What's your ACTIVE? : 2010 : November

Turkey Trots

Posted by IMVoice Nov 29, 2010

Report by ERIC MA (Market Analyst, M+M) from Xi'an, China - Big weekend for Cycling group! On Saturday, 13 ActiveXriders had a half-day interview from BON TV (www.bonlive.com), not only got the team on a TV show, but also a great branding chance to promote Active and X! Then they took a 60K ride to Chanba district, where will host World Horticultural Expo next year. It was the milestone for the team since they firstly have females joined the ride. An Amazing day!

Only Chinese today’s hottest word could describe this crew, which is GELIVABLE! See them - Eda Zhao (Dev Tools Administrator, IT), Dylan Hai ((Production Support, IT), Paul Guo (Desktop Administrator, IT), Steven Xue (NOC Specialist, IT), Bruce Xu (Tester, M+M), Nemo Ding (Developer, FND Endurance), John Zhang (Developer, Class), Fod Shadbakht (English Trainer), Kelly Yang (Service Desk Technician, IT), Lynn Lin (Service Desk Technician, IT) and Marian Gao (Market Analyst, M+M), Cash Xu (Controller) and Eric Ma.

ANUSHEH CHAVEZ had an active week with my 16 year old daughter in Hawaii. Lots of hiking, kayaking, snorkeling and making our way through the world's largest maze at the Dole Plantation (at least it was the largest in 2008). Did I mention pineapple ice cream?? One of our hikes was up Diamond Head on Ohau. All I keep thinking as we climbed the 1¾ miles with almost 200 stairs and 225-foot tunnel was that when we got to the top, the view would be worth it and it really was.

ROBERT KLAPROTH Ran the Father Joes 5K in San Diego. Thanks to Arch and active x for helping condition me to finish my best 5k time ever at 25:37.

DANE RISLEY, Director of Sales Enterprise reports his 11 old son Michael Risley ran the 5 mile Pequot Turkey Trot in Southport CT on Thanksgiving morning with almost 4000k other participants finishing in just over 48 minutes.

TOYA REAVIS won her age group and 9th woman overall in the Burbank, CA Turkey Trot. 37 degrees at the start! Brrrrrrrr!

Robyn Wien, Operations Manager, and her brother Ryan, Tech Specialist, from the Wilton, CT office, after running in the Bedford, NY Turkey Trot on Saturday. It has become a family tradition, and both beat their times this year!

JEANNIE FREIS, Associate Product Manager from the Boulder office ran the Colorado University Turley’s Turkey Trot in 17 degree weather!

KAT KEIVENS, Online Account Coordinator, San Diego – ran in the Father Joe’s Thanksgiving 5K with friends Nicole Hake, Whitney Norton, and John Weber. It was Nicole and Whitney’s first 5K (great job girls, KUDOS)! The perfect way to start off Thanksgiving before getting stuffed!

TODD PREECE, IT Director, was in Albuquerque, New Mexico visiting family over the Thanksgiving holiday. Jumping into the local 10K Turkey Trot was supposed to be a family event, but when the temperatures dipped to 20 degrees, high winds and snow flurries, Todd found himself the only one getting out of bed. His insanity was awarded at the registration table by being handed bib 666, "The Number of the Beast". Enduring the endless jokes by fellow runners about the demonic bib number and a bitterly cold and windy run (which at times felt like at least one of the levels of Hell), Todd ended up 13th overall and 2nd place in his age division.

STEPHEN BRANSTETTER, General Manager of Camps, braved the Seattle snow/slush Thanksgiving morning along with his wife and a few hundred others in the Seattle Turkey Trot 5k which raised $32k for a local foodbank. The first 1.5 miles was downhill which, coupled with the snow, lead to lots of slipping, sliding, and falling. Luckily almost every fall had a soft landing and resulted in laughs all around.

SHANNON WINEMAN (Project Coordinator, San Diego) and her family ran in the Race for Hunger 10K/5K at Petco Park on Thanksgiving morning. What a great way to start a fun day full of food and family. Shannon ran a PR and came in 11^th /91 in her age group. Her husband Mark ran both the 10K and then the 5K with the kids (he is a cyclist, not a runner) and still cannot make it up the stairs without stopping at least once. All three children ran and her youngest, Stella (7 years) came in 10^th /72 in the 12 under category with her own PR! It was really cold but a clear a beautiful morning.

