At today’s workout we said farewell for now to our dear friends Joe and Niamh. Our sweet Irish couple must return home to Dublin, but fingers crossed that they return to their ATL Tribe!
Joe and Niamh first showed up in the early days when we were pledging and known as Fitlanta. These two are the model for the nicest couple you could ever meet. They were willing to try new things, make new friends, and always making it to basically every workout Atlanta had to offer. They first learned of November Project at an evening run club when some annoying guy name Christian kept talking about some 6:30am workout outside. Finally after a few weeks of persuasion they showed up to their first bounce. Funny what happens when you #justshowup and strangers become family after a few #sweatyhugs
Our tribe is so thankful for these two wonderful souls. Is everyone this nice in Ireland? They literally shit rainbows! To Joe and Niamh, we wish you the best and your tribe will always be here for you no matter what, 6:27am with open arms.
And little did we know that these two secretly planned a gift from the whole tribe to its leaders- screen printed Tees with signatures from many of the Tribe’s core members! It’s that kind of thought that makes the members of ATL tribe so special, and Joe and Niahm were some of the most dedicated that we have! We also attribute Joe to recruiting Alexa, one of our Tribe Leaders, to NP when they were rock climbing!
We’re looking out for a NP Dublin to come our way soon…
In the meantime, Joe and Niahm wanted to share their story about the tribe.
From Joe
So a long time ago, Niamh and I arrived fresh off the plane from Dublin and looking to settle in to our new home and life here in Atlanta. That was actually only five months ago, but it feels like much longer now.
One of the first things on our list was to find activities that we could do together to get to know people in the area. We arrived at Fitlanta in a funny way: while wandering Ponce City Market one day, we noticed a flyer for a run club with free beer, which frankly sounded like a crazy idea that would never work back home (people would skip the running and take all the free beer!).
While at one of these post-running beer sessions, Christian mentioned to us this “November Project” idea – which again sounded crazy, because who wants to get up that early? Lots of people, it turns out. It took us a few weeks to make it out on a Wednesday morning, but after seeing the friendly atmosphere, enthusiasm and good exercise (also sweaty hugs) we were hooked.
I’ve never really thought it made much sense when people say ‘time flies when you’re having fun’. Surely if you’re having a good time and doing a lot, it should feel like a long time? But when we look back at the friends we’ve met, the times we’ve had, we can definitely say that it feels like a long time and a good time. And a good part of that goes to the November Project tribe leader Christian for first convincing us that getting up at 6:00 AM to run around was a great idea!
From Niamh
Myself and Joe arrived to Atlanta from Ireland in March of this year, we didn’t really have a plan. Last summer the opportunity arose for Joe to come and work in the Atlanta office for the year, we love to travel so we figured why not! I had never been to Atlanta before and had no idea what to expect from the city, so I was placing my trust in Joe that it would be a good move for us…that part was easy! Although I had thought I would be okay leaving home, it wasn’t so easy leaving friends and family to come to a much bigger city where I didn’t know anyone. So one of our first priorities was to join some groups and get to know some people…Enter PCM run club!
After our first week or two here, we headed to the Wednesday night run club where we met some really great people (you know who you are peoples!) including Christian. Christian was setting up these free ‘November project’ workouts in Atlanta (we had never heard of it before). A free workout, outdoors, as a group….yes please! So much better than hitting the gym by myself!
It took us a couple of weeks to actually make it, I think the first Wednesday that we had said we’d go, it was pouring rain and there was a thunderstorm…so needless to say when the alarm went off we looked outside then rolled back over and fell asleep (sorry guys!). But when we finally made it to our first one we really enjoyed it! It started with a bounce and some hugs, then we ran to the Federal Reserve to work out. About half way through we got kicked off the property but that didn’t stop the work out, it was adjusted for its surroundings and we continued on! Was it worth the early start? Did we feel good after it? F*** Yeah! Our workout was done for the day, we got to meet/hangout with some new, great people and all we had to do was show up!
We have been attending for the last few months now and I can safely say, with the exception of PR day, we haven’t repeated a single workout. Each workout has been a new challenge, the group has grown, we have made some great friends and we continue to meet new wonderful people every week. It has been such a pleasure to be a part of it and that is all down to the tribe leaders, Christian, Palmer, Jamey and Alexa. Through November Project you guys have made us feel so welcome here in Atlanta, your workouts are creative and your enthusiasm and motivation to continuously build this group is exceptional. To the Atlanta tribe and its leaders, go raibh míle maith agaibh! (Thank you very much!)
AND AREN’T THEY ADORABLE!!!
