Boston-Origin 'November Project' Takes Nation's Capital By Storm

You heard it here, first: That the November Project — the free, early-morning "fitness tribe" that is the brainchild of two Boston-based crew buddies — would go far.

(What is the November Project? If you're asking that, you're probably not a young, fit Bostonian, because the NP is already legend in Beantown. Here's the full backstory: Two Guys Walk Into A Bar And A Free Fitness Movement Is Born, and the movement has now spread to multiple cities across four time zones and counting.)

Now here it is emblazoned across the virtual pages of the leading newspaper in our nation's capital: "November Project: Hugs and Fitness." According to the Post, of the 17 fitness "tribes" that have been launched in various cities, the D.C. contingent is second in size only to the mother of all tribes here in Boston. It's gathering hundreds to its early-morning workouts — documented in lovely Post photos of burpees against a Washington Monument background. One cannot help but note that the denizens of the cutthroat political culture of D.C. might be particularly in need of both hard muscles and hugs.

The November Project members don't believe in handshakes, the story notes:

What they do believe in is the grass-roots movement started in 2011 in Boston by Brogan Graham and Bojan Mandaric, two former Northeastern University rowers who made a pact to exercise together throughout the month of November (hence the name). When friends — and, eventually, strangers — began to join them as they ran the stairs of Harvard Stadium, they decided they didn’t just want to get stronger and faster. They had a new goal.
“We want to change the way people see fitness,” Mandaric says.

How far will this thing go? To quote Bojan Mandaric from our 2012 story: "I have no idea..."