3 Days Away from Adventure

8-19-14

Sitting at a coffee shop in small-town Bellefontaine, Ohio in mid-August, I realize that my adventure is finally coming together.  I’ve been prepping and planning for this trip for four months, and while the destinations and road-trip roster have changed a few times since the start, my goals have remained the same- to simply see this country and beyond, and to meet interesting new people who challenge and inspire me.  The platform through which this will happen is CrossFit, an activity (or sport?) that I’ve grown to appreciate immensely since I began doing it in November of 2013.

Together with my girlfriend Alexa, I’m traveling from gym to gym- or in CrossFit parlance, box to box- to both seek adventure and stay in good shape.  I was a baseball player in my not so distant past and when my dreams of going pro in that sport faded I turned my attention to CrossFit, where millions of participants have grown comfortable with the idea that ‘normal’ involves them laying on their backs, drenched in sweat and gasping for air.  I’m sure I echo the voice of CrossFitters everywhere when I say that the sport is unlike any physical challenge I’ve ever encountered; I’m consistently finding out what my body and mind are capable of, approaching assumed limits and breaking through them.  I’ve thought of myself as an athlete since I took my first steps, but never in my twenty-four years have I felt as ‘athletic’ as I do now.

Call it post-college rebel behavior, call it wanderlust; I just need a change.  Mind-numbing stints as a substitute teacher and high school baseball coach in the last year have only quenched my thirst for travel.  Alexa and I are facing our fair share of doubters and detractors, but they haven’t done much to sway our commitment to this project.  If we run out of money and must stop somewhere to work, we will.  If we get into an argument about what we are going to eat or where we are going to stay, we’ll deal with it.  Being an athlete my entire life has taught me not to let all the petty bullshit that comes my way in life distract me from my goals.

Part social experiment, part personal odyssey, we hope to keep any and all readers updated about our travels, good or bad.  The distance and duration of this trip remains to be seen, but we’ll keep working out as long as the will to do so stays the same as it is today.   I haven’t felt this excited or passionate about something since diving on damp outfield grass after a fly ball was the norm.  Alexa and I look forward to sharing the details of “The Trip” every step of the way and welcome all comments and/or suggestions from those kind enough to read this blog!

-Zach

CrossFit- where you can repeatedly say ‘nice snatch’ and not feel dirty