WILLIAM BASSLER and his son and did our third annual Turkey Trot in Oceanside, CA on Thanksgiving Day. I did the 5K: 22:33 and my son did the mile in 8:53. He’s 9. It was great weather, and it’s a beautiful run with the home stretch along the coast - ending at the pier.

MEGAN FERRI, Account Manager ran the Father Joe 5k in Balboa Park San Diego with family and friends. My mom, my best friend, and I decided to dress up to get in the Turkey Day spirit! A 10news reporter also liked our headbands and interviewed us for the 5 o’clock news!

AUSTIN BRAATEN, Account Executiven ran the Seattle Marathon with her brother on Sunday. She got third in her age group and they finished with a time of 3:27, which was awesome since it was her bro’s first marathon.

ARACELI DAGDAGAN, Marketing Manager, San Diego. My husband and I ran the Temecula Turkey trot 10K in the beautiful wineries of Temecula - with hot air balloons and great scenery, and not to mention free wine at the finish line!

ANDY GEORGE from San Diego ran the Father Joe’s Thanksgiving Walk/Run with friends and family. Andy’s 9 year old daughter Ava took 2^nd out of 130 girls in her group – not bad for her first 5k! Nice job Ava!

PAUL MCLURE, Account Manager had a great Thanksgiving with the family & friends. We packed up on Friday and did our annual camping trip – this year we camped & hiked at Agua Caliente Regional Park. The weather was nice and warm during the day light hours and then got close to freezing at night – fun!

AARON WALDMAN, Software Developer participated in the Father Joe's Thanksgiving Day 5K in San Diego. This was my first 5k in a few years and I was amazed how many people showed up in the cold early morning. It was a fun event, a good cause, and a great way to kick off the holiday. I finished in 33:23 and was rewarded myself with a trip to the beer garden.

JULIE DIETZ, Training Assistant Frostburg wanted to share a project that I had done on Saturday 11/27/10. For the past 3 years I have organized a collection of Christmas/Holiday cards to mail down to the children at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. 2 years ago I raised 3,070 cards and last year I collected over 5,200. This past Saturday at our local mall, I held a workshop where anyone could stop and make cards with the supplies I provided for them to use. At the workshop I collected 142 cards and also $30 in donations that I use to help with the cost of shipping. Also to help raise cards there are several local businesses that allow the public to drop off the cards to so that I can collect them and mail them down to the children. Also with the supplies that are left over from the workshop I am able to bring them into work for our representatives to make some cards at their desks between phone calls so everyone in the building has the opportunity to participate.

JENNIFER ROMINE, Account Manager – Running, ran the Run for the Hungry 10k on Thanksgiving with her sister and brother-in-law. This was her brother-in-law’s first race and he was a little nervous so Jen stayed with him for the 6.2 miles. They finished in 58:22 and had a great time listening to the bands along the course and watching the dogs racing with their owners.

ANTHONY VALENTINO, Account Executive in San Diego spent Thanksgiving Day by riding Mt. Soledad (5 summits, 5 different routes), running the bluffs in Del Mar, and hiking Fortuna Canyon. On Sunday, Anthony hosted fellow San Diego Active employees KAT KEIVENS (Online Account Coordinator), LIZ HARRELL (Director – Project Management), and VALERIE PRESTIDGE (Technical Account Manager) for the “Run, Bike, Brunch” event: 75 minute coastal run, 90 minute SPIN class, and the latest installment of the Bachelor Pad Brunch – the perfect end to a perfect weekend of family, friends, food and sweat!

MEGAN DUVALL, MICHELLE NATION & TAMMI SCHMIDT went to Yosemite National Park and ran the Sacramento 5k Run to Feed the Hungry over Thanksgiving. Yosemite was GORGEOUS! It snowed over a foot while we were there. The turkey trot was also a great time. There were 25,000+ people and all proceeds went to feed the hungry. Happy Holidays!

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Mud Run, Rugby & an Aussie Winner!

Posted by IMVoice Nov 15, 2010

FIONA MACMILLAN, Account Exec from Australia reports she raced the Marysville Half Marathon on 7^th November. This is the second year of the event, which raises money for the Marysville community since the devastating black Saturday fires in 2009. Fiona was the first female across the line in a time of 1:32 on the hilly course, and 5^th overall.

