What's your ACTIVE? : 2010 : October

China to Frostburg Active does it all!

Posted by IMVoice Oct 25, 2010

LIZ HARRELL, Director – Project Management (San Diego Office) completed her first half-ironman distance triathlon, the Challenged Athletes Foundation SD Tri Challenge! That’s a total of 70.3 miles in one day with a 1.2 swim, 56 bike, 13.1 run. It was a truly amazing day! I was surrounded by amazing people overcoming their challenges and living the life of an athlete. I was supported by an amazing crew of friends and family. My parents, my daughter and the best “buddies” ever… JON CHRISTOPHER (swim), JEREMY SPITZBERG (bike),KAT KEIVENS (run) and JESSICA WEXLER (best cheerleader ever!), and her super dog, ROWDY. This may sound corny, but… the “Liz” from two years ago is very proud (and astonished) by how far I’ve come and what I’ve accomplished. HUGE heartfelt THANKS go out to ARCH and ActiveX… my sore body is cursing you, my soul is forever in your debt.

JESSICA WEXLER ADDED: Rowdy fell asleep muttering: “Less cowbell….”

I will say I loved the comments I got from other people along the way which included:

“I wish I was Liz”

“I’m pretending my name is Liz”

“Liz from Active.com? She does rock!”

“Can I use some of your chalk?”

Thanks for inspiring us too.

FRAN BENEDICT & JULIE WOOLF had an amazing time participating in CAF’s San Diego Tri Challenge this weekend on separate relay teams doing the running leg. The course was great, the weather was perfect and the athletes were incredibly inspirational. In short, it was a day full of awesomeness J The two teams raised a combined total of $3700. Fran finished 1^st female in the half marathon and Julie a very close 2^nd. The power of the human spirit shined through once again at this incredible event reinforcing the notion - where there’s a will there’s a way! Whoo hoooo!

REPORT FROM FROSTBURG,MD. Frostburg hosted a CCFA Take Steps Be Heard Walk. The turnout was not bad for a first time walk and we rose over $9,000 which was pretty great!

We made it a Halloween Fall Festival with Apple Bobbing, Face Painting, Hot Cider, Bounce House, Trick or Treat along the walk and Costume prizes. There were a good number of folks with kids and pets in costume J Team Active had about 20 people walking including Eve Gardner who flew cross country to walk with us!

ANTHONY VALENTINO, Account Executive – Communities: Higher Education, was all about the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF - http://www.challengedathletes.org/) this weekend. Friday night he attended the CAF Celebration of Abilities dinner along with fellow Active employee LIZ HARRELL (below is a photo of Bill Walton presenting an award to Ezra, this years Inspiration Award Recipient). The event was one of the most inspirational events since the birth of his daughter – truly amazing people filled with so much gratitude and truly LIVING. Sunday, Anthony did his part to support CAF by volunteering to help lead the 4.5 hour SPIN-a-thon at the La Jolla cove (pictured here – Anthony getting schooled by REAL athletes Sarah Reinertsen and Erica Davis).

Report by ERIC MA from CHINA: 7 ActiveXers – Eda Zhao (IT), Dylan Hai (IT), Cash Xu (Controller), Bruce Xu (Active Trainer, M+M), Colin Li (IT), Jimmie Jiang (BA) and Eric Ma (Market Analyst, M+M) from Xi'an office took a 70 miles challenge ride to the top of the Qinlin Mountain, it was one of the most difficult cycling courses in Xi'an for the cyclist - 20 miles road ride to the mountain foot, 15 miles uphill to the top at the altitude of 1,200 meters, 15 miles downhill back, then the last 20 miles flat road back. BTW, the 15 miles downhill at night is really scary but excited! Be careful trying that!

This was definitely the team's best ride so far, based on the distance and difficulties. Such a memorable experience since first time gathered so many teammates in a ride, and the team broke through the goal committed in April.

They were lucky to have such a great day to ride, since the weather dramatically turned cold the day after. EPIC EVER!

