What's your ACTIVE? : 2009 : November

Turkeys and Wild Pigs (Go figure)

Posted by IMVoice Nov 30, 2009

MICHELLE ULRICH in the SD office was out of town last Monday to be able to report my Philadelphia Marathon (November 22) results: It was a perfect day to run the marathon. The race could not have gone better for me and ran a PR of 3:09! Finished 34th female overall and had my parents along the course (3 different times) cheering me on.

DAN JOSEPH, DENNIS KING AND HEATHER HAWKES all ran the Father Joe’s Turkey Trot race at Balboa Park in San Diego. The race benefits Fr. Joe’s homeless village in downtown San Diego.

ROB KLINGENSMITH VP Media and Mkt in the SD office following a button-popping Thanksgiving dinner headed north to Santa Barbara and logged 15,000’ of climbing in the Santa Ynez Mountains. This is my new favorite place for California cycling. BTW ROB HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK OLD MAN!

Active had 1 more IRONMAN finisher this past weekend plus a former team member. Ironman Cozumel in Mexico was an inaugural event held on the beautiful island. Our very own STEPHANIE SNAMAN completed her first Ironman with a 2.4 mile Swim of 1:18:14 a 112 mile Bike of 7:33:23 and the 26.2 mile Run of 5:36:08 for a Total time of 14:43:06. MICHAEL DOBRANSKY also had a great first time Ironman finishing in a time of 12:33:47. STEPHANIE AND MICHAEL saw each other on the run course and stopped to hug and wish each other well. Great job guys “YOU ARE AN IRONMAN”!

JUSTIN TUMOLO ran the Mile High Denver United Way Turkey Trot in Washington Park.

ActiveNet Development Manager STEVE HOOVER and his wife Shelly participated in the 1st annual Roseville CA Turkey Trot 5k. Steve completed the run in 29:07.

Michelle Nation in the SD office and her big sister ran the Fleet Feet Turkey Trot in American Fork, Utah. It was 20 degrees Fahrenheit outside during the event, but we still had a blast. Hats off to all the Active folks who jog through the winter in snowy climates … don’t know how you guys do it!

ASHLEY ELLIS Account Exec Swimming in SD competed in her first Golf Tournament. It was the 7th annual Turkey Classic. This was my first time ever playing the sport and I ended up winning. Oh but that means I actually was the worst player!!! With an amazing 121 score on a par 3 executive course you can say that I at least I have a lot to learn and plenty of room for improvement. The event was on Saturday - raining, windy with even a rainbow. It was priceless! YES IT DOES RAIN IN SAN DIEGO!

WILLIAM BASSLER and his 8 year old son did the Turkey Trot in Oceanside, CA.

DAVE ALBERGA reports since Active powers the sale of hunting and fishing permitting across the country, I figured it was time to walk the talk. Wild pigs are hard to find, fast, and delicious. These wild pigs were taken in Central California where their overpopulation has become a real issue for farmers, ranchers, and the native animal species. The Three Little Pigs all weighed in between 120 and 135 lbs, and are currently being transformed into Hams, Canadian Bacon, Ribs, Chops, and Sausage. Way to be Active Dave!

KAREN HARDY & EMILY CHAN-NORRIS in the SD office ran the Father Joe’s Thanksgiving Day 5K in Balboa Park on Thursday. It was a gorgeous sunny day and a great way to kick off the long weekend.

STEPHEN MATSUBA (Foundations, Burnaby) passed his nidan (2nd level black belt) kendo exam last Saturday. Originally from Seattle Kendo Kai, he now practices with the Vancouver Kendo Club. Kendo means “the way of the sword,” and many people who have seen it think that it is about hitting people with bamboo sticks. But kendo is a martial art. It is a complex mix of physical activity, philosophy and spirituality. And every practiionner of kendo (referred to as a kendoka or kenshi) builds their own combination of the three to create their kendo.

JIM GARFIELD(AMM) had Pro-Triathlete’s Greg and Laura Bennett as guests over the holiday. Of course the holiday would not be complete without a monster trail run to the top of the Santa Monica Mountains. Pictured are Pro’s Greg and Laura Bennett with new Pro Triathlete Jennifer Fletcher and crew. 80’ on T-Day!! So-cal does not suck during the winter!!!

