When I started this blog two and a half years ago, I was in search of developing healthier eating habits, and trying to get back into shape after gaining a bunch of weight during my first degree. I was preparing to have surgery for torn ligaments in my leg, and running 5km made me feel exhausted. The idea of running a marathon to me was laughable. After surgery I decided to try and get serious about running. I didn't have any friends that were into running, so I spent a lot of time trying to motivate myself to go running. I ran my first half marathon 1 year exactly after having leg surgery, and to my delight, finished in 2 hours and 7 minutes. After that race I couldn't walk for about a week, and contemplated if I actually was crazy for undertaking something as crazy as running 21.1km for fun.
Fast forward to August 2013. I was still trying very hard to keep running, but school was busy, work was busy and I still hadn't found any friends that were into running. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to keep myself motivated for another winter of running alone. Almost as if on cue I found the perfect solution; November Project (NP). The idea behind NP is simple. Two guys from Boston struggled to stay motivated to keep active over the winter, decided to form an exercise support group and force one another to exercise (you can read the full story here). The beautiful part was that a Canadian Tribe had just been formed, thanks to the recent trade of Andrew Ference (who had been involved with the Boston tribe) from the Boston Bruins to the Edmonton Oilers. So one Friday morning, I got up at 5am, laced up my Asics and stepped way outside my comfort zone and jogged solo over to my very first November Project Canada workout.
At the time I had no idea that I would find so much more than just some people to help keep me active through the winter. Over the last 11 months I've developed amazing running habits, found pleasure in pushing myself running hundreds of sets of stairs, and also become part of an amazing community. November Project is more than the #FreeFitness it touts on Twitter it is a group of like minded people who are crazy and funny and wonderful. It takes that to wake yourself up and be at a workout by 6am three days a week.
If I had never found the courage to lace up my runners and trudge (solo!!) over to run hills with a bunch of people I had never met I really don't know where I would be right now. I certainly never would have trained for or run my first marathon, I definitely would not have signed up for a second marathon and I absolutely would not have Boston Marathon firmly tacked on my bucket list. I also would not have amazing friends to share sweaty hugs with, or to eat oversized bowls of ice cream with (we just went running after all!).
Over the past year that I've spent with November Project Canada I've had the opportunity to meet amazing people, find wonderful training partners, taste the most delicious bread and continue to work on overhauling my lifestyle. My husband thinks I'm a bit crazy, but at the same time says he impressed that some random running thing I heard about on Twitter could change me from a stay-up-late-night-owl-kind-of-person to a wake-up-early-basically-every-morning-to-workout-kind-of-person. I have to say, I'm a bit surprised myself! The first few weeks were definitely a struggle, but a November Project Lifestyle has become my new lifestyle, one which I am incredibly thankful for!
Fast forward to August 2013. I was still trying very hard to keep running, but school was busy, work was busy and I still hadn't found any friends that were into running. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to keep myself motivated for another winter of running alone. Almost as if on cue I found the perfect solution; November Project (NP). The idea behind NP is simple. Two guys from Boston struggled to stay motivated to keep active over the winter, decided to form an exercise support group and force one another to exercise (you can read the full story here). The beautiful part was that a Canadian Tribe had just been formed, thanks to the recent trade of Andrew Ference (who had been involved with the Boston tribe) from the Boston Bruins to the Edmonton Oilers. So one Friday morning, I got up at 5am, laced up my Asics and stepped way outside my comfort zone and jogged solo over to my very first November Project Canada workout.
At the time I had no idea that I would find so much more than just some people to help keep me active through the winter. Over the last 11 months I've developed amazing running habits, found pleasure in pushing myself running hundreds of sets of stairs, and also become part of an amazing community. November Project is more than the #FreeFitness it touts on Twitter it is a group of like minded people who are crazy and funny and wonderful. It takes that to wake yourself up and be at a workout by 6am three days a week.
If I had never found the courage to lace up my runners and trudge (solo!!) over to run hills with a bunch of people I had never met I really don't know where I would be right now. I certainly never would have trained for or run my first marathon, I definitely would not have signed up for a second marathon and I absolutely would not have Boston Marathon firmly tacked on my bucket list. I also would not have amazing friends to share sweaty hugs with, or to eat oversized bowls of ice cream with (we just went running after all!).
Over the past year that I've spent with November Project Canada I've had the opportunity to meet amazing people, find wonderful training partners, taste the most delicious bread and continue to work on overhauling my lifestyle. My husband thinks I'm a bit crazy, but at the same time says he impressed that some random running thing I heard about on Twitter could change me from a stay-up-late-night-owl-kind-of-person to a wake-up-early-basically-every-morning-to-workout-kind-of-person. I have to say, I'm a bit surprised myself! The first few weeks were definitely a struggle, but a November Project Lifestyle has become my new lifestyle, one which I am incredibly thankful for!