On Saturday, MEGAN DUVALL, JENNI MILLER, JENNIFER ROMINE, REBECCA DIVITA and EVAN WITTE competed in San Diego’s Great Urban Race to celebrate former Active employee Andrea Levinson’s birthday. Everyone had a blast, although we were surprised at how much running we ended up doing! Tasks included marriage proposals, eating spicy pickles and creating hand puppets. We all highly recommend this race!

MICHELLE ULRICH, Account Exec ran in the Inaugural Rock and Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon yesterday. What a great weekend! It was great course and I had a great race. Los Angeles was hillier than I expected J I ran a personal best of 1:26:53 to put me 9^th Female Overall and 3^rd in my age division.

MARGARET PATRICK had a great weekend in Panama City Beach and completed my very first Sprint Triathlon. It was a beautiful morning and a great first experience.

JIM GARFIELD (M&M) journeyed to Lake Meade for the Pumkinman Triathlon. He was joined by Rob Osland, head of Wynn Resorts triathlon team and COO. The race should have been called Hillkillman not Pumkinman! Wow…crazy amount of climbing! All hills and not one pumkin! Good thing it was close to Vegas…cheap buffets!!!!

BRITTANY BOWLES, Project Manager did the Diabetes 5k run/walk Saturday, October 23, Denver, CO – Team “Jakob’s Warriors”: Some ran some walked… Team Captain and Red Strider, Jakob Fanning, age 11 was 3^rd overall with 21:47 and first time runner younger brother Kyle Fanning, age 8 completed the race in 36:01.

ARACELI DAGDAGAN Marketing Manager – San Diego. I ran my first half-marathon on Sunday – the inaugural Rock –n-Roll Los Angles half-Marathon. I joined Team in Training and started training with them over the summer ( I couldn’t even run 2 miles at that time) it was a great experience! I raised over $2500 for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society – thanks to all of you that help donate, bought Tamales and provided your support … J It was an accomplishment I never thought I would achieve… especially one year after having a baby!! I can’t wait for my next one!

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Marathons, Walks, Kids & Footbag Freestyle?

Posted by IMVoice Oct 18, 2010

STEPHANY CAVATONI managed her first 5K event this Sunday. The Willett Elementary Fun Run was a huge success with over 200 runners who completed the 1/4 mile run, 1 mile run and 5K run, and raised lots of money for the PTA. Active.com was featured prominently on the back of all the shirts (thanks Greg S for all the race bag samples!) and the best part was seeing Stella Cardenas (Stephany's daughter) finish third overall in the 1/4 mile run!

RYAN WOOD, online editor in San Diego, ran the Long Beach Half Marathon on Sunday. My first half finished up in 2:01:33 with a couple of dead legs. It was a very fun race, the community is really supportive and the conditions were perfect, if not a little chilly.

JENNI MILLER, Account Manager ran her first full marathon, Long Beach International. It was such an awesome experience... and I now understand the saying, "the race starts at mile 20," Wow! The coolest part about having done this was that before working at Active a marathon wasn't even on my radar and when I started at Active it was always a very far off thought that maybe someday I could do one... I can't believe I actually did!

KAT KEIVENS, Online Account Coordinator in San Diego, biked 150 miles for the MS society this weekend. It was my first century ride and I couldn’t have picked a more challenging one to do. Despite the wet conditions, the experience and overall camaraderie from team Rehab United were well worth it! It was a fun ride for a great cause!

GISELLE DOMDOM ran the Nike Women’s Half Marathon in San Francisco. It was a beautiful course with great volunteers, crowd support and spirit. I was pleasantly surprised with a few shouts of “Go Active!” along the course and even ran into a fellow Active employee at Mile 10.5. From the Ghirardelli Chocolate Mile at Mile 12 to the Tiffany & Co. necklace (in lieu of a finisher’s medal) awarded by firemen in tuxedos, this was definitely a race to remember!

BRITTANY BOWELS, Project Manager was part of The Boob- Inators, a group of 14 walked with 20,000+ strong, 4 miles through Balboa Park and down the 163 at the “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” walk Sunday morning, October 17, 2010 in San Diego, CA. LOVE THE NAME!