STEPHANY CAVATONI reports she and her family spent the weekend being Active in Yosemite - we hiked to the fall, biked to Mirror Lake (including our dog in the Burley!) and hiked Mariposa Grove - wonderful, fun filled 4 days!

ANDY REILLY, Account Exec ran the Silver Stand ½ marathon from Coronado Island to Imperial Beach, CA with his sister ERIN and her boyfriend ANDREW on Sunday. His time was 1:43:54 for his first ½ but the boyfriend beat him with a 1:37:02. Erin had the most fun running 2:08:11 and MOM & DAD REILLY played Sherpa's and Cheerleader for the morning.

KAT KEIVENS DID A BIG DOUBLE THIS WEEKEND! Online Account Coordinator, San Diego – competed in the Del Mar Mud Run on Saturday with her cousin Rachel Lebron and a whole bunch of the Active crew. This was Rachel’s first event ever! It was the perfect day for a mud run and not a clean body to be seen anywhere. On Sunday, Kat ran in the Silver Strand Half Marathon with Marc Villanueva, James Sola, and Amy Schwenck. She finished with an overall time of 2:07:37.

AMY SCHWENCK, (Dir, Talent Acquisition) had an action-packed running weekend with the Del Mar Mud Run 5k on Saturday with Team ActiveX and the Silver Strand Half Marathon on Sunday. The Del Mar Mud Run was AWESOME!! Team ActiveX dominated the 5k course and it’s 26 obstacles to take home the Unlimited Team WIN! Team ActiveX was a mix of Active employees, friends and family, including Melissa Cohen, Bobby Fouladi, Brier Steenberge, Brooke Walker, Bryan Pavin, Christie Beegle, Christy Fuston, Jen Kuhney, Jennifer Stubbs, Jessica Wexler, Jevon Lake, John Rarity, Judi Schreyer, Julianne Kropp, Kat Keivens, Kellie Bentley, Larkin Geyer, Liz Harrell, Mark Warble, Micah Kropp, Rachel Lebron, Renee Kerouac, Rob Powell, & Tammi Schmidt. Congrats to Team ActiveX. Let’s do it again next year!! The mud run did make for a tough half-marathon on Sunday and it was FREEZING waiting for the start, but I made my goal of finishing with a smile. What a great weekend!!

SHANNON STEWART, Sales Manager Endurance, completed the Silver Strand Half Marathon this past weekend. It was a nice flat course and what started out as a beautiful morning in Coronado quickly turned into a warm morning running down the Strand. Hard to believe I was having issues with the heat and sun in the middle of November. I’m really glad this event finished up by the Imperial Beach Pier because I was able to take advantage of the cold ocean afterwards!

MARC VILLANUEVA, Web Applications Developer in San Diego also ran the Silver Strand Half Marathon yesterday. It was beautiful day for a run and I got to do most of the race with fellow Xers, Kat and Jim S, which was awesome motivation.

MATTHEW HENRY (Bothell, WA) went to a really fun Yoga, Wine and Chocolate event on Friday night (in that order...). Especially fun because yogis make the best bartenders. He had a big Sunday as well, winning what could be the final game of the season with the Incredibles, beating the Unbreakables 15-7, winning the second half 7-1. In hockey news, the Sentinels lost last night 4-2, with most of the bounces going the way of our opponents. One bounce that did go our way came late in the third period when Matt scored his first goal ever! It wasn’t pretty, but whatever works.

ERIC MA (Market Analyst, M+M China Office) ran a 12K Hash Run on Saturday, it was his 4th run this year and he will be given a hash name after his fifth. That was the longest run ever to send a member, Blue Balls, off the city; all the runners wear blue shirts, ties blue ribbons, printed blue icons on their face. Not sure if it is an Active champion logo on Eric's face, but that's what he meant to. Epic run with BBQ and beers after but definitely a different feel running in a cold day!

