Our Story

Drawn Together By a Passion for Health and Fitness in the City of Santa Ana

The three founders of SAEA, Alfredo, Andy, and Brian’s paths all crossed for the first time at 5:00am on Wednesday, January 9th, 2013, at the very first PayanX workout, a community fitness program in downtown Santa Ana.

Brian and Alfredo had been working together at KidWorks in Santa Ana and running a community fitness program there that they had launched called FitWorks. They were excited to hear about this new thing called PayanX that was going to be starting in a Downtown Santa Ana alley in the pre-dawn hours of the workweek. They were eager to meet like-minded people passionate about fitness in the City of Santa Ana.

Andy was browsing Facebook that first week of January, and came across a post from a high school classmate of his, Santa Ana Councilwoman Michele Martinez. She had a post promoting PayanX to the community. Being an avid runner and passionate about the health and fitness of his city, it caught his interest and he decided to check out PayanX that very first day.

In a downtown Santa Ana alley just south of 4th and Main St., at 5:00am on January 9, 2013, these 3 guys, along with a small group of about 6 others, met and worked out together for the first time. Little did they know what the years would bring; deep friendships and partnerships, and what are now countless workouts and endurance events done together, shoulder to shoulder.

Over the past seven years there have been many dreams discussed over long runs, long rides, and lots of cups of coffee. “What would it look like to start an academy in Santa Ana propelled by a mission to see the community transformed through fitness training?” Seeds were planted that needed time to be watered and grow. Those seeds have now grown into fruition, with Santa Ana Endurance Academy formally launching in the Spring of 2021, 8 years after the first time these four guys met and worked out together in a dark alley in Downtown Santa Ana.