MATTHEW HENRY (Bothell, WA) - had a big weekend in what not to do in sports. On Saturday morning he put in a two hour run in with Team in Training, only to be yelled at by a coach for running a little too much six days after a marathon. The highlight of the weekend came Sunday afternoon playing ultimate Frisbee when he ran his face into someone’s fist (and then was called for a foul). No matter, his incredible team powered back from a 8-3 deficit to beat the Unbreakable’s, 15-13 for their first victory of the season. And finally he ended his weekend on Sunday night, with his Sentinels hockey team winning 2-0.

KRISTI GARCIA, Voice Engineer was happy to finish the Nike marathon in SF yesterday. It was a fun but challenging race due to the rain and the hills! Overall, I enjoyed the race and excited to be done!!!!

On Sunday DAMON MATHEWS, Sr Web Designer performed a Footbag Freestyle demo at the Tony Hawk Shred 4 Kids event in Beverly Hills. This was a charity event to raise money to build a skate park in Long Beach for under privileged kids. There were tons of vendors, athletes from skateboarding and MMA, celebrities including Patrick Dempsey, a live performance by Jane's Addiciton and Half Pipe entertainment provided by Tony Hawk and Matt Hoffman. There was also a live auction that rasied well over 100k to benefit the kid's new skate park. Our Footbag Freestyle group consisted of #2 World Footbag Champion David Clavens, #1 in Europe and 10 time Freestyle Champion Honza Weber from Czech Republic, and newly inducted BAP member Evan "Silencer" Gatesman. This was an opportunity to reach kids with a new and exciting sport of Footbag Freestyle. It was a huge success for skateboarding and Footbag.

Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT9Tq_nSFjk - Footbag Demo @ Tony Hawk Shred 2010 part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB9-XWQ4mYI - Footbag Demo @ Tony Hawk Shred 2010 part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIl92wDRxss - The half pipe featuring Tony Hawk & Matt Hoffman

ARACELI DAGDAGAN, Marketing Manager and her family participated in the Susan G. Komen – Race for the Cure family 5K run in Temecula and my son – Nico – 4yr. old ran his first kids run – ¼ mile he did great and can’t wait for his next run. I think we have a future runner in the making. J\

JESSICA WEXLER, Sr Business Analyst (Active Works Sr. Business Analyst) went on a long slow uphill (then long fast downhill) trail ride in the mountains of Ojai Saturday.

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Kona, Chicago and Everything In Between

Posted by RyanActive Oct 11, 2010

A busy weekend and lots of great pictures to prove it!

MIKE & ANDY REILLY, and ARCH FUSTON enjoyed the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, HI. It was an epic day with over 1 million user visits online to watch the event--but it's nothing like being here!

JIM GARFIELD (M & M) joined the Active crew at the Ford Ironman World Championships this weekend. At the awards banquet he joined the "voice" of Ironman, Active's Mike Reilly, along with Arch Fuston and Andy Reilly in celebrating a remarkable weekend of achievement.

CASH XU (Controller), CHRIS MA (Eteamz Tester, M+M), BRUCE XU (Active Trainer Tester, M+M) and ERIC MA (Market Analyst, M+M) from China finished a great 40-mile night ride in the city. They first rode 10 miles to Chanba, their fifth time to that place at night, but it was not fun--the air was terrible and the Bahe river was almost dry. But when sitting down at the BBQ street on the way back, they made a quick decision to a new place, the Da Ming Gong National Relic Park, which just opened 9 days ago, and it was an epic ride there! They never thought it could be that huge and amazing! Almost got lost after 20 minutes of high-speed riding in it. Awesome night! Epic ride!

LISA BALDWIN, Client Migration Coordinator in Burnaby, completed her first half marathon in Victoria on 10-10-10. No speed records were set but it feels pretty awesome to go from sucking wind for 1 minute of running in the Learn to Run program in January to finishing the half just 10 months later.

BEN CRUISE, Account Executive for Active Golf, went deep sea fishing and swam with the sharks off the coast of Oahu over the weekend.

MICHELE CREPEAU from our New York City office ran the Chicago Marathon on Sunday. "Amazing course and fans, but very hot temps (80s by the end of the race), hadn't run through that many sprinklers since I was 7!" She was in town also supporting and cheering over 50 of her charity programs she works with through Active Giving. The marathon had over 10,000 charity runners!

