This weekend, the NPATL tribe lived true to The North Face’s motto of #NeverStopExploring. We jam-packed THREE events into one weekend: a day-long outdoor adventure, an overnight camping retreat, and a Sunday morning run. We had so much going on; we had to have three people write up the recap. So, here it goes.
Stone Mountain #JustShowUp
Recap by Tribe Leader Alexa Lampasona
Saturday was a day of EPIC adventures for the NPATL tribe. Some would say we are overachievers. Some would say we are crazy. All who participated would say we are the most fun group in town.
Here’s the rundown of activities. Did anyone complete it all?
BIKE to Stone Mountain (16 miles)
After my shoulder injury, I was out for leading the bike. Thanks to the tribe members that stepped up to navigate the group on the Stone Mountain PATH – Joev Garvey, Niamh Dolan, Maddie Giegold, and Stu Lipkin. They made all the riders feel comfortable riding on the roads!
TRAIL RUN around Stone Mountain (5 miles)
We teamed up with Big Peach Running who brought out water, a tent for shade and nutrition, and our fearless tribe member Matt Taylor led the large group runners on a 5 mile run around Stone Mountain on the Cherokee Trail.
HIKE up and down Stone Mountain (2 miles RT)
We were worried that a 12:30 pm hike would be miserably hot. But we were blessed with a cooler front of summer storms the night before, and a cloudy sky hung around most of the day. As our group reached the top, we saw a wall of rain in the distance, slowly moving toward the mountain. We admired the view of Atlanta and the surrounding metro areas. The Debate began- do we yoga?
YOGA at the Top of the Mountain
Yes… we did yoga. Yoga Steve, the leader from NP’s Buffalo tribe, led us in a short and quick flow yoga on the mountaintop. A few raindrops hit us, and we feared the downpour was coming. But then, as we finished in Shivasana, we realized that the rain never came!
SUP on the Lake
Our friends at Mountain High Outfitters supplied us with SUP boards, and Tracey Pearson from Prissy Tomboy led groups out into the lake, teaching them the foundations of stand-up paddleboarding. Everyone who biked or drive the 3-mile journey to the far side of the mountain had a blast!
There was only one crisis during the event – tribe member Ben Nantasai got stung by a yellow jacket on his ankle less than 10 minutes into his trail run. Now, for some it would mean a painful ankle. For Ben, it was life-threatening. He is severely allergic to yellow jackets. He called me as he began running back to our tent. The few of us that stayed behind for the run went into overdrive, looking for his epi-pen. I sent tribe member Casey Nicodemus running out to meet Ben on the trail. I didn’t tell Casey which way they went…. So naturally, Casey ran in the wrong direction. And he didn’t have his phone. Ben called again, saying he was almost back to the tent. He hadn’t seen Casey. Another person was sent to bike around the road on the mountain looking for Casey; someone else ran the trail in the opposite direction. When Ben arrived, we gave him Benadryl and ice. Finally, 10 minutes later, Casey was tracked down and returned. He saved the day by administering the epi-pen. Then another tribe member, Winnie Lojk, stepped up and took Ben to the ER so that he could get treated when the epi-pen wore off. Tribe member Courtney Mueller drove to the hospital to stay with Ben while he was on watch at the hospital for a few hours. Ben survived the incident but had to cancel his plans to head to The North Face’s Basecamp event in Chattanooga, as he had doctor’s orders to stay inside and recover. What this showed to me was how connected and selfless our tribe members are. Everyone pitched in to help. You can’t beat the community in our ATL tribe!
One of the biggest things we got out of this day’s event is the number of new friends that we made. Throughout the day, we met several new faces who hadn’t yet attended our workouts, some due to location or work schedules. For us to be able to show more people what NP was all about was HUGE! We hope to do another event like this soon!
The North Face – Basecamp
Recap by Tribe Leader Christian Lopez
Global #SportsBraSquad Day
Recap by Tribe Member Andrea Di Amaya, who organized the event
Today was not just any other Sunday. Today was Global Sports Bra Squad Day. You are probably scratching your head and wondering what this is. Well, November Project NYC tribe member Kelly Roberts created this day to encourage women to shed their shirts and feel confident about their bodies. Over 90 cities had organized and hosted their very own sports bra squad day, and Atlanta was one of them. Co-hosted by November Project ATL and Big Peach Running, more than 30 participants gathered for a 3-mile fun run to commemorate the day. It was a typical hot and humid Atlanta summer day, but runners were greeted with complimentary snacks and coffee from Cafe Celaque (a local coffee company) post-run while some lucky folks won prizes from a raffle. The event ended with a 30-minute yoga session to relax and cool down. Thanks to Kelly for the inspiration for this day and reminding us that together, we break through stereotypes.
