New Balance / This is Runnovation: November Project

/ New Balance / This is Runnovation: November Project

 

I’m particularly proud of this project. It documents a local fitness movement that’s caught fire right here in our own back yard. November Project was started by a pair of former Northeastern University rowers, Brogan Graham and Bojan Mandaric, who simply wanted to motivate one another to get outside and keep moving during the bleak New England winters. In less than a year, it grew from a single-digit handful of participants into 300 to 500 per workout. Three days a week. 6:30 AM. Rain or shine, Hell or high water.

Along the way, they’ve been featured in Runner’s World, Outside Magazine, on NPR, and scores of other media outlets.

Boston, for those who’ve never lived here, is an exceedingly insular place. It keeps you at an arm’s length. “Good fences make good neighbors,” goes the New England proverb. But November Project begins and ends with hugs. Sweaty hugs, no less. It’s about fitness, but it’s about community, warmth, and friendship, more than anything else. Birthdays are celebrated with crowd surfing. Workouts are concluded with group photos. Fierce competition and mutual encouragement are doled out in equal portions. You will laugh. You will dry heave. You will get stronger.

I love our partners at New Balance for getting behind this project and these people.