I seriously woke-up feeling like crap. The nice thing about morning routines is being able to ignore feelings and just go through the motions on auto-pilot. You’re not quite awake, nor really want to be, but each step reminds you of the next, and in about 10-15 minutes you can be ready to get outside to workout. At that point you’re more awake from all the moving around, and with fewer things in your way (excuses), you can really check-in with yourself to see if you’re actually not well, or just having a tough morning. This morning I wasn’t sure which it was. Didn’t sleep well, and I distinctly remember thinking, I’m glad no one else has to wake up to me being like this (perhaps the contrary is a good indicator, when you wake up like that, and know you’re not burdening the other person, because you yourself would feel supportive, not burdened at all, if it was reversed). I’d already “verballed” to several @Nov_Project_SF friends that I would be at Monday’s workout, and that was enough to get me out the door, telling myself that if I still felt bad when I got to Fort Mason I could just stretch or do my own workout. Plus today was a shirt tagging day. I arrived at the Great Meadow a little late, catching the tail end of the workout description. We were told to partner up and I just paused a bit while people paired up around me. I saw Mitch, one of the most positive and encouraging people in NP (not to mention fast, and a great hugger), holding his hand up so I walked up to him, tapped him on the shoulder, and asked him what the workout was. We were doing the Huffman (the second workout I ever did @Nov_Project_SF, ttk.me/b/4Yy2#huffman) and the running part consisted mostly of stairs, down to the Fort Mason parking lot, back up to the bike path, then up a flight of stairs from the Great Meadow to a wooded clearing, then back to the bike path. Ironically I find stairs to be easier, because it seems like nearly nobody likes stairs, so I can keep up with people if I just push myself a bit. I took stairs first, the first set of which were downhill, easy, leaving Mitch to start with box jumps. By the time I finished the first running/stairs loop, I had forgotten what it was or why I felt bad. It was a beautiful day outside, the temperature was perfect, and the morning sun was giving everything (and everyone) a warm orange glow. Mitch & I knocked out our 10 hoistees, yelling out “Hoistee!” in unison each time. Box jumps are not my favorite, so I modified and mechanically did alternating step-ups until we hoisteed and swapped-off again. Next iteration was dips, which are one of my favorites, except it’s pretty tough doing them continuously for 2-3 minutes so I ended up doing 25, then four sets of 10. Next leg lifts, which I’ve practiced ever since the first @Nov_Project_NYC destination deck to Union Square back in July of 2014 had us do 100 total which gave me sore abs for days. Knocked out 60 while Mitch ran his loop. The stairs were getting harder and I was succumbing to using my hands to push down on my thighs while climbing (not sure why that seems to help but it does). Finally sergeant lunges, which were wobbly at best until our leaders called time. I realized that after a 25 minute workout I felt totally fine. Whatever I had felt earlier was gone, shaken out by all those reps & steps. The sun was shining brightly, and everyone was smiling. Thanks @Nov_Project. Photo tags: #NPSF #grassrootsgear #wakeupthesun #novemberproject #fromwhereirun #heysweatdaily #nofilter

I seriously woke-up feeling like crap.

The nice thing about morning routines is being able to ignore feelings and just go through the motions on auto-pilot. You’re not quite awake, nor really want to be, but each step reminds you of the next, and in about 10-15 minutes you can be ready to get outside to workout.

At that point you’re more awake from all the moving around, and with fewer things in your way (excuses), you can really check-in with yourself to see if you’re actually not well, or just having a tough morning.

This morning I wasn’t sure which it was. Didn’t sleep well, and I distinctly remember thinking, I’m glad no one else has to wake up to me being like this (perhaps the contrary is a good indicator, when you wake up like that, and know you’re not burdening the other person, because you yourself would feel supportive, not burdened at all, if it was reversed).

I’d already “verballed” to several @Nov_Project_SF friends that I would be at Monday’s workout, and that was enough to get me out the door, telling myself that if I still felt bad when I got to Fort Mason I could just stretch or do my own workout. Plus today was a shirt tagging day.

I arrived at the Great Meadow a little late, catching the tail end of the workout description. We were told to partner up and I just paused a bit while people paired up around me. I saw Mitch, one of the most positive and encouraging people in NP (not to mention fast, and a great hugger), holding his hand up so I walked up to him, tapped him on the shoulder, and asked him what the workout was.

We were doing the Huffman (the second workout I ever did @Nov_Project_SF, ttk.me/b/4Yy2#huffman) and the running part consisted mostly of stairs, down to the Fort Mason parking lot, back up to the bike path, then up a flight of stairs from the Great Meadow to a wooded clearing, then back to the bike path.

Ironically I find stairs to be easier, because it seems like nearly nobody likes stairs, so I can keep up with people if I just push myself a bit. I took stairs first, the first set of which were downhill, easy, leaving Mitch to start with box jumps.

By the time I finished the first running/stairs loop, I had forgotten what it was or why I felt bad. It was a beautiful day outside, the temperature was perfect, and the morning sun was giving everything (and everyone) a warm orange glow. Mitch & I knocked out our 10 hoistees, yelling out “Hoistee!” in unison each time.

Box jumps are not my favorite, so I modified and mechanically did alternating step-ups until we hoisteed and swapped-off again. Next iteration was dips, which are one of my favorites, except it’s pretty tough doing them continuously for 2-3 minutes so I ended up doing 25, then four sets of 10.

Next leg lifts, which I’ve practiced ever since the first @Nov_Project_NYC destination deck to Union Square back in July of 2014 had us do 100 total which gave me sore abs for days. Knocked out 60 while Mitch ran his loop. The stairs were getting harder and I was succumbing to using my hands to push down on my thighs while climbing (not sure why that seems to help but it does). Finally sergeant lunges, which were wobbly at best until our leaders called time.

I realized that after a 25 minute workout I felt totally fine. Whatever I had felt earlier was gone, shaken out by all those reps & steps.

The sun was shining brightly, and everyone was smiling.

Thanks @Nov_Project.

Photo tags: #NPSF #grassrootsgear #wakeupthesun #novemberproject #fromwhereirun #heysweatdaily #nofilter