TOBY GUILLETTE, Social Media Specialist in San Diego, embarked upon an 8-day, 1400-mile road trip for Thanksgiving with friends. Our first stop was Joshua Tree National Park, then onto Mojave National Preserve, Red Rock Canyon Nevada, then to Vegas, through Death Valley National Park to Bishop and back to San Diego. We camped 6 of the 8 nights, rock climbed, hiked, went on a cave tour, ran and explored these beautiful areas. Here's a quick video slideshow from our trip:

EVAN WITTE ran the Father Joe’s 5K Turkey Trot in San Diego Thanksgiving Day. My costume is the Turkey Outfit. Yes, I did wear the entire costume plus legs for the race finishing in a Costume Restricting Time of 20:35.

CHRIS HEMPHILL and his wife Andrea and son Micah ran the 5K Run for the Hungry in downtown San Diego.

MATTHEW HENRY braved the Seattle Half Marathon with little training and a few glasses of wine under his belt from the night before. The weather was perfect, though, and he managed to finish in just over 2 hours and 11 minutes.

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Ironman Arizona & More

Posted by IMVoice Nov 24, 2009

REBECCA DIVITA & NOLAN HANSEN from the San Diego office accomplished the ultimate endurance test this weekend at Ironman Arizona. They both had tremendous races. Nolan blazed thru the finish line in a very fast 9 hours and 41 minutes looking like the 2.4 mile swim 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile swim was a walk in the park for him. Rebecca had the time of her life evident from the smile on her face which was painted on the entire day. She came thru the finish in 12 hours and 52 minutes. I was very proud to call 2 Active team members an Ironman, it made the day!

MIKE REILLY showed his true colors at IM Arizona. Showing off his Movember MOstash raising awareness to help fight Men’s cancers such as Prostate and Testicular cancers. You can still donate to his cause at http://us.movember.com/mospace/your-donation-page

PLUS showing off his San Diego Charger jersey from the announcing tower after we beat up on Denver.

MEAGAN JOHNSON (Senior Recruiter) & ERIN LANG (HR Representative)participate in the San Diego Mud Run on Sunday finishing the 5k obstacle course in less then 40 minutes! We play dirty!! Check out their before and after pictures.

Bret Harris (account manager), Toby Guillette (community specialist), & Fran Benedict (account coordinator) all embarked on a weekend warrior expedition to the infamous Joshua Tree National Park. Toby and Fran kicked the weekend off with a brisk 16 mile “warm-up” run on Saturday morning…and in typical Toby fashion, rather than simply running on paved roads or through well-defined trails, they opted to run the entire course through sand pits and boulder fields! Meanwhile, Bret was getting his first taste of outdoor climbing while top roping with a few friends. It was an incredible weekend with good friends and great adventures…Joshua Tree definitely lived up to all the hype!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

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Aussie's and U.S. Krispy Kreme's

Posted by IMVoice Nov 16, 2009

ROHAN LAWTON from our Australia office reports that we have a new endurance athlete in our midst! Our Aussie Account Exec, FIONA MACMILLAN completed her second ever marathon this weekend before last and finished SECOND. The event was the Marysville Marathon held just out of Melbourne. Marysville was the town completely wiped out by the devastating Black Saturday fires in February.

TOBY GUILLETTE, Social Media Specialist, San Diego joined a group from the Allied Climbers of San Diego non-profit for a weekend of camping, climbing and turkey eating out in the Valley of the Moon. This was my first time to this remote area which is only accessible via 4-wheel drive vehicle. We cooked 5 turkeys on Saturday and I managed to fit in couple hours of trail running and a few hours of climbing before the tryptophan kicked in It was a great pre-Thanksgiving weekend! Here's a shot of our campsite and the surrounding area.