EMILY OGATA, (Application Specialist), MAREA BLUE (Implementation Analyst) and KIRSTIN HARTOS (Technical Account Management Team Lead) traveled to Seattle this weekend with the San Diego Surfers Women's Rugby Club to take on the Emerald City Mudhens. The Surfers were playing in unfamiliar conditions (rain and Astroturf) and were undersized compared to their opponents, but pulled out a 41-17 victory. The defending national champs are now 5-0 heading into their final regular season match and will travel to Austin at the end of the month to defend their title in the first round of the USA Rugby Division 1 playoffs.

JAKE COONEY (Online Marketing Manager, Bothell, WA) completed the Portland Marathon. I signed up for the full marathon several months ago but mentally planned on doing the half several weeks ago when my training completely stopped when I got sick. They wouldn't let me switch to the half so I had about 6 hours to prepare to do a full after not running for 3 weeks. The weather was terrible - it was one of only 3 times it's ever rained for the Portland Marathon but it's a great event though and I'm glad I did it.

STEVE MAZZA, Sales Industry Manager - Major Accounts, attended the Portland Marathon yesterday, with colleague DANA BLACKWOOD, Industry Manager - Running. A great weekend including the Portland Marathon Race Director's College. Here's a very rainy photo from the starting line:

PATTI ROSENTHAL, Cycling Industry Manager in Durango, Colo., did another epic mountain bike trip with friends in Moab, Utah to do what they call the "Whole Enchilada". A shuttle ride which takes you up the La Sal Mountain where they drop you off for an 800-foot climb up to Burro Pass. Once you climb up to Burro Pass (with 20 percent grades in certain spots) you have over 7,000 feet of downhill single track--yahoo! The fall colors were still going off towards the top. Once you come out of Burro Pass, you hit the Hazard County Trails (more whoopty-do downhill single track) and then the Upper Porcupine Single Track (UPS) and Lower Porcupine Single Track (LPS). Over 36 miles of fun mountain biking. Almost to the finish when I went off a drop into a sand pit (not good). Got both elbows, some ribs, right leg and a mouth full of dirt when I landed. Was able to get back on the bike and ride out so it was all good. Highly recommend this ride!

MATTHEW HENRY (Interaction Designer, Bothell, WA) - completed his 10th marathon on 10/10/10 by running his third Chicago Marathon with nearly 40,000 runners. He finished with a personal worst time thanks in part to the mid-80s temperature and a pulled muscle before the race had started. But he had a number of personal victories, such as beating the people dressed up as Wolverine, Bat Girl and the Eiffel Tower (Still unclear whether that was a costume or a torture device). Overall, it was a great race and he looks forward to doing it again next year.

SEAN FORTUNE (Camps AE) and MATTHEW WANAMAKER (Professional Services) competed in the annual "Arne Open" golf tournament at Mill Creek Country Club in Mill Creek Washington. We may not have won this year, but we played our best round yet and were easily the best dressed!

THE BOTHELL OFFICE had its Fall Golf Scramble at the Nile Golf Club. It was a beautiful day and we successfully raised more money for CCFA. We had a tie for first place between two teams: (SHANE CARLEY (Implementation), SIJEN OLTHOF (Implementation), JOEL WERDELL (Product Manager) and RYAN WUFLESTAD (Camps AE)) and (JACIN DAVIS (Events Sales), NICK HAWLEY (Events Sales), PAUL HOMER (Events Sales) and MIKE MORONCZYK (Camps AE)). Additionally Ryan Wuflestad won the Closest to the Pin and RYAN MILLER (Camps AE) won Longest Drive. It was a great turnout and all the groups had a lot of fun.

ANTHONY VALENTINO, Account Executive - Higher Education in San Diego, and daughter Jade spent two days in the Sequoia National Forest. This Daddy-daughter trip was incredible from start to finish and included hiking, camping, cooking over the open fire, stargazing, stream-side poetry reading, and--of course--tree hugging.