KIRSTIN HARTOS (TECHNICAL ACCOUNT MANAGER), MAREA BLUE (IMPLEMENTATION ANALYST, SAN DIEGO) & EMILY OGATA (APPLICATION SPECIALIST, SAN DIEGO) traveled to breathtaking Mesa, Arizona with the San Diego Surfers over the weekend to compete in the 2010 USA Rugby National Championships. We defeated league rivals the Seattle Breakers 20 - 7 in the semifinals to advance to the finals on Sunday against the Atlanta Harlequins. We beat Atlanta in the semifinals in 2009, and they were itching for revenge. The Surfers got on the board first with a penalty kick. The Harlequins responded with a try and a successful conversion kick, putting them ahead 7 – 3. We regained the lead with a breakaway try to the outside corner, but the Harlequins scored again right before the end of the first forty minutes, giving them a 12 – 8 lead and the momentum going into the second half. We regrouped and scored a try to go up 13 – 12 and spent most of the rest of the game on defense, fighting off an aggressive Atlanta attack on our side of the field. Fortunately, despite numerous field goal attempts and a few very close calls, Atlanta was unable to get back on the scoreboard. We got one more penalty kick before the end of the game, sealing a 16 – 12 victory and making the San Diego Surfers Division I National Champions for the second year in a row!

ANTHONY VALENTINO, Account Executive Communities – Higher Education, enjoyed the amazing November weather here in sunny San Diego with Cycling and running on Saturday and jumping into the San Diego Fall Rowing Classic, Men’s Open 8. He rowed in the Penn AC boat with some international level athletes and managed to hang in there, taking first in the event and posting the fastest time of the day (16:41.6 over 3.25 miles). It was a fantastic start to an amazing Sunday. Anthony enjoyed the rest of the day on my beach cruiser, pedaling on the coast of North County. Here’s a picture of yesterday’s sunset in Cardiff, CA taken from the saddle.

MELANIE WIVIOTT Wiviott (Thriva Application Specialist, Bothell) participated in the Pineapple Classic this weekend in Northe Bend, WA and raised over $200 in support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This event is a team 5k Obstacle Course challenge and boy is it muddy. We climbed, jumped, crawled and had a ton of fun in the mud, finishing off the event with a mud/dirty water slip and slide! This will become an annual event for her and her teammates.

ALICIA TOWERY, TAM ran the Big Sur ½ Marathon this weekend in a fast time of 1:38:44 which placed her 252 out of 5728 total.

BURT REPINE, Sr. Software Engineer won his age group and had the 4^th fastest time overall at the inaugural Del Mar Mud Run Saturday morning and then jetted off to the Cuyamaca Mountains for some hiking and camping the rest of the weekend with his son Noah.

MICHAEL STRICKLAND (ActiveWorks/San Diego) and his wife Cassie joined the Urban Exploration Meetup for a hair-raising hike along the abandoned (and severely dilapidated) Lake Hodges Flume, constructed in 1918 to connect Lake Hodges to the San Dieguito Reservoir.

PAUL MCLURE and the McLure family did the Miracle Babies 5k walk/ run on a beautiful Sunday morning in Mission Bay in San Diego. The organization helps support the families who need help when their babies are in the NICU. The founder of the organization Sean Daneshmand, MD is such a wonderful, caring person - check out the organization at www.miraclebabies.org

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Grand Canyon, Marathon Mania plus Ironman

Posted by IMVoice Nov 8, 2010

TOBY GUILLETTE, Social Media Specialist, San Diego, ran across the Grand Canyon on Saturday.. Twice! The 50-mile rim-to-rim-to-rim run was truly an epic adventure. Our group of 4 finished safely in just over 15 hours after one of the toughest days I've ever had on the trail. TOBY FROM ME TO YOU – YOU ARE A RUNNING LEGEND! Mike

SAM RENOUF and LUKE LITTLER of the Asia-Pacific offices attended the Noosa Mutli-sport Festival that includes the world’s 3rd largest triathlon with over 8000 athletes

completing Olympic distance. The event is a new client for Active and our partnership with them includes on-site promotion - as shown by the photos below....great exposure for the rapidly expanding brand presence in Australia!

MICHELLE CREPEAU, DANA BLACKWOOK and STEVE MAZZA worked the New York City Marathon expo and event this weekend. The world’s largest Marathon and it couldn’t happen without their help! Way to wear that Padres cap Steve.

