ERIC OLSON, GM – RegOnline, raced Ironman Augusta 70.3 on Sunday. Felt great and finished in 5:18:07. It was a solid first race at the 70.3 distance despite some rookie mistakes along the way.

TODD PREECE ran in one of his favorite events of the year, the Marine Corps Bootcamp Challenge in San Diego, CA.  Its one of the few chances you get to run the ridiculously hard obstacle course that they use to train the Marines. A short 5k course but includes an endless number of walls, hurdles, tunnels, foxholes, and belly crawls all while be yelled at by nearly 50 Marine Drill Instructors.  Todd was thrilled to pull off a 3rd place age group finish.  Credits for at least part of the accomplishment go to preparation by Arch, ActiveX's own drill instructor as well as a blistering pace set by fellow ActiveNetwork employee Burt Repine.  Burt also hit the podium with 2nd place finish in his age group.

JON BELMONTE had an active week of vacation.  He and JULIE ORR (former Active-ite) started it off by hiking Half Dome within Yosemite National Park.  Tough day, but great experience all around.  17-mile hike round trip, covering ~4000 feet of elevation.  The real highlight (and challenge) is 400 feet of near vertical scaling between two cables to reach the top of Half Dome.  The views at the top (and feeling of accomplishment) are well worth it though.  Highly recommend it to all!

JIM GARFIELD (M&M) ran across the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time this weekend with Ian Murray, head coach of LA Tri Club over looking Alcatraz Island.  Northern California stole our Southern California summer this fall. It was in the 90’s with 1000’s of people out on their bikes, running etc…still can’t believe the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon has you swim from that rock!

PATTI ROSENTHAL had an awesome cycling weekend!   On Saturday did the Durango Fall Blaze century ride.  Then on Sunday did a mtn bike ride up higher where the fall colors were going off.  Did the Upper Hermosa bike trail back down to town (around 31 miles).  Great weekend riding with friends on fun, fun single track!

Burt repine participated in one of San Diego’s funnest races, the MCRD Bootcamp Challenge on Saturday.  The 3 mile run included a romp through portions of the Marine Recruit Obstacle Course, push-up stations, and hay bale jumps --- all replete with barking Marine drill instructors. (Essentially the core ingredients of a good ActiveX session!) He got through in 20:02 which was good enough for 2^nd in his age group and 17^th overall.

In a follow-up to a posting a few weeks ago – SHANNON WINEMAN’S (PM IT) 7 year old daughter (center front) found out this weekend that she took 3^rd place in her age group of 12 an under in the Philip Rivers 5K! What an achievement! She definitely has the running bug, now!

JANE MARSHALL, Sales Exec spent several days camping throughout Colorado with my boyfriend and my 8 year old daughter, Emma. Highlights were a hike in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, an incredible camp spot in beautiful Ouray, a fun hike to Cascade Falls, kayaking at Ridgeway State Park and a full moon bike ride. The fall colors were in full force – an incredible Colorado getaway!

KAT KEIVENS, Online Account Coordinator San Diego, and JAMIE WILLIAMS, Data Warehouse Architect San Diego, both completed a 2-day basic keel boat sailing class in Coronado this weekend.  They passed the class with flying colors and are now certified to take out sail boats under 26 feet.  J  The weather was gorgeous both days with quite a bit of wind in the bay on Sunday to make the sailing even more exciting.  Congratulations to Captains Kat and Jamie!

MICHAEL STRICKLAND (ActiveWorks) and his wife Cassie ran the MCRD Boot Camp Challenge on Saturday, and got lots of “encouragement” along the way from “helpful” Marine Corps drill instructors.

Micah Kropp (MARKETING COORDINATOR, SAN DIEGO)  played in the US Touch Rugby National Championships, at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, FL.  The venue was spectacular and the level of competition was tough. Our team (Galaxy , San Diego) played against teams from across the US and went undefeated through the coed division en-route to a National Championship. Despite the heat and occasional thunderstorms, the tournament was an absolute blast. A couple personal highlights of the weekend included being named to the tournament All-Star team and playing against a team from New Zealand as the US Touch Rugby Committee scouted us for next year’s World Cup in Scotland.

MICHELE CREPEAU, NYC office, participated in the Tunnel to Towers Run, which benefits the Stephen Siller Foundation which honors the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on 9/11.  An amazing tribute and celebration of their lives.  Run goes from Brooklyn through the battery tunnel into downtown NYC and ends near Ground Zero.  Each year firefighters travel from around the world to attend making it a very special race.

ASHLEY ELLIS reports while making an East Coast Tour - 5 states in 9 days...I kept it quite Active.  Here are a few highlights: White Water Rafting the Nolichucky River.  Our group was the only group on the river as the water was running incredibly low.  My mom is now known as the 'head dip' [pictured].  This river starts in North Carolina and ends in Tennessee.  A first time for two of the six in our group after 6 hours on the river we were all ready for some serious chow down.  Stand Up Paddle Board Surfing in Jacksonville Florida.  My dad ran a mini-camp for me, Zoiner and my friend Davis.  2 hours of paddling where I even caught two waves riding them to the shore swimming with the famous Rowdy Gaines.  One of the most respected and well known names in Swimming - he is the Mike Reilly of swimming - being the announcer for 5 Olympics, with 3 personal gold medals and breaking over 40 world records for master swimming!  Before heading to a work conference, jumped in a 87 degree, 12 yard pool and did a work out with ROWDY. This will be a hotel swim experience that I will never forget!!!

