let me just get one thing straight right now, your swing is not something you just have, it’s not something you find once and have for life, it is something that we all must strive for each and every day, but when you find it, it is SO good.
That brings me to my main subject: I think we (Mary, Jason, and I) have found our swing as leaders. I will admit, the first few weeks were……interesting….to say the least. Awkwardness along with dismal weather had me thinking that we might be undoing everything that John and Paul had worked so hard for. But then, things started getting better, we became more organized, things started going right, newbies started coming out – and coming back. Now, I can honestly say we are having a blast leading in NYC, and so much of that can be attributed to the tribe itself. Without their faith, encouragement, dedication, and overall badassness I might be singing a much different tune today.
Badasses. Every sing one of ’em.
This is basically a very roundabout way for me to say thank you. Thank you tribe for supporting us, for showing up, and for sticking with us when it seemed like we didn’t have a clue what was going on (not saying that has or will stop, but it’s definitely better than it was). You guys energize us so much, and make whatever time put in totally worth it. When I am asked how it is going, I usually respond with, this is a lot more effort than I thought it would be, but somehow that is actually perfectly fine with me. I don’t want to speak for Mary and Jason, but I think that they would agree that we do it for the love, and that is a huge testament to our tribe members. You guys rock our faces off at every workout and without you guys, none of this would be possible. The feedback has been great as well, so keep it coming, both positive, and constructive. Thank you corporate for all your hard work, setting this up on a global stage, without you guys the #worldtakeover would not be what it is today, thank you for all you do, I am grateful to be apart of it. Thank you to John and Paul, giving Mary, Jason, and I, and now Sierra and Jeanie in BK an awesome foundation to build on. I also want to thank John and Paul for aligning 2 amazing coleaders that I have the privilege to lead alongside. Mary and Jason, I would be completely lost without you guys, so would the tribe, thank you guys for always having my back. Finally, I want to thank the other tribe coleaders that I have been allowed to pick the brains of, you guys have helped me a lot, and been the inspiration behind some cool new ideas.
In summary, I want to thank everyone in this awesome family for everything you do. I am so glad to call you guys my friends, teammates, and family. In short, thank you for being here.
-Rob
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