Three days later and I’m still trying to put pen to electronic paper about how fun #theginriot was. Indulge me while I tell you the story of the gin riot or how it was played out it from my POV. Probably 1.5 years ago, months before I was asked to become a co-leader some NP friends and I saw on the socials that Boston NP had done WOAHMAN which combined their PR day at Harvard Stadium with a run to their hill and some other details which I don’t remember. What I do remember is thinking OH that is really badass and I think we could pull that off AND people would get behind this in Baltimore. We kept the conversation going but inevitably it got lost in the comings and goings and constant activity of our lives. It also takes time to think about, logisticize (technical term) and make happen. We couldn’t have done this without some epic volunteers to keep everyone safe and of course the racers who participated.
Fast forward to September this year, Nick, Kaye and I were standing on Mount Royal Avenue we had just planned our destination Friday workout and we threw out the idea of having a whole month dedicated to people earning PRs at PR day…I think we called it #OCTOPR after some other debatable names got thrown in the mix. It was at this moment that I remember dropping the idea for the gin riot. Nick and Kaye agreed we should sit down and plan it out. October was a rad month in NP land because we had so many people training for The Baltimore Marathon and other fall races, OCTOPR made many a human despise us but when PR day came almost half the crowd PRed! This was quickly followed up with the Patapsco Valley 50K where #NP_BAL showed up with a squad of 20+ racers. It was at this point that we realized our tribe had been pushing the distance for a while and the urgency of creating this race was sealed!
One of the founding principles of November Project circa 2011 is to “race everything” which meant tie those laces up tight and get ready to toe the line against friends and strangers alike. We knew Baltimore was ready to roll with this idea and as we started spreading the news to people the excitement was palpable, or maybe that was just MY excitement. In all honesty, I think I was probably the most jazzed person for this day! What can be better than watching people who have been throwing down faster miles and further distances push themselves in one tough race against friends and frenemies alike?
One of the tricky parts about hosting a free event is that you have no idea how many people are going to show up. In planning, we were thinking 50 racers would be a good number. I told Johnny Rads that 50-70 people was a fair guess for the after party. Well on Sunday January 28th (!!!!!) EIGHTY-FIVE PEOPLE (!!!!) came and signed their name on the dotted line to take part in the first ever race (second in history, thank you Kaye for reminding us): The Gin Riot. Some weeks we barely get 85 people to show up on a Wednesday and then we plan this epic endurathon and 85 racers come out of the woodwork to race. This is the really fun part of NP. Watching people push themselves in ways that they maybe haven’t done before.
SO who showed up? Threw down? Took home the gin? Thanks to Chris M. we have this handy list we *think* we got it right but if we are missing something or got it wrong, let us know #honorsystem. We had a few new faces in the mix to throw off our regulars. There was a squad of five speedy guys who were leading the pack from Rash Field over to Patterson park until a few made a break away mid-hills. Some special mentions have to go out to a few notable participants: to the father daughter racing pair in Mike & Lizzy Peper who escaped before we could properly document the occasion with a photograph! To Hallie and Liz Harasty (and possibly some others I am missing!) who started the race almost 10 miles into their casual weekend long run and still crushed it! To people like Grant, Louis, Wen and Adam (and I know there are so many more!) who got to a new distance PR while racing hills and stairs. We had many an NPers who has not yet graced the Friday hills with their presence…this led to a few course questions but those Friday hero’s (and the epic course markers like Tammy/Mary/Chris/Ros and friend!) showed the way to the hill. And now you know just how close the Friday workouts are, so see you this week?!?!? We had a few people cursing the course as they rounded out their second hill but the incredible camaraderie and supportive atmosphere kept people moving to get to the finish. It is my personal favorite to watch the people who are on the newer side to NP, come to all the workouts and embrace it with all the cool-aid drinking, not not a cult loving, community building they can muster!! It makes us the most happy to see everyone embracing this free fitness community with hips in hugs and so much HYPE. This shit is good and don’t let anyone tell you any differently!
One of my favorite lines of the night came from one of those newer NP faces, Mads, who we awarded the most smiley racer ever to which she replied “someone told me one time that it takes less energy to smile than to frown. So I just keep smiling.” Well Mads is just about the smiliest most positive spirit I’ve encountered and her smile is contagious.
Thanks to the kind folks at Caledonia Spirits and Barr Hill Gin we had a pretty legit prize of a bottle of gin to give away to the top male and top female racer. The gin brought home by none other than Elizabeth “COACH” Harkies and Adam Driscoll, newbie ringer brought it just to push our regulars.
We know it was a challenge; it was designed to be hard AF. We hope you had fun throwing down. We sure did and it will be back..! Keep showing up and giving each workout, day and race your all. You’re stronger for it and we are stronger with all of you with us!
See you at Patterson Park on Friday. 6:30 AM
HAPPY WEDNESDAY! And like Mads says, don’t waste energy, just keep smiling!
Bryson
TL; DR/WISCONSIN NOTES:
**The gin riot was a seriously awesome night and celebration of the hard work the tribe puts in week in and week out. Thank you for coming and getting excited about these things like we do.
**Support the rad people and drink Barr Hill Gin who also got excited about our silliness and design cocktails like “FUCK YEAH” and of course Johnny Rads for closing their place for us to stink up on Sunday night!
**Casey Lyons was overdue x a million for the positivity award and finally got that shit this morning! Showing up and recruiting faces all while crushing 50ks and the gin riot like it ain’t no thang!! If you aren’t lucky enough to know her yet, get to know her!