ALEX AFANDI, Acct Exec had the pleasure of dedicating my weekend to serving as a lifeguard for the last scheduled weekend of the season. On Saturday, I completed "stairway to heaven," which is running up and down four different flights of stairs on Cardiff beach. Each flight had about 160 steps to it. Last night, I got to watch a rigorus fight between a big fish (unsure of kind) and a Seal. The amazing scene ended in the big fish winning a heafty dinner and us being distracted by it for 1/2 hour... GREAT WEEKEND!

PATTI ROSENTHAL, Cycling Mgr had another girls day out in the high mountains.  Did a mtn bike shuttle trip starting at Slide Rock in Durango & riding out Junction Creek.  About 4 1/2 hours of riding on single track up in the high mountains with plenty of creek crossings, lots of climbing (starting at 11,500 feet) & rewarded at the end with lots of fun downhill.   Just got a new Yeti mtn bike so I was smiles all day long!

NICHOLAS HAWLEY did an epic day hike and it was very difficult to choose pictures because they are all so beautiful so I apologize for attaching so many!  My girlfriend McKenzie Crosby and I did a point to point hike known as the “Enchantments Traverse” located in the Wenatchee National Forest located in Washington State.  This hike was featured in Backpacker Magazine as the 8^th toughest hike in America.  The link article is taken down but this site,   http://epicdayhikes.blogspot.com/2006/04/backpacker-magazines-hardest-day-hikes.html, does have the list on it.   The hike included 11,000 feet in elevation change and was around 22 miles but had such amazing views you didn’t even notice. Our total hiking time was 8 hours and 12 minutes from end to end.  The most difficult part was without a doubt Asgard Pass, which is pictured from the bottom and top.  This pass is the entrance into the Enchantments Proper and includes .9 miles with about 2,400 feet of elevation gain.  A small price to pay to gain entrance into one of our nation’s most beautiful parks gain entrance into one of our nation’s most beautiful parks!

JENNI MILLER, Acct Mgr on Saturday her Kickball Team, The Sloshballers, competed in Vavi's National Kickball Tournament and won in the Just for Kicks Division! Amazing Day and amazing post celebration (Team pic attached). To follow-up my amazing Saturday, Jennifer Romine and I decided to go for an 18 mile run Sunday... brutal!

CONCORDIA CHEN, Business Analyst spent a beautiful weekend up at Big Bear, and we figured that checking out the Endure the Bear 5K trail run/walk would be a fun way to spend Saturday morning. Having never run at higher altitudes, up steep terrain, or with a passenger made for an interesting event, but we had a great time and were able to enjoy some gorgeous views of the lake from the top of the course.

JIM GARFIELD (M&M) did the crazy Malibu Triathlon double this weekend. The International distance on Saturday, and the “Classic” on Sunday. He was joined by ABC’s Modern Family’s Julie Bowen, Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger and ABC’s Desperate Housewife’s Teri Hatcher.  The water was a flat balmy 58’ but the competition was hot.  Over 5,000 people competed, but the best part was over $1million raised for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. 

The sun didn't show but BURT REPINE still had a blast on the beach and in the water at the inaugural Sand Pit 5K in Mission Beach on Saturday. The course was entirely on sand and was populated with 10 beach and ocean obstacles of varying devilishness.  He got through in 27:30 which was good for 1st in his age group and 3rd overall. Of course you can't do an event like that w/o bumping into fellow ActiveXers, as Chris Hemphill and Kat Keivens also partook in the fun.

ERIC MA (M+M) reports from CHINA, on September 12, it was a beautiful day for the great event! More than 300 Active China employees from both Chengdu and Xi’an office participated the 2^nd Active City Wall Marathon, 272 finished the race. SKY LI (Foundation) beat all male runners, won the 8K with 38’04’’. CELIA WANG (MRI, M+M) won the female group, and she is the first two-time winner of this event. For more photos or find your team member at - http://bit.ly/citywallrun  Before the day of marathon, ARCH FUSTON kicked off ActiveX in China at the staff meeting. Going forward, ActiveX China will start at both Chengdu and Xi’an office. On Wed. night, ARCH FUSTON, BRUCE XU, LEON CHEN and ERIC MA took a 40K night ride to Qujiang Pool Relic Park, it was an epic ActiveX ride! It was not just a ActiveX ride, but also a tour visit, since they rode through the Grand Tang Dynasty Ever-Bright City to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda on the way back. Hopefully everybody who visits China office later on, could be involved the workout of ActiveX in China, totally different flavor you never want to miss!

AMY SCHWENCK, Director Talent Acquisition competed in the inaugural TriRock San Diego on Sunday.  SUPER fun race… great location, best laid out transition area I’ve seen yet, excellent goodie bag including tech hat and shirt, live music and awesome energy.  Thanks to the surprise Active cheers as I came into the final stretch… you gave me the power to find my last gear and pass one more runner.  I hope to see more Active jerseys on the course next year.