CATHERINE HANSEN, Sr. Account Manager in San Diego, went to Yosemite and hiked Half Dome with BRETT DAVIES and several other friends. It was a strenuous 16-mile hike round trip. We hiked up 5,000 feet to reach 9,000 feet above sea level. This challenging hike was definitely an adventure. We started before sunrise and ended just after sunset. The hike was a little over 12 hours total. It was worth the effort to see the amazing views of Vernal and Nevada Falls, Liberty Cap, and panoramic views of Yosemite Valley and the High Sierra at the top of Half Dome. (Great picture!)

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First Time Triathlete and All the Regular Fun Stuff

Posted by IMVoice Oct 4, 2010

A FIRST! MICHAEL PRODER, Project Manager on the Foundations Team, completed his FIRST TRIATHLON at the Mission Bay Tri in San Diego on Sunday, with the support of his family and Active friends who were all VERY vocal at the event. He’s looking forward to more to come.

JASON KARLS, UX Lead ActiveWorks Endurance Raced in the Starbucks Gran Prix Cat 4 men Cyclocross event at King County’s Five Mile Lake Park. This is an annual partnership with Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA). !!SUNDAY - SUNDAY - SUNDAY!! Quick. Messy. Fun.

No crashes. No de-railings - sweet! Notes to self: Need new tires. Not coming in last anymore is a good feeling! Desire to upgrade machine - step away from the raleigh tent... Should probably drop the water cage and back light.

KAT KEIVENS, Online Account Coordinator San Diego, raced this weekend in the Mission Bay Triathlon along with numerous other Active employees. She finished with a time of 1:16:24 and 5^th in age group. Thank you to all my family and friends that came out and supported. A big shout out to my family, Jen Kuhney, Gigi Blaikie, and Chris Blaikie for completing their first Triathlon!

On Saturday, TREY GORMAN, CHUCK LANGDON, KYLE ROSE, and TIM SEGRAVES, Reg Online completed their first century ride with a trip from Boulder to Estes Park. The fall colors were close to peak and the weather was near perfect. It was a long day on the bike but the ride went very smooth considering 100 miles and almost 9000 vertical feet. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/51426727

http://www.flickr.com/photos/timsegraves/sets/72157624958696107/with/5045913989/

HEATHER LEVINE, Project Coordinator ran the Urban Cow Half-Marathon yesterday, October 3, my first half-marathon! I have been training for it since May with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training of Sacramento. We raised over $80,000 for LLS! Being that this is my first half-marathon and I am a slow runner/walker, I finished in 3:30 with an average pace of 16 minute mile. My goal was just to finish and not keel over so I am extremely happy with the results! It felt great doing my first half-marathon and now I am looking for my next challenge. Two pictures attached: racepic.jpg is a picture of me and my fiancée (he ran with me the whole time and provide me with lots of sports beans). The 2^nd picture (racepic4.jpg) is of me, my brother, and best friend (my personal cheering section).

MATTHEW HENRY (Interaction Designer, Bothell, WA) had a busy weekend that started early morning on Saturday standing on a street corner near Golden Gardens. He passed out water and Gatorade to the participants of Team in Training’s winter season. This was immediately followed by a tough hour of power yoga. In team sports, he accounted for 25% of the Incredible’s scoring in ultimate Frisbee. Unfortunately, his team was demolished 15-4. He also played in his first ever hockey game on Sunday night, playing forward for the Sentinels in the Greater Seattle Hockey League. The Sentinels defended last season’s league title, 3-2. He didn’t score himself, but had a few good chances. Maybe next game he’ll have more confidence when it comes to jamming his stick five hole to reach a loose puck directly underneath the goalie. And yes, he plays forward just like you were supposed to in NHL ‘94. In other news, please contact him if you will be at the Chicago Marathon next week. He’ll be looking for Active runners at the race!

BRENDA SEIDER & MICHELE CREPEAU ran the Hamptons Half Marathon in East Hampton, NY. Conditions were perfect! Shot attached from post race R & R.

BRIAN PORTER this is the first time sending you one of these. I participated in a modest event on the weekend. The 5K “Brewskidaddle” which (as its name implies) is beer and running, though not necessarily in that order. We ran through beautiful Stanley Park here in Vancouver, and along part of the seawall under spectacular weather.

