What's your ACTIVE? : 2010 : March

Active Diversity-China Soccer, Race Cars, Skiing & Triathlon

Posted by IMVoice Mar 29, 2010

Report from CHINA, CASH XU (Controller), DORIS SUN (Marketing Specialist) and ERIC MA (Directory Market Dev.) watched and cheered 09-10 Chinese Super League (CSL) opening game for Shaanxi Chanba vs. Dalian Shide on Sunday, this is the first game in the new season after the crackdown against corruption by Chinese Football Association (CFA), they three just experienced the great game with more than 49,000 local fans in Shaanxi. Eric and his friend Kris Quigley was interviewed by Xi’an TV Station (XATVs) before the game start, and they three are all photoed in the fans gallery on several main sports sites, like sports.163.com, sports.sina.com.cn…etc. http://sports.163.com/photoview/0B6P0005/52471.html#p=18

PATTI ROSENTHAL, Cycling had a weekend trip to Telluride, CO with a bunch of friends from Durango. They just got 22 inches so was an awesome weekend of great skiing. Apres skiing not so bad in Telluride as well. Saturday was fresh powder & Sunday a blue bird day with incredible views of the mountains around Telluride. This might be the last weekend of powder skiing here in Colorado. Then back on the bikes!

STEPHANY CAVATONI, GM Mkt and Media reports the Cardenas Family spent the weekend in Big Sur and Monterey being an Active family. We explored Pfeifer State Beach, and learned about how to lower our carbon footprint at the new exhibit at Monterey Bay Aquarium. Below is a picture of my daughter Stella pledging to eat more locally – you upload your photo and can see yourself in action on the big screen – how’s that for socializing the commitment!

STEVE MAZZA participated in the Ironman California Oceanside, CA 70.3. Saturday morning I jumped in the 59 degree water at Oceanside Harbor and rode the hilly ( and windy ) bike course..a great day! My kids took a few pics, attached…

NOLAN HANSEN, KAREN HARDY & REBECCA DIVITA watched the Oceanside 70.3 this weekend. Thank you so much for the VIP passes; as always, they are very much appreciated! We ran into Dave, Mazza, a few people I know from KSwiss and got a good shot of Michael Raelert from Germany the winner at the finish.

MICHELE CREPEAU had a great weekend snow shoeing and skiing Squaw Valley.

BEHNAM VAHABPOUR competed in a Solo II motorsport event running under SCCA regulations at the Pitt Meadows airport. I finished 4^th in my class and 20^th overall which puts me at 24 out of 142 drivers after the 6^th event out of the 7 event Autocross Slush Series. Solo II is a precision motorsport focusing on driving skills and vehicle handling. It’s also a volunteer sport so the participants have to setup and work the course in sun, rain, or snow. Normally any event requires 2-3 hours of preparation for setting up and tuning the car for track use and back for street use.

BRETT BURCH, BRIAN O’NEILL and DARREN WEINER of the Boulder office went to Silverton Mountain, high in the San Juan mountains of southwest Colorado, this weekend for some spring skiing and snowboarding. It snowed heavily on Friday night, ultimately providing 20” of powder and bluebird skies on Saturday.

JIM GARFIELD After a day battling headwinds on Pacific Coast Highway on his bike learned all the intricacies of Crewing from ESPNU show host and Olympic Gold Medalist Susan Francia at the San Diego Crew Classic this weekend. He even made brief camo on the show commenting on the popularity and importance of club sports in post collegiate life.

THOMAS DRUDGE Made a solo run up Mt. San Gorgonio - still a little short of the summit, but much closer. Nine (9) hrs of climbing round trip, from 6000ft up to 10,500 and back. Lessons for next trip - need to tether my ice axe and snow shoes wouldn't be a bad idea for the late afternoon. Looking forward to Mt. Shasta in 6 weeks!!! (If anybody is interested in joining me, I've got a small group with very mixed experience - drop me a line and I'll give you the details)

KAT KEIVENS (Online Account Coordinator) participated in the Chollas Lake 5k Trail Run in San Diego (part of the Sunstrides Trail Run Series) on Saturday. On Sunday she and her friend Jeff Zettel (team Fancy Pants) took on the Muddy Buddy Race in Temecula, CA. Dressed in giant pink tutus as Ace Ventura when he goes to the mental hospital, they finished first in their age division and hit their goal of sub 1 hour.

MICHAEL STRICKLAND, Copy Writer on the Foundation team, joined a group of scuba divers for a weekend of camping and diving the kelp forests of Catalina Island off the coast of southern California.