GREG LOPEZ ran the marathon his first one back in many years. He had a goal to break 3 hours and he did running a 2:58:35. Way to go Greg!

AUSTIN BRAATEN, Active Camps also ran the NYC marathon this weekend with the Chilean miner and Jared, the Subway guy, on Sunday morning. It was a beautiful day and the most amazing experience of her life. The crowds and scenery were one of a kind and she beat her 3:30 goal time which was exciting!

ERIC MA (Market Analyst, M+M) with 13 Active employees, LIN LIN (Senior Recruiter), JANE SHI (Tester, H&F), JENNER ZHANG (QA Lead, ActiveWorks), LYNN WANG (MRI, M+M), JESSICA JIN (MRI, M+M), MAGGIE WANG (Email Support), VERA MA (MRI Manager, M+M), EILEEN YUAN (Tester, FND), BRUCE XU (ActiveTrainer Tester, M+M), CASH XU (Controller) from Xi'an office participated Xi'an City Wall International Marathon on Saturday. It was such an incredible experience to run with more than 2,000 people from all over the world, and hearing them shouting “Jia You!” (Jean always called it “Add Oil”) around your ears. The weather was good, not feeling at all it’s already in winter. Most of them ran 5K, followed the same course of Active 2010 China Employee Day Marathon, and CLIFF LIU (Developer, RW) finished 13.7K. "I never thought my legs could be that sore, but the race was great! Feel proud to chase those pro runners." said LEO LI (MRI, M+M), after finished his first half marathon.

“Let’s get more people do this next year!”, said Eric.

MATTHEW HENRY (Bothell, WA) - was a very Active person this weekend, starting with power yoga on Friday night and a Saturday morning training run with Team in Training and another power yoga class shortly thereafter. Sunday was definitely overkill, starting with a 4 hour doubleheader of ultimate frisbee, where his Incredibles team lost 14-11 to Out of Sight and 15-7 to The Phantom Menace (did I mention the Samuel L. Jackson league theme this season?). He followed that up with a third power yoga class and THEN his Sentinels hockey team lost a 1-0 game to Gang Green. We were outshot 42-13 so clearly we all owe our goalie a beer. Or three.

JOE SCHUM, Sales Mgr Eastern Region “YOU ARE AN IRONMAN” Joe completed Ironman Florida this past Saturday in a great time of 12:54:21. It was a great day on a very different Florida course! Recover well Joe!

GREG INGINO, VP completed his first ½ marathon run in Santa Clarita, CA over the weekend. I would have never even thought of doing something like this before joining Active! Great weather and great people. Over 2000 entered the race. Here is a pic of me and my kids after the race.

SHANNON WINEMAN (Project Manager, San Diego) spend Saturday morning riding 15 miles along the riverbed in Oceanside for a “Bike the Coast” event with her three kids and her husband. It was perfect weather and a great way to start the weekend!

ActiveXcursions San Diego: Solana Beach to San Juan Capistrano Ride.

ActiveXers ASHLEY PASCALL, JOHN COYNE, JEREMY SPITZBERG, LIZ HARRELL, KAT KEIVENS, RICKY GRAY, and DENNIS TRIPLETT, plus ActiveXwife CHRISTY FUSTON, friends of ActiveX Katya Meyers, Mike Forgione and buddies, rode 50 miles from Solana Beach to San Juan Capistrano Sunday morning, enjoying perfect weather, and a gorgeous route. Multiple flats, group fractures, and a dicey train conductor didn't keep the entire crew from jumping on the AmTrak for the ride back to San Diego!

STACEY JOHNSON - What a great weekend! I took the train from Solana Beach up to Santa Barbara with a group of girls to run the Santa Barbara Half Marathon. I’m not sure if I was more excited about the train ride (which I highly recommend), or the race itself. J The train was so nice & relaxing… awesome sites and not to have to drive through LA priceless. The race was beautiful! At about mile 10, the course takes a left turn onto “Cliff Drive,” which was… well, a challenging cliff, but overall the course was awesome. The last 2 miles were downhill along the ocean – what a great end! I finished in 1:44, which I was happy about for that course.

MEGAN DUVALL & MICHELLE NATION participated in the 1^st annual Oceanside Bike the Coast / Taste the Coast on Saturday. There was a great turnout and it was a gorgeous morning for a bike ride.