ANUSHEH CHAVEZ & MARK WARBLE participated in the Silver Strands ½ Marathon. Mark finished at an amazing time of 1:40 and Anusheh finished at 2:20. Mark writes: The course was very flat with one rolling hill around mile 10 and weather was perfect. Fortunately, I felt great the entire race. I kept a better pace than expected and finished in 1 hour 40 minutes- very happy with my time. I also had the privilege to share a celebratory beer with fellow Active employee, Anusheh Chavez:

JIM GARFIELD (AMM) ran the First Annual Malibu Marathon and Half Marathon. The race was unique in that it was a point to point all along a closed PCH. It was a bright sunny day and a real joy to run down PCH without any traffic!!!

GREG WONG held his donuts at an informal “Krispy Kreme Challenge” with a bunch of ultra-marathon runner freaks held Saturday morning at Hospitality Point, San Diego.

The events consisted of:

2 mile run + 1 dozen donuts + 2 mile run.

Time: 53 min 11 sec.

See splits below. To recover from the donut overdose, I ran 20+ more miles, surfed, and napped over the rest of the weekend…

Wow, what a morning and where to begin…

The discussion of the Krispy Kreme Challenge surfaced during a run several weeks ago and as often happens, smack talking ensued. Within a half mile, it was agreed that there should be a KKC on the west coast. A few e-mails later, much to my surprise, registrations started trickling in and then I started receiving applications from people I had yet to have the pleasure of meeting… We had an event!

It was suggested and also agreed that the KKC should be wrapped around a toy drive, so as part of the registration process everyone was asked to bring an unwrapped toy. There were 23 starters and combined a few other generous folks that wanted to kick in some toys, we have a SUV STUFFED with gifts that will be donated to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation www.toysfortots.org . THANK YOU ALL!!

As for the competition, if was fierce! There were 23 starters and 13 that recorded an “official” finish by consuming the entire dozen donuts. The format for the event was to run two miles, stop and enjoy one dozen original Krispy Kreme donuts, and finish with another two miles. Here are the results.

Place	Last	First	Division	Time In	Eating	Time Out	Finish	Notes
1	M****	Tracy	M	0:12:29	0:07:05	0:19:34	0:31:40	Overall winner
2	C******	Scott	M	0:12:31	0:07:17	0:19:48	0:33:39
3	S********	Jeremy	M	0:14:39	0:06:43	0:21:22	0:35:39	Eating winner
4	K****	Stephen	M	0:13:26	0:12:19	0:25:45	0:39:50
5	E*****	Paul	M	0:15:11	0:12:34	0:27:45	0:42:26
6	D****	Matt	M	0:14:34	0:13:24	0:27:58	0:43:17
7	D*****	Robert	M	0:16:52	0:09:32	0:26:24	0:44:25
8	F****	Chris	M	0:15:41	0:14:35	0:30:16	0:47:14
9	Wong	Greg	M	0:16:34	0:18:51	0:35:25	0:53:11
10	S******	Joe	M	0:16:32	0:31:23	0:47:55	1:11:23
11	W****	Justin	U18	0:29:22	0:17:31	0:46:53	1:24:44	U18 winner
12	M*******	TJ	U18	0:29:22	0:25:32	0:54:54	1:24:45
13	W*****	Adam	U18	0:29:22	0:15:52	0:45:14	1:24:48

Congratulations to all that had the courage to start the event, it was very impressive!

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A Noteworthy November

Posted by Active Toby Nov 9, 2009

Jim Garfield (AMG) and Active alum Chris Wheeler, did the Big Rock Triathlon this past Saturday. It was great to hear the fans cheer "Go Active". Wish the cheers could have loosened my tight calf's.....but fun all the same!!

Last Saturday, Oct 31, David Detar (National Account Manager - ActiveOutdoors) and his son Matt (10 yrs old) participated in a local Jack-o-lantern Jog. It was a 5K race.

The course was tough - a 3/4 mile hill less than a mile from the start and then rolling hills throughout. We also were forced to run through heavy rain and wind. We still enjoyed our time together and finished respectably in 27:30 and 27:31. Pacing with Matt, I my time actually put in in 7th in my age group while Matt finished 4th in the under 11 age bracket. Next up for both of us is a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day!