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Active busy doing Karate, Climbing Stairs, Rugby, Marathon, Tennis, Kids Swimming & More

Posted by IMVoice Mar 22, 2010

KATE ALBERGA, Dave's daughter in her first ever swim meet doing the 50 M Free and Breaststroke. She won! Check out the photo of her looking at the boy next to her probably thinking "You're going down kid"!

ANDY GEORGE, VP Technology and daughter AVA from San Diego added podium time to start their weekend. The local Racers & Chasers Winter Mountain Bike Series wrapped up with Andy taking 2^nd overall in his category/division after 4 races starting in December and ending on Saturday. Ava tore up the kids course grabbing a winners bag for a remarkable finish coming off an hour straight of warming up in the inflatable jumper…and that’s how the George’s roll

MICHELE CREPEAU Had a super active Sunday visiting home in the San Francisco Bay Area, ran 6 miles then did family hike with my niece and nephew around the Lafayette Reservoir followed by an early evening hike at Las Trampas with my lifelong best friend Lois Morris. Thankfully didn’t run into any of the cougars that have been spotted recently!

Thanks for coordinating these weekly weekend warrior reports! CARMEL CINCO, Software Consultant spent the weekend at Kyokushin Karate Winter Camp at Silver Lake in Peachland, BC. Camp consisted of six 2-hour training sessions covering everything from moving basics, kata, fighting, and self-defense. The highlight for me: training at 6am on Saturday morning on the frozen lake under the starry sky…absolutely amazing! Both photos attached were taken on the frozen lake. JUST A LITTLE CRAZY BUT VERY COOL! PUN INTENDED.

JIM GARFIELD (M&M) ran the new and improved LA Marathon yesterday representing the MGD 64 ambassador team from Active. One of the highlights was being able to stretch on the Dodger stadium outfield at 5:30 a.m. (in case anyone wants to know what it looks like that early, check out the picture). Ran with ultra distance athlete Dean Karnazes for a few miles and got cheered by John Mellencamp in Beverly Hills….only in LA.

On Saturday KAT KEIVENS (Online Account Coordinator) competed in the Sunstrides Black Mountain 7k trail run which is part of the Trail Run Series. The course was very difficult with a steep incline and the rocky terrain but I was able to finish it with a time of 49:26.85. Sunday, MEGAN DUVALL (Project Manager) and I ran 6 miles on the boardwalk in Mission Beach in preparation for the San Diego Rock n’ Roll Marathon in June. I also hiked 3 miles on Cowles Mountain and played a soccer game. All in a weekends work!

MICAH KROPP (Application Specialist) played for the San Diego Old Aztecs in a rugby match in Ocean Beach. In a strong display of skill and effort the Old Aztecs defeated the Pasadena Men’s Rugby Club 48-8. With the victory our record improved to 8-0 and we remained in first place in the Southern California Men’s Rugby Union (Division II).

MICHAEL STRICKLAND, Copy Writer on the Foundation team, joined other local San Diego hikers on an exploration of canyons and abandoned gold mines on the Banner Grade east of Julian, California.

Hey Mike, here’s Bothell’s Big Climb weekend…Seattle, WA – (In photo from left to right): STEPHEN BRANSTETTER (General Manager, Camps), JAKE COONEY (Online Marketing Manager), PHILLIP DUGGAN (Thriva QA), ZAC PANTHER (Database Developer), NICOLE PELLEY (Business Analyst), SIJEN OLTHOF (Sr. Implementation Analyst) conquered the tallest building west of the Mississippi this weekend here in Seattle raising $1,226 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. 69 flights of stairs, 1,311 steps, 788 feet of vertical elevation! GOOD FOR YOU ALL!

ADNAN ZAIDI, Senior Technical Account Manager in picture on far laft holding green towel. The Tennis Division, played in the “Battle of the Sexes V” in Las Vegas this past weekend. The competition pitted the University of Cincinnati Women’s Tennis Team versus the “Average Joes” of Las Vegas. The Average Joes dominated the com petition! Spectators and competitors all had a fun weekend playing good tennis and enjoying good food.

PATTI ROSENTHAL, Industry Manager Cycling had a girls weekend at Snowbird, UT. Five of us from Durango went to Snowbird UT for some great spring skiing. Stayed with a couple of great friends who are currently snowboard instructors at Snowbird (also from Durango). Five girls crammed in 1 car, drove 6 1/2 hours to Sandy UT & had some awesome skiing at Snowbird which offers over 3,000 vertical feet of challenging terrain. Girls just want to have some FUN!