On Saturday MIKE MACDONALD, Web Developer ran the Santa Barbara Half Marathon and finished in 1:54:45. This was my first half and my goal was to finish under 2 hours. Having grown up in Santa Barbara, the course was familiar to me. Having to run around an entire track to get to the finish line was pretty miserable, but the course was pretty good otherwise.

Thanks to Ruben Gomez shooting pictures all along the course and at the finish.

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Athens 2500 year old Marathon

Posted by IMVoice Nov 1, 2010

JEN ROMINE, Account Manager - Running, reports in from Greece after participating in the 2500th anniversary of the original marathon! Such an incredible experience, and I had the honor to not only meet, but to run/walk/run the event with Jeff Galloway! my goal was 5 hours and I finished in 4:59. It was a tough course; in the words of Jeff "there is only 1 hill, however it goes on for 13 miles". Jen is in the middle of picture with white visor.

ANTHONEY CHIULLI from the Boulder Sales Team monkeyed around in the Denver Gorilla Run on Saturday. Anthony (pictured in the bikini) jogged with over 1000 other Gorillas in a new Guinness Book of Records for the most Gorillas running in an organized event. Not a bad way to start off a Halloween Weekend!

PATTI ROSENTHAL did the 2nd Annual mountain bike costume ride at Phil's World. Just a bunch of friends from Durango who celebrated Halloween in style at the single track trails in Cortez, CO. Over 30 miles of single track with lots of whoopty do's - just like a Disneyland ride! We had a witch, superwoman, butter/dragonfly, a crayon, cowgirl, endo boy, lady gaga, ninja's, cave man/woman, plug/outlet, hippies & much more. Super FUN!

MICHELE CREPEAU was down at the MCM this weekend in DC and ran the 10K along side many of the charity runners. Very inspirational weekend with all the military charities including Team Fisher House and Semper Fi who had over 1,000 participants in the 10K/ Marathon. An incredible tribute to all those serving our country.

TIM MCMAHON, MIKE COLEMAN AND MIKE REILLY worked the Marine Corp Marathon in DC this weekend. Our boss was Miss Washington DC and it sure was a tough gig!

Troi Valencia, Senior Project Manager – San Diego. Outside of my passions of family and work, my other passion is the sport of Mixed Martial Arts (aka Ultimate Fighting). Since suffering a herniated disk a month and half ago, I’ve be unable to compete, but I still spend my time coaching and cornering upcoming fighters. This past Friday, all the training and coaching culminated in a win at the Epic Fighting promotion, here in San Diego.

Jim Garfield (M&M) competed in the Marin County Triathlon where he met up with professional triathlete twin sister’s phenom’s Rebeccah and Laural Wassner. The race was terrific and the “greenest” triathlon in the U.S. From the solar panels for power, our on-line registration, recycled bike parts as awards etc…it was a definite feel good event. If that were not enough, the staff is all volunteer and 100% of the money raised goes to that years designated charities. This year the money went to TNT, Prostate Cancer and Team Winter…including the prize money won for First and Second place by Rebeccah and Laural

TIM WOOD this weekend was the final round of the GolfersClub.com Club Championship. The first round of the event was played two weekends ago and I was 3 shots back going in to final round on Saturday, played at the Salt Creek Golf Club in Chula Vista. I shot a final round net 68 to win the title, with a tournament total of 141 ( 3 under par). This tournament was a qualifier in to the SCGA Tournament of Champions in Palm Desert on December 13^th. I sure would look good in some Active Golf apparel. <wink wink>

AUSTIN BRAATEN and MATTHEW HENRY saw each other twice on Saturday, first at the 15th Annual Pumpkin Push at Seward Park. Austin was the seventh woman to cross the finish line in 21:18. Considering Wonder Woman was the women’s winner, that’s an awesome finish for Austin! As for Matt ... Well, Matt dropped his keys maybe a tenth of a mile into the race and had to wait for the stampede to die down. So that sucked, but he still pulled out a 25:17 finishing time. (In the picture, Matt swears he’s running his ActiveX shirt underneath the event’s shirt.) Later that afternoon, Austin and Matt tried crossfit as applied to functional fitness for the first time at a special event sponsored by Forever Athletes, an organization focused on making “athlete” feel like a much more inclusive word. FYI, burpees are not fun!

