Free Fitness Movement. All you need to do is show up!
Six years ago I finished my first NYC Marathon. I trained alone, and decided I didn’t want that anymore. I wanted a team. A friend told me he had one for me.
On a cold January Monday in 2018, I got lost on my way to my first November Project workout. I got intercepted by a man with a goofy smile and boundless energy, something always present in group photos. And he would run me up the stairs to intercept a woman who I had admired from afar for a while, who I now call my big sister.
The party doesn’t stop in the city that never sleeps—especially on the best weekend of the year! The New York City Marathon is a little over a week away, and we are super psyched to have all of our runners and friends taking to the streets in the town so nice they named it twice!
Whether you’re here to run 26.2 miles, cheer your faces off, or volunteer to make race day run smoothly—fill out this spreadsheet so we know how and where to find you: NP x NYC MARATHON 2022!
It’s been almost two weeks since we descended on Philadelphia with about 600 people from November Project cities all over the world! This jam-packed weekend brought us opportunities to hang with our friends, make new friends, and reunite with friends from other cities! Summit is definitely the one time of year when we can truly appreciate just how global this community is!
The only thing we could possibly, maybe love more than our NP humans are our NP doggos!
Which is why we were so excited to get a Monday verbal for Baldwin this weekend — what could be better than stairs, hills, and unlimited ear scritches? Alas, 6:28am rolled around and those short little legs were nowhere to be seen.
Spring is in the air and we are (temporarily) back to doing three workouts here at NP NYC! That means we get to spend even more time with each other every week! How normal does that feel?! With all this extra time we’re spending together, we wanted to lend a reminder of our purpose here. We want to continue to be the community that we love enough to show up to more mornings than we sleep in.
When I joined NP NYC, I was a Monday person. Morningside was an easy run from my house, so I figured that was the best place to start. But I very quickly fell in love with this community and wanted to be a Wednesday person too. So I started to haul myself across town at that ungodly hour we meet, and yet again, kept falling deeper in love with this crazy bunch of humans until I was like “I guess I’ll become a Friday person too.”
To our November Project NYC + Brooklyn members and the broader NP community,
As some of you are aware, NYRR has cancelled its NYC Half, originally scheduled for this Sunday, March 15th. We know this is very disappointing news for many members of our community, especially those finishing up long, winter training schedules and who have been excited to run and/or cheer on this race. That said, we do also understand NYRR’s decision in response to the developing COVID-19 situation here in NYC and its surrounding areas. While we might joke “safety, third (priority)” from time to time here at November Project, the safety and security of not only our members, but also of the wider running community in NYC and beyond, is truly of the utmost importance.
Mark and Zoë Rankin here guest-blogging this week!
Before November Project was even an idea, the Rankins had committed to showing up and respecting the verbal (hugging strangers came much, much later). If there’s one thing our family loves, it’s following through on something crazy we said we would do, that other people might even think is a little stupid. So when NP finally came around, the whole family fit right in.
Growing up, I was puzzled by the expression: “2 is company but 3 is a crowd”. The implication seemed to be that crowds were bad and the company of just one other person was preferred. It made no sense to me; even at a young age I loved interacting with lots of different people. Soccer teams, basketball teams, big family get-togethers, I enjoyed it all.
This travel verbal thing, read #traverbal [‘tra’vərbəl] verb: when one bounces from tribe to tribe.
Over the winter holidays, NP_ORL was lucky to host 18 folks from other NP cities join our workout and get their orange slice of life tagged on their shirts.
Here are some entries from their #TraverbalJournal:
“I love that NP has gotten so big that I get to traverbal so often, especially now in my home state. You get to really experience the different vibes and the unique people from all walks of life that make NP so great. I get to traverbal a lot because of my job.
“Even though every tribe is very different, there are a few things they all have in common. My mom said it best after she left her very NP workout with NP_ORL. She was so amazed by how multigenerational the group is with ages and abilities that spanned the whole spectrum. She felt so welcome and accepted, even though she had never been to a workout before. She had heart and knee surgery a few years ago and ever since then has been very hesitant to join a workout group, thinking that it might be too challenging and she might be pushed too far past her physical limit.
“Asking her to join me at NP wasn’t any different. I could tell she felt nervous intimidated. She stood outside the circle as we were getting ready for the bounce, until Allison and Travis pulled her in to make her officially part of the NP family — she even left with a tagged shirt! Soon she realized that NP was all about doing what you can with some hugs and high fives in between. I could tell she started for feel more comfortable and had a lot of fun. She even had a cheer tunnel as she finished the dock loop!
“I loved being able to share this with her, so that not only could she finally see what all the fuss is about and why I can’t shut up about NP, but also to see her feel comfortable during a workout again. NP_ORL welcomed us with open arms and made us feel a part of their family. There are no strangers when you show up at the dock — only friends you haven’t yet met.”
— Erica from NP_NYC
“WOOF!”
— Revere the Wonder Dog from NP_DC
“Returning to my home state and to places where I’ve lived is always tricky; these locations are filled with relics from my past, but returning here always makes it seem less like home. This is why I am so happy to come home and find a November Project Tribe right in my old stomping grounds! It reminds me how I’ll always feel welcome in NP cities.
“NP_ORL has such a bright future with its positive leadership and solid core members. It may seem daunting at first, but in a very brief time, NP will be a household name in Otown.” #fuckyeah
— Justin from NP_BAL
“Coooooots! NP_ORL has coots!!!”
— Macon from NP_NYC & Kami from NP_DC
Never stop exploring.