I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to try this free workout - and I can't wait to go back

On Wednesday morning, I ran 3.6 miles along the East River in Manhattan. I did squats while holding hands with complete strangers. Then I shouted my name as loud as my lungs would allow and hugged dozens of sweaty people I had never met before.

I did it all before the sun came up ... and I cannot wait to do it again.

Welcome to the November Project, an outdoor workout that combines cardio and cross-training for a twice-weekly program and costs absolutely nothing to attend.

Just show up

The November Project started in Boston nearly four years ago as as month-long challenge between former college athletes Bojan Mandaric and Brogan Graham. Slowly, more people started showing up to their workouts and the project expanded to cities outside of Boston and now includes workouts all-year-round.

Today, there are NP groups, or "tribes" as they prefer to be called, in over 25 cities in the United States and Canada. I caught up with the New York City tribe, which has a core group of about 75 members ranging from 20 to 40-years-old. The tribe is full of Olympians, triathletes, and marathoners, so it's safe to say I was nervous about keeping up.

Checking out their website and Facebook page, I started to get a better sense of what NP is all about: accountability. Tribe members are invited to "drop a verbal," pledging to show up to a particular workout. If you don't show, be prepared to be humorously shamed on the "we missed you" section of the website.

But the best info I found online was the NP motto: "Just show up."

So, with camera in hand and hot pink Asics on my feet, that's what I did.

Here's what it was like.