KIRSTIN HARTOS (TECHNICAL ACCOUNT MANAGER), MAREA BLUE (IMPLEMENTATION ANALYST, SAN DIEGO) & EMILY OGATA (APPLICATION SPECIALIST, SAN DIEGO) traveled to Austin, Texas with the San Diego Surfers over the weekend to play in the USA Rugby Division 1 Women's Club Play-offs. As a top seed from our region, we earned a bye on Saturday, and faced the #8 Glendale Raptors (of Colorado) in the quarterfinal match on Sunday. We scored first on a penalty kick, taking a 3-0 lead - but Glendale was quick to tie it up with a penalty kick of their own. However, those were the only points that Glendale would score during what proved to be a very physical game. We won by a final score of 26-3 (even though it felt much closer), and Marea came away with a black eye (again) and MVP honors (again). We travel to Mesa, Arizona over Veteran's Day weekend where we hope to defend our 2009 National Championship.

EVAN WITTE (Product Manager – San Diego) competed in the inaugural Fearless Triathlon on Saturday with his Dad – Greg. The Fearless Triathlon is a unique “double sprint” format. You complete a 250m Swim - 5 Mile Bike - 2 Mile Run - 250M Swim - 5 Mile Bike - 2 Mile Run. Evan pushed his Dad through his third Triathlon doing the entire event side by side finishing in 1:24 despite the intense rain and slick roads. Due to the rain this race also consisted in an unplanned 150M mud run. If you’re looking for a unique Fall San Diego Triathlon this could be a great addition.

JOHN RARITY, Online Editor participated in and completed the Kokoro Camp—a life-changing experience, see description: “SEAL FIT Camp, aka "Kokoro Camp" is the world's premier training camp for forging mental toughness and the warrior spirit. The camp is an intense crucible experience based off of the famous Navy SEAL Hell Week concept, but with a focus on teaching through experience, rather than making you quit.”

DEMIAN DORRANCE, SR. SYSTEMS ENGINEER, IT DATA CENTER SERVICES (SAN DIEGO) I recently returned from a visit to the beautiful country of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). Some travelers avoid Myanmar due to longtime rule by military junta, but I strongly encourage adventurous travelers to visit. By staying in smaller guesthouses and using local services, it is possible to avoid much of the government-run or government-affiliated tourist infrastructure and make a positive contribution in the lives of locals who can really use the support of ethical tourism. The people of Myanmar were extraordinarily warm and welcoming during my stay and it is a nation I would gladly return to. The golden Shwedagon Pagoda in the capital city of Yangon, covered in tons of real gold and topped with thousands of diamonds and rubies, is the most important Buddhist temple in the region. It is truly an amazing place and should not be missed, but the active highlight of my adventure was unquestionably the four days I spent on bicycle, foot, and horse cart exploring the plain of Bagan. The city of Bagan was founded in the 2nd century AD and became a Burmese capital city in the 9th century. Today the area is a unique archaeological and cultural marvel with thousands of temples and pagodas densely packed into 16 square miles. The majority of these date from the 11th to 13th centuries. Many of them are still open to climb and explore in great detail, some are still maintained for worship, a few are used for commerce, some have been haphazardly restored, and some have been left to the ages. The largest structure in Bagan is Dhammayangyi Temple, visible just down the road in the photo with my bicycle. Bikes rentals are inexpensive and easily available for independent explorers ready to take on the miles of dirt road and goat trails. Should you happen to have any rare mechanical trouble there are locals ready to help with small roadside repair stands for flats and minor repairs. After leaving Bagan I visited the nearby cliff-top shrines of Mount Popa which are built on a sheer volcanic plug called the Taung Kalat (pictured). I also had the honor of an overnight stay in the monastery at the base of the cliffs. The shrines can be reached via a long staircase wrapping around the volcanic cliff face with well over 700 stairs. The spectacular views and tranquil setting are well worth the effort of the climb. The modest monastery has one resident monk who speaks English, who is very helpful in arranging accommodations and transportation for travelers as the small village has no guesthouses or scheduled transit services. The people of Myanmar welcomed me with great respect and I can recommend the country to other active and adventurous travelers looking to get off the beaten track.