Michelle Nation, Product Manager - I travelled to Las Vegas this weekend to take on the Desert Beach Big Dirt Triathlon. The weather and the 1.5 k lake swim were perfect, but the 30 k bike and 10k run were brutal! As the only female to finish the long course, I brought home the first place trophy which helps me feel a lot better about all the cuts, bruises and sore muscles from crashing on the bike course. It was my first off-road tri and I will definitely be back for more.

Jim Hine, GM for Consumer Access, rode with a group of eight riders on a 24-mile loop along the South Fork of the Boise River on Saturday. The stock trails in the Danskin Mountains aren’t maintained so you get pretty worked on the side hills and washouts. You can only ride this area in the fall/winter due to the heavy rattlesnake population in the spring. I hooked a pedal and got a close-up look at a rock, but the trails were a blast.

Mark Lister (Documentation – Burnaby) competed in the Haney 2 Harrison 100 km road relay this past weekend. Running with “Oconnor’s Washed up All Stars” (comprised of current and former Richmond Kajaks track runners), the team finished second overall in a time of 5:43.48.

Mark was 3rd on his leg of the race, running the 13.1 km stage in 46:26, despite the cold, persistent heavy rain.

Stage 6 results: http://www.raceheadquarters.com/results/2009/run/H2H2009Stage6.html

Marea Blue (Implementation Analyst) and I (Kirstin Hartos, Technical Account Management Team Lead) traveled to San Francisco over the weekend with our rugby team to play for the Division 1 National Championship. We faced the Atlanta Harlequins in Friday’s semi-final match, and although they scored first we managed to come from behind in the second half to win 21-10 and advance to the final against Northern Virginia. We had Saturday to rest and refocus, and came out firing on Sunday – scoring within the first minute of the game to go up 7-0. We got penalized several times for repeated offenses, and one of our players was sin-binned (like a penalty box in hockey) so we played a man down for 10 minutes in the middle of the first half. Although we didn’t score again until well into the second half, we managed to hold NOVA scoreless throughout the game. The final score was 14-0, marking our team’s first ever National Championship. Marea was also named MVP (well deserved). Thanks to everyone here for your support throughout the season!

Chris Ochs, Sales Manager - The Boulder Team participated in Habitat for Humanity.

L-R: Chris Ochs, Jen Napoli, Dan Partain, Aaron Romero, Eric Johnson, Holly Hale, Nick Stevens.

A fun time was had by all!

Here is the Weekend Warrior from China.

Phoenix Zhong, Jex Chen and Crusoe Xia (From left to right) from Foundations, Chengdu office attended a cycling match at Sunday.

This is the first time China ActiveX team members to attend a national wide, public cycling match in China!

Crusoe got the 1^st place in his group and got 53^rd in the whole match. It is China ActiveX team’s first record.

“225” in these two pictures is Jex

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NYC Marathon & Mud Run

Posted by IMVoice Nov 2, 2009

THE ACTIVE NETWORK WOULD LIKE TO CONGRATULATE MARY WITTENBERG AND HER NY ROAD RUNNERS STAFF FOR PRODUCING ANOTHER OUTSTANDING NYC MARATHON. ALSO CONGRATS TO AMERICAN WINNER MEB KEFLEZIGHI WHO ATTENDED HIGH SCHOOL HERE IN SAN DIEGO. THE FIRST AMERICAN TO WIN THE NYC MARATHON SINCE 1982!

MICHELLE CREPEAU ran the NYC Marathon! She ran the 40th Anniversary race of the NYC marathon for my 4th time as a fundraiser for the Huntington's Disease Society of America. Time was 4:44:50. A little slower than past years, but just had fun with the race and tried to take in the buzz and excitement this race brings to each of the 5 boroughs in NY. Played Jay-Z song at least 6 times along the course, Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Manhattan.... "In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York, These streets will make you feel brand new, Big lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York, New York, New York". LOVE THE NYC MARATHON!!! To anyone who has ever dreamed of doing it, JUST DO IT! Photo taken with friend of mine I helped coach, Matt Morchower.

JIM GARFIELD (Active AMG) threw it all down in this past Sunday’s Muddy Buddy L.A.. An epic muddy, climbing, falling course was as always a mess and fun! My buddy Billy Gerber and I actually came in second….but everyone who finishes I think are winners…and very dirty!