MATT LEAHY like a lot of Active Warriors are training for many spring events. Matt is training for the Vancouver Marathon in May and he ran 32k (20 miles) yesterday.  This marathon is one year almost to the day when I had reconstructive knee surgery, so it’s been a bit of a battle rehabbing and getting back into running shape!  GOOD LUCK Matt!

Saturday morning, ANDREA RISHMAWI and HEATHER HAWKES hiked Cowles Mountain Sn Diego in 45 minutes! Awesome time!

Sunday, some of the Active Hiking Group, ANDREA RISHMAWI, ANDREW COLE, and RYAN DREW hiked Iron Mountain – the boys finished in just under an hour and ten minutes, with Andrea close behind in an 1 hour 15 minutes…best time so far!!  We followed that up with a little light lifting (of bloody mary’s and mimosas that is) at The Shore Club.

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STEVE MAZZA spent quality time with his teenagers camping and hiking in Big Sur last week. The weather and scenery were spectacular!  The waterfall is McKay Falls at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.

MICHELLE ULRICH hiked with her sister while visiting aunt and uncle in Santa Monica and hiked the Backbone (Will Rogers) Trail in Pacific Palisades on Saturday.  It was a great hike!

KRISTI DUBIEL  had an exciting weekend of basketball, baseball and kickball.  I watched KU advance to the Sweet 16 and I also went to the Giants v Milwaukee baseball game.  My kickball team had an undefeated season and we won the division championship game on Thursday night.  We will be heading to Las Vegas in September for Nationals…should be fun J 

STEVE SKINNER AE said No way man, I didn’t sit on my haunches, this cat played rugby again.

As a 38 years old wanna-be jock (notice I didn’t say ex-jock) I made the pilgrimage to Pullman, Washington and participated in the annual “Old Boys Game” where the current Cougar rugby club hosts the Alumni, play them in a match, sell t-shirts, jerseys, hold raffles, etc in order squeeze support money for the youngsters.

It was fun to walk the paths of my old stomping grounds and participate for just a few minutes in a college kegger.  Got a chance to watch the Cougar Men’s basketball team stomp Notre Dame at Pete’s Bar and Grill with some old friends deep in the heart of Cougar Country. 

I am proud to say that in my 13 years of being a WSU Rugby Alumni, the Alumni prevailed 35-7, and yours truly, the oldest man on the pitch, scored the final try against the Cougs right before they head off to California for a play – in match to the National Championship Tourneay. They call it the Sweet 16, a different kind of March Madness…  Long Live Cougar Rugby!

RICHARD NEHER our resident Tennis God did much better than that. He worked at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. During the final 3 days of the Pacific Life Open, which is the 5th largest tennis tournament in the world(after Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open), and features the world second largest tennis stadium with 16,000 seat capacity, I had the privilege to help the Tennis Director, Tom Fey, run a so-called Tri-Level tennis tournament with 190 players from 12 of the 17 USTA Sections. Tri-level tennis teams consist of two players level 3.5, 2 players level 4.0, and 2 players level 4.5. Not only did the Southern California Section win the whole thing and displayed some awesome tennis at a lower level than the celebrities in the big stadium, but we were able to rub shoulders with some big stars, like Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova, Novak Djokovic, Ana Ivanovic, andf Rod Laver. All in all a super weekend of fun work in the sport I love.

TOBY GUILLETTE, Online Community Specialist for Endurance Sports, celebrated Easter in Joshua Tree National Park. It was beautiful as the desert was in bloom and my friends and I camped out under the bright moon and stars. I did a short trail run on Saturday but mostly relaxed and enjoyed the 80 degree weather.