Portland

If you've purchased something from our store recently, you may have noticed that stuff is shipping from Portland, OR.

Why Portland? Let's step back a few years...

Seven years ago I was exactly where I wanted to be.

I was teaching Spanish part time at Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) in Traverse City, and leading up the team at Endurance Evolution.  I was born and raised in Traverse City, and had returned after graduate school at Michigan State University a few years prior. Life seemed to be settling into a comfortable direction.

I was dating a fantastic woman, and had a cool cat named Pawl. That woman I was dating soon became my fiancée. Her name is Laura.

Then, Laura accepted a job in Portland, Oregon. 

Damn. Now what?

The answer: get comfortable being a little uncomfortable. Adapt. Figure out a new normal. Nothing terribly new to me as a runner.

Laura moved out to Portland in summer 2014, and we were a long-distance couple until I joined her for the winter of 2015. I had to leave my teaching position at NMC, and had to start figuring out how to keep Endurance Evolution chugging along while I was in the Pacific Northwest for the winter.

Fast forward a few years, and Endurance Evolution is going strong, and Laura and I are married with two fantastic little girls. I've felt quite like a ping pong ball, travelling back and forth between Traverse City and Portland, so much that I've acheived elite status on United Airlines the past few years. As you can tell from the photo at the top, travel life isn't always glamarous.

Then 2020 hit, and I knew it was finally time for me to make Traverse City Run Co. a reality 

I've spent a lot more time in Portland over the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and I feel beyond fortunate that I can even live this ping-pong lifestyle. Thanks to the Internet I can do my work from anywhere, and right now that anywhere is Portland. But I can't wait to get back home to Traverse City more as soon as (fingers crossed!) the global pandemic cools down.