The city that never sleeps. Termed initially for New York, but very fitting for Las Vegas, Nevada. Perfect for a crew of seven guys who’ve been living out of an RV for exactly two weeks and have been sleeping very little.

Prior to even arriving in Vegas, we hit a little bump in the road (to the cure), which literally blew one of the RV tires in the middle of nowhere desert in Arizona. Stranded amongst mountains and cacti, we waited for over an hour to have the tire swapped out and get back on the road. After the tires were all fixed up, we tipped the responder the most awesome way possible, with a whole case of Kill Cliff!

No worries though, right? When we finally do get to Vegas, we have three free rooms for two night at the MGM Grand. Of course, thirty minutes before we show up, a worker ran into a power line and took the power for the entire hotel and casino. Sitting in the lobby, we were just happy to get out of the crammed RV and into some AC. Once the rooms were finally ready at two am, we all went up and crashed. 

The next day was a bit up in the air, as there was a minor miscommunication between us and CrossFit Las Vegas. They had posted Barbara as their WOD and weren’t expecting us until 4. So we slept in and spent a little time roasting by the pool in the desert hot sun. Once we arrived at CFLV a few hours later, they were extremely accommodating and flipped their script to salvage our WOD to the Cure. In the end they brought out some awesome people and we raised over $700 in the last minute. Thanks to Vili, Mike, Joe and all the others that came out to support SeeFit. 

In line with the opening phrase of this post, the crew had a YOLO inspired night as we roamed the strip…

Back on the road today on our way to California for our last WOD to the Cure event at CrossFit Balboa in Newport Beach. As we drive we’re constantly checking twitter posts, listening to the live feed from the Games, and calling and texting friends that are already there keeping tabs on the athletes as they fight through the grueling events of day one. 

As we reach two full weeks on the road, it all culminates at The 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games. The posts may slow down a bit as we’re locked into the leader board and at the Home Depot Center cheering on our favorite athletes. I can’t say it enough, THANK YOU. Thank you to every single person that’s ever even read the word SeeFit and even more so to all those that have lent their support. The road has been an amazing one and one that no one will ever forget. Possibly the beginning of a very long future on the Road to the Cure. Please feel to contact us in regards to anything we’ve been doing, and things you think we could be doing better, as we may make this SeeFit’s first annual Road to the Cure trip to The CrossFit Games!

Optimum Performance Training.Owned by James “OPT” Fitzgerald, the first ever winner of The CrossFit Games in 2007. Since then, he’s made quite the impact on the CrossFit community and caused quite a stir fairly recently after disaffiliating. James and his partner Max cleared their Monday schedule and welcomed us to their impressive facility in Scottsdale, AZ. 

A brief introduction from James as soon as we walked in gave us an idea of how much his perception of CrossFit, the Games, and general fitness, deviated from the norm. We all got in our own separate workouts and when all had released a proper amount of endorphins, they treated us to a great lunch and great conversation near by. 

After picking his brain for at least an hour with one answer to a question leading into the formation of another, I told James I felt as if my mind had been blown. He smiled, slapped his hand lightly on the table, and said that’s exactly what he was hoping for. 

http://optexperience.com/blog/item/july-10-2012

The OPT crew was kind enough to feature SeeFit and the Road to the Cure team on their incredibly popular blog. 

On the drive from Scottsdale to Las Vegas afterwards, we all talked about how cool Max and James were and how much enjoyed their new perceptions on things we’d never even thought of. Thanks to James, Max, and Natalie, we’ll certainly keep in touch!

This is us.

Seven hours left of the fifteen hour drive from Austin to Scottsdale. 

nohlsen:

SeeFit’s next stop on the Road to the Cure 2012!

OPT.

CrossFit Cental. One of the oldest, most well known, and successful CrossFit gyms in the nation. SeeFit stop #11. 

This is one that we were all looking forward to and expecting a big turnout from. In itself, it was pretty cool showing up to be greeted by Jeremy Theil (3rd place in the 2008 CrossFit Games), Carey Kepler (1st place in the 2011 South Central Regional), and the rest of their badass team that qualified for the Games this year. Carey brought a high energy that got us all pumped from the get-go. 

More and more people from surrounding gyms showed up and before we knew it, we had a packed house! After Jeremy’s enthusiastic and heartfelt introduction, we got the ball rolling and as always, saw some awesome stuff. “Bike Mike,” whom a few of us had seen in videos performing crazy feats of athleticism, set our high score on the row for calories with a huge 66 in just 2 minutes! As each member of the SeeFit team manned and judged our respective stations, we got to know a lot of the people competing. 

Once the event was wrapped up, Noah squeezed in one of the recently released Games WODs (3 rounds for time of 8 split snatch (115), 7 bar muscle-ups, and 400 meter run) with the Road to Games crew that showed up mid way through the event. Interested to see how his 8:30 time holds up against all of the Games athletes in less than a week!

