Photo by NP SF
Technically it’s been a little more than a year since I first set my alarm to join the November Project YYC Tribe for a workout, but today seemed so fitting for this post. For starters, I went to my first NP San Francisco workout this morning. I drove two UC Berkeley students into the city & back as part of the East Bay carpool. It was a great morning, & Odin was a huge hit, of course. Today is also one week out from a very special Wednesday morning for NP YYC: the annual McMahon Stadium workout!
Story time! Last September, I decided to participate in a month-long a healthy living challenge to raise awareness & funds for the BC Cancer Foundation. You may recall my blog posts about the challenge around this time last year. I’d committed to eating paleo, limiting alcohol, & working out three times a week. The greatest thing that came out of the challenge, besides raising money for a good cause, was November Project.
I’d first heard about this crazy group of people back at the beginning of that summer. My friend Zoe messaged me with a link to the Calgary tribe’s information, “You need to join this. I joined the YYJ one in December & it is literally the best thing I have done ever.” Strong words, Zo. I briefly looked at the page, saw that workouts were at 6:13 am, & gave it a hard pass. I’d spent most of high school waking up before sunrise to jump in a freezing cold pool & swim laps for a couple hours. Aside from the occasional 6 am spin class, I was over the commitment of early morning workouts.
That is, until I saw the amazing support Zoe got during our SeaWheeze Half Marathon a few weeks later. There were high fives, “y’all goods”, & lots & lots of hugs throughout the course. All this because she put on a Lululemon shirt with November Project spray-painted across the front. It didn’t matter that they weren’t from the same city. It didn’t matter that they’d never worked out together before. These people were in her court, cheering her on. This was more than just an early morning sweat session. This was a community. & that was something I could get behind.
So I decided to join. They happened to doing a special Wednesday morning workout on August 31, 2016: running the McMahon Stadium stairs. This would be my first NP workout. I even recruited a few friends to come with me. I don’t remember much about that first workout except that it was hard. Like, really hard. I walked away with sore legs & a huge smile plastered on my face.
My first NP YYC Workout, McMahon Stadium 2016
My last NP YYC workout before SF!
I couldn’t walk properly for days afterwards. & the next few workouts were hard too. They were hard in a way that I loved though & throughout the course of that first month, I found myself looking more & more forward to Wednesday mornings. So much so, that I started going to the Monday morning workouts too. & after that September Challenge ended, I didn’t stop going.
Winter mornings in Olympic Plaza with Odin
I swear I’m not always carrying Odin
Although he adds a nice challenge to lunges
Over the last year, November Project has become more than just a morning workout for me. It’s become coffee dates, & socializing, & high gives when you think you can’t take one more step. While Tammara & Kyle have put us through some crazy workouts, I’ve also made some really rad friends. Better than that, I’ve become part of an amazing, supportive, welcoming community.
After a tough deck of cards workout
The test truck brings breakfast to our stair workout
Rotary Park play ground workouts
So here’s to an amazing year with the YYC Tribe, full of everything from warm sunrise runs & half marathon scavenger hunts to climbing everything in sight & frozen eyelash photo shoots. Thank you for welcoming me, Odin, my husband, & anyone else I’ve dragged along into your weird little group. We may be a small tribe, but you have the biggest hearts.
Weatherproof! We even workout when it’s -30 C & our eyelashes freeze. Thanks for the photo, Kyle!
Scavenger Hunt
Odin & I with our awesome co-leader, Kyle! (Who supplied many of these great photos!)
Since I have some serious FOMO about missing this McMahon Stadium workout, I hope you’ll all #justshowup for me, & if you were thinking of joining NP, THIS IS YOUR CHANCE. This is what started it all for me. & I’d love to see you’ve joined this fantastic crew when I get back in mid October.
#noexcuses
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