If you haven't already be sure to join the ActiveX Charity Challenge.

BURT REPINE SD office said all his ActiveX workouts of just the right mix (shameless plug) I finished 4th overall and 2nd in my age group at the Xterra Black Mountain 5K Trail Run on Sunday.

STEPHEN BRANSTETTER, GM of Camps Bothell caught "the stair climbers cough" this weekend participating in the Big Climb for Leukemia (69 floor stair climb) in Seattle. Beating his goal time of 9:19 he completed the 1311 steps in 8 minutes and 58 seconds good for 13th place out of 2918 racers. He sends a special thanks out to Robbie Rech (Foundations) and Jake Cooney (Marketing) for help training.

EDNA CASTANEDA (Active NYC=Account Manager-Account Management & Operations) was accompanied by her consistent cheering team and of course the top cheerleader Guapo (pictured in photo) on Sunday for Nestle Beverages St. Paddy’s 10 Miler Race. The course was all hills and the weather was great!

DAK JORDAN, Account Executive in Educate, and his brother Derek went fly fishing on the Yakima River in Central Washington.  We landed 12 rainbow trout on our trip and released all of them...even the record setting fish we didn't get a picture of.

TRACY ROJAS SAYS What a difference a day makes! I saw it all in Mammoth this weekend.  From beautiful, sunny spring conditions in the 50's on Friday, to snowy conditions on 16 inches of fresh powder on Sunday. It was an epic weekend of snowboarding.

KICKBALL - Friday afternoon there was a showdown on the kickball field between Team Endurance (Jenni Miller, Lauren Dachille, Michelle Ulrich, Jennifer Romine, Jason Chicoine, Jeff Fallis, Michael Wilson, Josie Donnelly, Scott Evans, Shannon Turner, Ally Terry and Jamie Wells) Versus Team Sports (Amanda Bourquin, Tim Manion, Ally Ward, Elaine Bergeron, Bret Harris, Nick Mowbray, Melissa Magat, Todd Alloway, Kathleen Gendron, Janean Nation, Nahied Rahimi, Laura Hilts, James Satchell, Greg Lopez)

Team Sports came out strong in the beginning and took an early lead.  This is a competitive group willing to run over anyone that stands in their path (Bret Harris slamming into Jen Romine at 1st, and Todd Alloway taking down Michelle Ulrich at 2nd).  Team Endurance came back and showed they were not a group to be messed with (Amanda Bourquin was pegged in the head with the ball running to first, and later in the back running to home).  Both teams made some incredible plays (Josie deflecting the ball flying at her head to Jeff Fallis who makes the catch, and James Satchell covering the entire outfield from Right to Left making plays).

Team Endurance was able to keep their stamina throughout the game and although they were down a few players, ended up with a 20-11 victory! 

It was a fun afternoon and a great team bonding experience.  Since we played a team sport for this competition, next time shall we try an endurance event maybe a relay race?

JASON KARLS ran the Mercer Island, WA 1/2 marathon.  Despite the threat of rain and lack of anything waterproof, this was a fantastic half-marathon for me. After one mile, the rain blew over and my gamble paid off - no need to worry about extra clothing or over heating!

Having last run it in 2002, this event has grown significantly. The course is relatively the same - a loop around the island and the vibe from the runners is really positive. Even the locals come out and cheer with sincerity. The course is absolutely beautiful with rolling hills along a two lane forested road. The hills are not that bad and you can make it up them with adrenaline and an easy recovery on the down side. The one exception is at mile post 11 with a 100' hill that can def take some steam out of you. But really - if you've made it this far, there's no turning back now!

I was shooting for a pace of 9:00/mi and expecting 10:00/mi w/ the way my training has been going. I was surprised with a finishing pace of 8:40/mi and how strong I felt.

A side note for cyclists - this is one of the must rides to do on your way out to zoo hill   For SD active-ites give me a shout if you're in the NW for some serious hills!