All in all, another great event and afterwards we met up with the Central crew at Sam’s Boat to watch Anderson Silva successfully defend his title for the 10th time. Thanks to Jeremy, Carey, Ingrid, and all the others that lent a hand in supporting SeeFit’s Road to the Cure. Day 12 holds a grueling 16 hour drive from Austin, Texas to Scottsdale, Arizona. The drive should pay off when we get to spend the next afternoon at OPT to “get comfortable with the uncomfortable” and work with the 1st ever CrossFit Games champ, James Fitzgerald. Keep following our journey, almost there!

https://vimeo.com/43925221

Day ten, stop ten. CrossFit West Houston. Our day began with a six am start, after a mere three or four hours of sleep. Once we arrived our game faces came on and we were well received by Leah Shullenberger. A regionals competitor herself, she was doing some back squats while we set up shop. Leah completed six of the eight stations before she had to run to a meeting, and I’m going out on a limb here saying she may have snagged that 1st place spot had she finished all eight stations. There was a possibility that her boyfriend, Aja Barto would stop by, but with prepping himself for the Games being just a week away, he didn’t make it. 

Either way, we hit it off with their regular noon crew and headed out for the “orange plate special” at H.E.B. which, by the way, was delicious, healthy, and cheap…

Thank you to all the cool people of CrossFit West Houston that came out to give the WOD a shot on a Friday afternoon and support a good cause! 

We wrapped up with their afternoon classes and even got in a little workout with a couple of their trainers afterwards. Now off to Austin, Texas for a BIG WOD 2 the Cure event at CrossFit Central! Hoping for a big Texas turnout and another great day. Some of the Games WODs were announced this afternoon, so we may try out one or two of them. Stay tuned!

Best day yet. Nothing against anywhere we stopped before, there was just so much that played into yesterday and culminated into this day. 

The day began at CrossFit Denham Springs. A classic, smaller, garage style gym out in the country. With an intimate group, we were able to follow and judge athletes from station to station. Midway through the first class, we had the pleasure of meeting Morgan McGraw and her daughter Olivia. Olivia has a congenital condition called Batten Disease. They came out to suppose SeeFit here in Denham Springs, LA. Olivia is one of 500 children WORLDWIDE effected by this progressive and often fatal condition. With such similar causes, it was great to meet them and have their support. 

CrossFit Lake Charles. After wrapping up at Denhman Springs at noon and grabbing some lunch, these gents made their way here. Pulling into the parking lot, we didn’t know what to expect, but even if we had, they would have been far surpassed. 

We all hit it off right away with the owner, Ashley Navarre, and members started to trickle in. With some SERIOUS athletes, there was an incredibly intense atmosphere right off the bat. Mitch Sawyer put up our record clean and jerk at 335, Megan Norris landed herself on top of the Women’s RX division, and a multitude of others from all ages had impressive performances. There was a warm feeling in the air and while we’d all just met, we felt like we were a part of their community. 

To top it all off, the SeeFit team was invited to dinner, a concert, and an after party at the L’Auberge Hotel and Casino. Short and sweet; we ate a lot of great food (which we haven’t been doing much of), did a little dancing in the VIP section behind the stage, and got back to the RV for a couple hours of sleep. 

Simply put, once again everyone was awesome. THANK YOU to Brad Patti of CrossFit Denham Springs, Ashley Navarre and everyone at CrossFit Lake Charles, and everyone at CrossFit Lake Charles South, who ran the WOD 2 the Cure event independently and brought us a $500 dollar check. In total we made over $2,000 on that Thursday. 

nohlsen:

CrossFit Lake Charles. 

Best. Stop. Yet.

Details to come…

Today makes one week since we left our quaint little hometown of Miami, FL. Since then we’ve stopped at four different gyms, three Universities, two RV parks, two hotels, and one fire station. We’ve entered scores for almost 400 athletes. Most importantly, we’ve raised well over $3,000 for SeeFit thus far. A heart felt THANK YOU from our team goes out to everyone that’s helped in any way. We are truly on the “Road to the Cure”.

Another first for the week: sleeping in. We all enjoyed a nice full night’s sleep with no obligations for the early morning. Our first order of business was to meet Will and Ross; the owners of CrossFit Mobile to workout before running the WOD 2 the Cure for their members. We hit a nasty one with some heavy clean and jerks, handstand pushups, chest to bar pullups, and snatches. With that out of the way and everyone feeling good, we ran through the stations as easily as ever. I think we’re learning as we go in that regard. Setup, judging and entering scores are all becoming faster and easier.

With the 4th of July tomorrow, many people had already checked out for vacation, and Will and Ross weren’t expecting much of a turnout. To all of our surprise, there was an awesome showing and we consistently raised just under $1,000!

Hangin’ out at CrossFit Mobile.

I know we keep saying it, but everyone we meet is just so damn NICE! Hoping the southern hospitality doesn’t end when we cross the Alabama border. Either way, we’re currently en route for New Orleans and giddy with excitement at the opportunity to celebrate the Fourth of July in such a notoriously celebratory city. 

We’ll be hosting the WOD 2 the Cure tomorrow morning at CrossFit NOLA from 9am-12 noon. If you or anyone you know lives near the area, please stop by to support and hang out! Again, thanks to the guys of CrossFit Mobile and everyone that’s following our progress and supporting our journey.