紐約街頭興起晨練快閃族
Where most people see beloved New York locales, John Honerkamp, Paul Leak and their merry band of some 100 followers see prime exercise sites.
在大多數摯愛紐約的人看來，很多地方不過是尋常地點，而約翰·霍納坎普(John Honerkamp)、保羅·利克(Paul Leak)以及約100位快樂的追隨者卻視這些地方爲極佳鍛鍊場所。One morning last year at precisely 6:28, the group descended on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for perhaps the most physical game of Pictionary ever played: Athletes sprinted to pick up clues, held plank poses while team members sketched and performed penalty burpees (an explosive squat/push-up combination) for failing to guess correctly.
去年一個清晨的6點28分，這羣人突然來到大都會藝術博物館的臺階上，他們所進行的看圖猜詞遊戲可能是最劇烈的：運動員們快速跑去撿起提示板，然後在隊友們畫畫時保持平板支撐的姿勢，如果猜錯了，就罰做下蹲俯臥撐。
They have done wall sits and stair runs at Borough Hall, “mountain climbers” outside Gracie Mansion (where security guards cheered them on) and relays around the Lincoln Center fountain (though they were soon asked to leave).
他們在市政廳練習直角坐牆和跑樓梯；在紐約市長官邸格雷西大廈外玩“爬山”遊戲（那裏的保安給他們鼓勁）；在林肯中心噴泉周圍進行接力賽（不過他們很快被要求離開）。
And on a recent 19-degree Friday morning, they used another Midtown fountain for jumps on and off its two-foot-high ledge, although Mr. Leak was already making more ambitious plans for the water.
前不久一個週五的清晨，氣溫只有19華氏度（大致相當於零下7度），他們在中城的另一處噴泉進行跳躍運動，從兩英尺高的噴泉邊緣跳上跳下，不過利克已經爲這裏設計了幾項更有野心的計劃。“This would be perfect for an urban triathlon, but there’s not a Citi Bike station nearby,” mused Mr. Leak, 27, whose later-in-the-day job is event management. “We would entirely get in trouble, but we love that.” (Mr. Leak also has designs on the Staten Island Ferry.)
“要是附近有市政自行車出租站點的話，這裏會成爲城市鐵人三項的完美地點，”27歲的利克若有所思地說道。他的正式工作是會展管理。“我們會徹底陷入麻煩，但是我們很喜歡那樣。”（利克還就斯塔滕島的渡船設計了一些活動。）Mr. Leak and Mr. Honerkamp, 39, are the New York leaders of an early-morning workout flash mob known as the November Project, which began in Boston in 2011 and has since spread to 19 cities in the United States and Canada. It’s a point of pride that the group — not quite running club, not quite boot camp — defies categorization. It blends the intensity of CrossFit, the cultishness of SoulCycle and the weather agnosticism of a Polar Bear swim with the high jinks of an obstacle course and the camaraderie and accountability of a sports team.
利克和39歲的霍納坎普是一個名爲“11月計劃”(November Project)的清晨鍛鍊快閃族的紐約領頭人。該計劃2011年始於波士頓，之後擴散到美國和加拿大的19個城市。它引以爲豪的是，你幾乎無法給它歸類——它既不是跑步俱樂部，也不是訓練營。它融合了CrossFit健身公司的強度、SoulCycle健身公司的狂熱、北極熊游泳俱樂部(Polar Bear)的天氣不可知性，以及障礙訓練的狂歡、體育隊的友情和責任。Workouts in Boston have drawn more than 1,400 people, among them Olympic and professional athletes. Rodale plans to publish a book about the November Project in 2016.
波士頓的健身活動吸引了1400多人，其中包括奧運選手和職業運動員。羅代爾出版社(Rodale)計劃於2016年出版一本關於“11月計劃”的書。Sessions open with members — new exercisers and marathoners alike — being instructed to touch the nose of someone they don’t know and tell the person, “I’m happy you’re here.” Handshakes upon meeting are forbidden; this is a hugs-only zone. And because workouts are free and outdoors, there’s no booking hassle, unforgiving cancellation policy or scramble for a spot. Take that, $35 boutique fitness class. (November Project has recently begun working with sponsors: Last year, North Face was among the companies supporting the group’s annual summit, and beginning next week will team up with it on another project.)