LaVADA TAYLOR, Senior Account Manager with her husband and took a weekend trip to Ouray, Colorado. We went on some four wheel drive trails and hiked around Yankee Boy Mine.

JIM GARFIELD (M&M) borrowed some great kids and a super dog named Scout and ran in the Mutt Mile at the Coastwise mile in La Jolla Cove this past weekend. This weekend a number of Active Network folks participated in the Coastwise Mile and 5K in La Jolla. Great relaxed and fun event for all fitness levels. A ton of categories including mutt run, baby jogger, baby crawling and kid’s dash as well as elite runner categories. Group photo with JON BELMONTE (and kids) did 5K, ASHLEY PASCALL (elite women’s mile), TINA WILMOTT (baby jogger) and LARKIN GEYER (elite women’s mile ran a 5:15).

Active had an excellent turnout for the Mission Bay Triathlon on Sunday! The weather couldn’t have been better… cool and cloudy plus hardly any wind on Fiesta Island. Everyone had a great time and some of our peeps turned in top-10 age group performances. Congrats to all!

From l to r: Amber Martin; Mike MacDonald; Marc Villanueva; Erin Lang; Jeremy Spitzberg; Christina Hanson; Emily Chan-Norris; Jon Christopher; Jinna Felton; Anthony Valentino; Liz Harrell; Paul McLure; Tawnya Bordalo; Chris Hemphill; Kat Keivens; Jim Sola.

MIKE MACDONALD, Web UI Developer did his 3rd annual Mission Bay Triathlon. My time of 1:07:49 was 3 minutes better than my time previous PR. It was an absolute BLAST having a bunch of the Active crew out there finally...like a mini-Solana Beach Tri!

PAUL MCLURE, Account Manager had a great time doing the Mission Bay Triathlon (my first Mission Bay Tri) on Sunday. As always it is great to show up and see the Active crew and have the support throughout the race. I finished with a time of 1:21:49 and look forward to doing the event again next year.

GISELLE DOMDOM (Media + Marketing) did the Mission Bay Tri as part of a relay team. My boyfriend and his buddy held down the swim and bike legs while I brought us home on the run. We all had so much fun, and it was great to see so many Active faces on the course!

EMILY CHAN-NORRIS, Account Mgr ActiveTrainer did the Mission Bay Triathlon on Sunday and had a blast! It was my first time doing this race and I highly recommend it. The weather was overcast, the water temperature was perfect, the course was enjoyable, and it was great to see so many Active participants and spectators out there. I can’t wait to do it again next year!

ANTHONY VALENTINO, Account Executive (Communities – Higher Education), joined many other San Diego based employees at the Mission Bay Triathlon. Despite an exquisite display of the dog paddle during the swim, I still finished pretty decent for my second tri (17^th out of 149 men ages 35-40). As always, the best part was sharing the experience with all my Active friends that were there competing and/or supporting. Great job Team!

ERIN LANG did the Mission Bay Triathlon this weekend along with about 15 other employees from Active. It was a fun course and I felt a lot more comfortable and better paced during the race than during Solana (my first tri). Attached is a post race pic of myself with a couple of other morning Active Xers, Jinna Felton and Christina Hanson.

ERIC OLSON GM, RegOnoline – ran the Boulder Half Marathon on Sunday, using every ounce of leg strength he had left after last week’s 70.3. I ran the race with a few guys from a non-profit I work with called The AIR Foundation, which uses endurance sports to increase the effectiveness of drug and alcohol rehabilitation. It was a beautiful Boulder day and a wonderful 13.5 (the course was a bit long) miles. All the guys from the program finished strong, and I limped across the finish with two of them in around 1:52:00.

On Sunday, JASON BROUGHTON and CHRIS GIELOW (ActiveWorks UX) completed the 25th annual Tour de Poway. The 100 mile ride beat Chris' personal record by 38 miles. We were both surprised to finish strong with a ride time of only 6 hours. Hearing passing traffic yell "Go Active!" was awesome!

ALEX AFANDI had the privilege of working the LA triathlon produced by Pacific Sports. The event was very successful and everything went smoothly. Friday night, I had the pleasure of meeting a few Professional Triathlete and have nice conversation with the world champions... Very inspiring weekend.

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