Welcome to The Eternal Pursuit
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Welcome to The Eternal Pursuit

Posted by on Dec 31, 2012 in Travel | 41 comments

#TheEternalPursuit

The eternal pursuit of excellence is something that weighs heavily on every human’s mind. We spend our lives seeking to be the best that we can be in the things that make us happiest. Whether that’s true love, career, material goods, children, travel, recreation, fitness, hobbies, sport, or the arts, we all have something that makes our lives worth living.

Our pursuit has taken a drastic turn for 2013. We sold our cars, gave away all of our furniture and most of other possessions, sold our house, entrusted the day-to-day operations of CrossFit Verve to our partners, and we moved into an Airstream with our two dogs. It’s pretty unbelievable that everything we now own fits into the bed of our truck and in our aluminum shelled home. I’m sure this begs the question, why?

Leaving Denver in our new truck and trailer.

Leaving Denver in our new truck and trailer.

Let’s rewind to a few years back. Cherie and I met in Winter Park, Colorado in 2000 while working for Winter Park Resort. She started as a night cleaner at a restaurant called Snoasis, where I had been employed for three winter breaks while in college. We didn’t immediately hit it off, but we did become friends, spending a lot of time skiing (100 days per season) in the winter and climbing and mountain biking in the summer months. Eventually, we fell for each other and married in July 2006. Recreational sports are one of the things that fostered our love for one another.

In 2007, I started my career as a Firefighter/EMT in the Denver metro area, while Cherie pursued studies to become a nurse. That’s when a co-worker introduced me to CrossFit, which Cherie and I tried the workouts on CrossFit.com at the local globo-gym. Not looking back, we swapped our body-building routine of chest/triceps on Mondays and Thursdays, back/biceps on Tuesdays and Fridays, and cardio/abs on Wednesday for the 3-on/1-off schedule that CrossFit.com prescribed. Off days were often spent pursuing outdoor recreation, though that began to take a back seat to the convenience and results we got from CrossFit.

In Santa Fe, super excited about filling our propane tanks, which are 15# each.

In Santa Fe, super excited about filling our propane tanks, which are 15# each.

In early 2008, both Cherie and I attended a CrossFit Level 1 Certificate Course as more of a right of passage than having any intention of training athletes. That soon changed as I told everyone who would listen about CrossFit and the results I was seeing. Our friends, co-workers, and neighbors wanted to train in our garage gym with us when they saw our training sessions. This was the beginning of CrossFit Verve, our gym and primary focus for the next four years.

Ask any CrossFit affiliate owner and they’ll probably tell a similar story of their first couple of years. What seemed like an easy business to open and operate, became the most time and energy consuming venture one can imagine. Training athletes for eight hours a day, seeking sources for new athletes, looking for larger spaces to facilitate the growth, coming up with the money to fund the equipment and renovations for expansion, hiring and training new trainers, payroll and book keeping, updating the website… and fucking up and learning from your mistakes. We maintained jobs while building CrossFit Verve, myself as a career Firefighter and part-timer at REI and Cherie as a night shift EMT on the Oncology floor at Children’s Hospital in Denver. The days of outdoor recreation were few and far between and CrossFit became more and more convenient because of its relatively short duration.

With no particular place to go, Starbucks is often a stop along the way.

With no particular place to go, Starbucks is often a stop along the way.

Fast forward to June 2012, Cherie and I had just competed in the Southwest Regionals in Denver. CrossFit Verve is flourishing in its 6,800sqft location with its terrific athletes and terrific trainers and we have a couple of awesome partners. We rarely train classes now, focusing mostly on business development and training our trainers to be the best in the Denver metro area, which they most certainly are. The CrossFit Games are and have been a major focus of my life on a daily basis and outdoor recreation is limited to trail runs and the occasional mountain bike ride as an active recovery day.

After Regionals, we decided to go climbing at Turkey Rocks, a series of granite formations in the mountains near Deckers, Colorado. It’s a two hour drive from Denver, which we spent talking about how we need to do things like this (climbing day trips) more often. When we arrived, we had the place to ourselves on a cool bluebird day. We climbed four or five routes, spending lots of time laughing and making fun of lack of technique. When our arms, ankles, and hands could take no more, we packed up and drove home.

On the drive home, we were grinning from ear to ear asking ourselves why we don’t spend more days like this. We started talking about a plan to back away from the gym, going full-time with CrossFit HQ on the seminar staff, and moving into an airstream and traveling the country. In the car that night, we weighed the pro’s and con’s and discussed the plausibility of such a daring plan. If retirees can do it, why can’t we? Our biggest concerns were the business, my training for the CrossFit Games, and our dog’s well being. We set a timeline of 7-9 months to get our affairs in order, sell everything, buy an airstream and diesel truck, and push off on our first trip.

Workouts have become dirty affairs again.... and we love it!

Workouts have become dirty affairs again…. and we love it!

Believe it or not, we were able to stick to our timeline. We own a 2011 28′ Airstream International towed by a 2013 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD and that’s about it. We will continue to train for the CrossFit Games while on the road with our mobile gym, but adding the variety of daily outdoor recreational sports. We don’t have an itinerary of stops or a length of time we plan to be on the road. Are we worried about our dogs? Yes! But, with our expenses being lowered, Bosley and Roxy will surely spend their weekends in the finest of accommodations.  Are we worried about CrossFit Verve?  Considering our amazing partners, Mas and Joylyn Godinez, and our incredible staff – we know our friends/family/athletes at CrossFit Verve will be in good hands.

This is the beginning of our newest adventure along our eternal pursuit.  You can keep up with us by checking this site, following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.  We would also like to hear about your eternal pursuit, so comment and send us stories or pictures. Let us know places we should go and people we should meet.