每次鍛鍊前，組織者會引導會員們——鍛鍊新手、馬拉松跑步者等——去觸摸一個他們不認識的人的鼻子，說：“我很高興你能來這兒。”大家不允許見面握手，在這裏只能擁抱。因爲鍛鍊是免費的，在戶外進行，所以沒有預訂的麻煩、苛刻的取消政策或地盤爭奪。想想看，精品健身課程可要35美元一節（“11月計劃”最近開始與贊助商合作：去年，北面[North Face]等公司贊助了該組織的年度峯會。下週起，北面將和該組織合作另一個項目）。Brogan Graham, 32, a former college rowing coach who is one of the group’s founders, said: “Some people need their exercise to be certified and sanctioned and expensive. We just want to have more fun.”
32歲的布羅根·格雷厄姆(Brogan Graham)是該組織的創始人之一，曾是大學划船教練。他說：“有些人需要那種經過認證批准的昂貴的健身項目。我們只是想獲得更多樂趣。”He added, “We’re making people be people and put their” — expletive — “phones down.” (Said phones do reappear at the end for the obligatory postworkout group photo, promptly posted to social media.)
他補充說，“我們讓人迴歸本性，放下該死的手機（他說，鍛鍊結束後手機的確會再次現身，以便拍攝強制性的健身後合影，並立刻發佈到社交媒體上）。”Kaitlin Fuelling, 23, who moved to the Lower East Side from Pasadena, Calif., in 2013, said November Project friendships account for the majority of her social life.
23歲的凱特琳·菲林(Kaitlin Fuelling)2013年從加利福尼亞州帕薩迪納市搬到紐約下東區。她說，在“11月計劃”結交朋友是她的主要社交活動。“I did the stint with a gym, but I was looking for people I could kind of relate to,” Ms. Fuelling said breathlessly between “hoisties” — November Project lingo for squat jumps done while pressing one’s palms against a partner’s. “Everybody thinks it’s a little crazy, but once you go you can’t even explain how much fun you have.” She has kept her membership at 24 Hour Fitness, but “just for the shower.”
“當時，我在一個健身房定期鍛鍊，但是我想尋找能跟我產生共鳴的人，”菲林在蹲起運動(hoisties)的間隙氣喘吁吁地說。hoisties是“11月計劃”的一個內部術語，指兩人一組，交叉握緊雙手，從坐姿升起爲完全站立。“大家都覺得這有點瘋狂，不過一旦你去了，就能獲得說不完的樂趣。”她保留了在24小時健身俱樂部(24 Hour Fitness)的會員身份，不過“只是爲了去那兒洗澡”。Leaders of each city’s tribe, as the November Project calls its affiliates, are volunteers with athletic backgrounds whose only instructions are that locations must be epic and that workouts must start at 6:30 a.m. (or before), be scalable for all levels of fitness — and unpredictable.
每個城市的部落（“11月計劃”這樣稱呼自己的分支）領袖都是有運動員背景的志願者，他們只得到這樣的指示：健身地點必須寬敞，鍛鍊必須在早上6點半（或之前）開始，可以進行各種層次的出人意料的健身活動。In San Francisco, organizers drew a version of the board game Chutes and Ladders on the cement of Alamo Square, requiring different exercises to traverse the board.
在舊金山，組織者們在阿拉莫廣場(Alamo Square)的水泥地上開展了一個類似棋盤遊戲滑梯和梯子(Chutes and Ladders)的活動，參與者必須完成不同的運動才能穿過棋盤。A San Diego session in January involved teams of four pushing Toyota Priuses, with participants instructed to stand between the cars’ rear taillights so feet couldn’t be run over, recalled Mr. Graham, who was visiting at the time. (No one factored in a slight downhill to the course, so the workout involved an extra cardio challenge: chasing runaway cars.)