MELANIE WIVIOTT (pictured right), Thriva Application Specialist from the Bothell office, participated in the Mercer Island Rotary Half Marathon on Sunday March 20^th. It was her first half-marathon but just may have gotten the bug to do a few more later this year.

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St. Patrick's Day and More

Posted by IMVoice Mar 15, 2010

HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY EVERYONE THIS WEDNESDAY from MICHAEL JOSEPH PATRICK REILLY!

LISA BALDWIN participated in her first running event, the 2010 Green Thumb Shamrock n Race in Abbotsford, BC. She finished the 5K course in 34:40. While that may be slow, Michelle Nation assures me that the best part of your first race is that it is your personal record so I have comfort in that fact :-) Weather was a balmy 5 degrees C with no rain making it perfect running weather. Now that the first race is under the belt, time to get serious about training for the 10K Vancouver Sun Run in May.

JIM GARFIELD (Active M & M) and LAURENT GAUTHIER visited ESPN X-Games first winter X-Games held in Tignes, France. The half pipe was epic as 150 athletes from all over the world competed. The three year deal ESPN has with the French Alp town assures that France will known for more then just wine and cheese!

SIJEN OLTHOF, Sr Implementation Analyst in Bothell, WA says Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! He ran the St. Patty’s day dash in Seattle with the family, baby stroller and all.

RYAN WOOD, content producer in San Diego, ran the St. Patrick's Day 10K in Mission Bay. The cool weather and flat course really made me happy, and I motored to the finish in 54:33, a couple of minutes under my goal.

ALEX AFANDI had a volunteering opportunity come up with the Catalina marathon and I took care of the First Aide Station. Some of the injuries were deep due to the terrain of the island. I also got to announce finishers and interview a group of runners that ran the marathon twice in the same day, back and forth!!! Great day on Sat... Top female finisher set a new record for the Catalina Marathon at 3:07, beating the previous record of 3:15. MIKE’S COMMENT - THAT TOP FEMALE WAS HEATHER FUHR 14X IRONMAN CHAMPION INCLUDING THE 1997 HAWAII WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

SCOTT FRIESEN, Associate Product Manager for Golf Solutions in Burnaby, BC participated in the Shamrock’n Race 10K in Abbotsford. While the rain was pouring down on the drive to the Fraser Valley, the skies cleared up just prior to the start which made for a very enjoyable run. Scott finished 8^th overall with a time of 47:31.

TODD PREECE came away with 4th place in his age group at the Xterra Black Mountain 15k Trail Run on Sunday missing getting an Active.com jersey on the podium by only 30 seconds. The course is advertised as the flattest and fastest of the Xterra trail run series but with 1200 feet of climbing and an 8% grade for the last mile its definitely not the easiest.

MICHELLE ULRICH & JEN ROMINE (Endurance Sales) ran the St. Patrick’s Day 10k AT Mission Bay in San Diego on Saturday. This was a really fun event with a lot of runners getting in the St Paddy’s Day spirit running in costumes, and the weather was perfect with surprisingly little wind around Fiesta Island. Michelle finished 2^nd overall female and 1^st in her age group with a time of 39:15 and Jen Romine PR’d at 58:44. YOU ARE A FAST GIRL MICHELLE!

THOMAS DRUDGE Climbed Mt. San Gorgonio in Southern California, didn't summit but did get some good experience with ice axe and crampons!!!

MEGAN DUVALL, Project Manager along with JEREMY SPITZBERG & MARC VILLANUEVA completed the Gran Fondo do over 54 mile course provided by ARCH FUSTON on Sunday morning. We started at 7:30 a.m. and had a great time! The weather was gorgeous and as Jeremy said - real "Wish you were here" postcard quality. Check out the video http://cid-6a71084a6c623bb2.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/gran-fondo-redo.wmv We’re all much happier now that we have closure from getting rained out the week before.

SEAN ZIMMERMAN, Visual Designer, EILEEN ZIMMERMAN, Sport Product Manager and MICHAEL STRICKLAND, Copy Writer all participated in the St. Patricks Day 10k and 2-4 mile run/walk over at Mission Bay Park in SD. It was an awesome run that was nice and flat. And you can't beat the free beer garden at the finish line, supplied from local breweries in San Diego.