格雷厄姆回憶說，1月份他去聖迭戈時，參加了那裏的一個活動——四人一組推動豐田普銳斯汽車。參與者按照指示，站在車的兩個尾燈之間，這樣就不會壓到腳（誰也沒料到中間有一段輕緩下坡路，所以那次鍛鍊多了一項有氧運動：追逐下滑的汽車）。Like many crazy ideas, the movement grew out of a late-night bar chat, this one in October 2011, when Mr. Graham and his former Northeastern University rowing teammate Bojan Mandaric, 33, decided to head off the winter tendency to slack on exercise by making a pact to train every day before work the next month. They tracked their workouts on a Google document named the November Project.
和很多瘋狂的想法一樣，該組織也起源於一次深夜酒吧談話。這次談話發生在2011年10月，格雷厄姆和他在美國東北大學的前划船隊友、33歲的博揚·曼達裏奇(Bojan Mandaric)約定在之後的一個月裏，每天上班前訓練，以防冬季越來越懶得動。他們在一個命名爲“11月計劃”的谷歌文檔中追蹤記錄鍛鍊過程。“We thought if we did it, we’d become morning people and also more connected,” Mr. Mandaric said. “Even if it’s your best friend, people get busy. But nobody is busy at 6:30 in the morning.”
“當時我們想，如果我們做到了，那麼我們就能變成晨型人，而且我們的關係也會更密切，”曼達裏奇說，“即使是最好的朋友，有時也會因爲忙碌而疏於聯繫。但是，早上6點半，誰都有空。”As they kept the project running past its intended expiration date, they created a blog and Twitter account, and people they didn’t know began showing up for what became their signature Wednesday morning session: running the stairs of all 37 sections of Harvard Stadium, a workout known as the “full tour.”
在原定的截止日期之後，他們繼續執行這個計劃。他們創立了博客和Twitter賬戶，原先不認識的人也開始出現在他們標誌性的週三晨練中：跑完哈佛大學體育館的全部37組臺階，這項鍛鍊被稱爲“全程遊覽”(full tour)。One early convert — whose huge Twitter following helped spread the November Project gospel — was Andrew Ference, then a defenseman for the Stanley Cup-winning Boston Bruins just trying to stay in shape during the 2012-13 National Hockey League lockout.
安德魯·費倫茨(Andrew Ference)是較早參與“11月計劃”的人之一，他的Twitter賬戶擁有衆多粉絲，幫助擴散了該計劃。當時，費倫茨是斯坦利杯冰球錦標賽(Stanley Cup)冠軍波士頓棕熊隊(Boston Bruins)的防守隊員，他只是想在2012至2013美國全國冰球協會(National Hockey League)停賽期間保持體形。“I didn’t know what was going on with the hugging and hooting and hollering, but everyone was really cool,” said Mr. Ference, who learned of the group from a bicycle shop. “I went and chased these fast dudes around the stadium, and I just kept going back.”
“之前，我不知道他們爲什麼擁抱、喊叫，但是每個人看起來都很酷，”費倫茨說。他是在一個自行車店聽說這個組織的。“後來我也去了，在體育館周圍追逐這些跑得飛快的夥伴，後來就一直參加他們的活動。”He has since moved to Edmonton, Alberta, where he is the captain of the Edmonton Oilers and a November Project leader. He is also the creator of November Project’s most coveted badge of honor: a Boy-Scout-like circle patch with “-30” written in blue. It is given to anyone who shows up to a workout when the thermometer reads that number or below. So far, no November Project workout has ever been canceled because of weather.
他後來搬到加拿大艾伯塔省埃德蒙頓市，擔任埃德蒙頓油工隊(Edmonton Oilers)隊長，也成爲當地“11月計劃”的領頭人。他還創造了該組織最令人豔羨的榮譽徽章：一個童子軍式的圓臂章，上面繡着藍色的“-30”。它授予所有在氣溫低於（或等於）零下30華氏度（大致相當於零下34攝氏度）的天氣參加鍛鍊的人。到目前爲止，還沒有“11月計劃”鍛鍊活動因天氣原因被取消。Anyone who has promised to come (“dropped a verbal,” in November Project parlance), and then doesn’t, appears on the “We Missed You” page of the blog. No matter what the excuse, the November Project makes it look as if the absentee was out partying by pulling old photos from a Facebook page that show him or her drinking or eating nachos. It is a shame theory of accountability that featured in a TEDx talk Mr. Graham and Mr. Mandaric gave recently.
任何答應要來（用“11月計劃”的話說是“留下口信”）但是沒來的人都會出現在該組織博客的“我們想念你”(We Missed You)頁面。不管因何種原因未能赴約，“11月計劃”都會弄得好像缺席者是出去玩了，該組織從缺席者的Facebook網頁上找到他們之前喝酒或吃奶酪玉米片的舊照片，放到“我們想念你”頁面上。這是格雷厄姆和曼達裏奇前不久在TED大會上演講的主題——責任羞恥理論。“It’s in jest but it works,” said Peter Kruse, 27, who lives in Midtown. This winter, he arrived three minutes late to a workout when the wind chill was minus 10 because the ski goggles he wore had fogged up and he missed a turn. The group had left, but Mr. Kruse raced to catch up.
“那是開玩笑，但是很管用，”27歲的彼得·克魯澤(Peter Kruse)說。他住在紐約中城。去年冬天的一個早上，寒風凜冽，氣溫只有零下10華氏度，他的滑雪護目鏡起霧了，所以他錯過了一個路口，遲到了三分鐘。大部隊已經離開，但是克魯澤快跑追上了。“That was a real low point,” Mr. Kruse said.
“那真是讓人沮喪，”克魯澤說。To start a chapter in a new city, there is a strict pledge process. (At least it’s strict by November Project’s freewheeling standards.) Aspiring leaders spend a year proving they can attract a following before they are allowed to use the November Project name. They start with a Wednesday morning workout — Wednesday because no one is recovering from the weekend or getting on a plane for a coming weekend — and eventually add Fridays, then Mondays. They are encouraged to start in the dead of winter, to attract a core group of die-hards, because summer members can be fair-weather participants.
要在一個新城市開分部，需要經過嚴格的證明過程（至少以“11月計劃”鬆散的標準看，算是挺嚴格的）。有抱負的領頭人要用一年時間證明自己能夠吸引追隨者，然後才能使用“11月計劃”的名頭。他們先從週三晨練做起——因爲在週三，人們不會尚未從週末的散漫狀態中恢復過來，也不會早起搭飛機開始週末旅行。最後加上週五和週一。他們被鼓勵在冬天最寒冷的時候開始，以吸引一批鐵桿核心成員，因爲那些在夏季參加活動的人可能只在天氣好的時候參加。On a recent Friday, about 30 members of the New York group, most of them in gear spray-painted with the graffiti-like November Project logo, huddled in a passageway in Midtown near the Fox News studio.
前不久的一個週五，紐約分部的約30名成員在中城福克斯新聞演播室附近的地下通道里擠作一團。大部分人臉上噴着塗鴉風格的“11月計劃”標識。They warmed up by jumping up and down, turning in midair and yelling “Fox” on the ascent and “Friends” when they landed. They ran past Radio City Music Hall calling to people they passed to “have a spectacular day,” and they face-planted on the concrete after their arm muscles failed from seven minutes of push-ups and triceps dips before 7 a.m.
他們的熱身方式是上下跳躍，在空中轉身，跳起時大喊“狐狸”(Fox)，落下時大喊“朋友”(Friends)。他們跑過廣播城音樂廳(Radio City Music Hall)時，對遇見的行人大聲說“祝你這一天過得精彩”。七點前，在練完七分鐘俯臥撐和支撐臂屈伸(triceps dips)後，他們的臂部肌肉實在撐不住了，一頭栽到水泥地面上。Mr. Honerkamp urged them closer. “We need subway close; we need the 6 train close,” he yelled. “If anyone’s new, it might be a little awkward, but that’s the point.”
霍納坎普鼓勵他們擠得更緊些。“我們要像擠地鐵那樣靠近，像在晚高峯地鐵上那樣擠，”他喊道，“新來的人可能覺得有點不好意思，但我們的目的就是讓你不再不好意思。”