SCOTT YESKE, Industry Manager played Ice Hockey this weekend in the Las Vegas Hockey Classic Tournament. My team (the Los Angeles Rasputin) took home the Championship and beat Bakersfield 5-2 on Sunday. He netted two goals in the championship game and walked away with a total of 9 points in 5 games in the tourney. We played a total of 5 games with two games on both Friday and Saturday. We beat teams from NY, NC, CA and WA and went 5-0 in the tournament. ALL THOSE GAMES NOW THAT’S AN ENDURANCE EVENT!

VANESSA ALLEN, Senior Mkt Manager hiked up Iron Mountain, in eastern San Diego County and enjoyed the native western lilac blooming and water actually running in the creeks - exotic sights for southern California!

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Gran Fondo Warriors

Posted by Active Toby Mar 9, 2010

Robert T. Klingensmith, Vice President, Media + Marketing, Thanks to everyone at Active who participated in -- and volunteered at -- the 2nd annual Gran Fondo Colnago San Diego (and bike wash). Conditions were truly heinous. You all are tough!

Ricky Grey (Active Creative), Race Director and Active M @ M VP Rob Klingensmith and Jim Garfield (Active M&M) enjoyed another successful Gran Fondo Colnago San Diego. Jim once again channeled the mighty voice of Active's own Mike Reilly in announcing the race and battling the elements. Over 3,200 riders braved a couple rain drops and participated in this year's event!

Chris Gielow, Lead Interaction Designer, Foundations, San Diego, did the San Diego Gran Fondo with the Active crew! There were 8 flats between us, but we hung together and finished strong!

I was intwo of the San Diego Union Tribune photos:

Emily Nesselroad Manager, Sampling/Promotions & ActiveRewards, San Diego, my sister and I rode in the 32 Mile Gran Fondo bike race on Sunday. It was poring rain for about 80% of the race. It was a real test of inner and physical strength. I'm so happy that we finished the race. The Gran Fondo was an all around amazing experience!

Jamie Williams, Data Warehouse Architect, Jamie Williams survived the Gran Fondo ride this weekend - starting from Little Italy in downtown San Diego, across the Coronado bridge, around the bay and back into town. Actually it was the cold and the rain and the 8 flat tires our group of 7 had that made the ride a challenge! :-O We opted for 32 miles instead of a longer ride since we spent over an hour just changing tires. On the plus side I think we're all tire changing experts!

Regina Huricks also completed the Family Fondo ride and sent in some photos...they capture the mood of wet, cold and shaky...as most are blurry..hahaha!

Toby Guillette, Social Media Specialist, San Diego, rode with the above-mentioned crew from Active (including Airey Baringer, Evan Witte, Brett Davies and Mike Reade) during the Gran Fondo and put this video together:

Jeannie Freis, Associate Product Manager in Boulder, snowboarded at Eldora Sunday. Friday night I took 2 dance classes (hip hop and jazz). Saturday I took 2 tap dance classes.

Penny Curry, ActiveNet Consultant, my C League Ice Hockey team won the Winter Season Championship! I don't have a picture yet of the team, attached is a picture of the cup. Unfortunately, I was not able to play the last 4 games because I was injured during a playoff game February 24th. I broke my right clavicle during a playoff game. The break was severe enough to require surgery, which was performed last Wednesday. Luckily, I was able to attend the last two playoff games last night to watch my team, and my husband win the championship!

Paul McLure, Account Manager, My wife, two daughters and I participated in the Kids Magic Mile on Saturday in Balboa Park. It is a nice short 1 mile run - Lily our four year old ran the entire mile. Stella our 3 year old was on my shoulders most of the way for a free ride.

Joe Schum, Account Executive, Activeevents, Atlanta, GA, Ran the Albany Snickers Marathon in Albany, GA last Saturday, March 06 in 3:53:00.

Michelle L. Ulrich, Ran the SCPD 5k at the Beach 5k in 18:35 to finish first female and set a new course record for top female finisher!

Sijen Olthof, Sr. Implementation Analyst, Bothell, WA. Took advantage of the sun and went hiking with family and friends at Barclay Lake, beautiful day. Looking forward to spring and summer.

And last, but certainly not least, we have Demian Dorrance, Sr. Systems Engineer, Active Systems Team:

In our second year participating in the Gran Fondo Colnago San Diego, my 15-year-old son and I were determined to challenge the 101 mile route and complete a first century ride for each of us. We spent the week before in the bike shop and on the road preparing for the event, and we both volunteered at the Gran Fondo event check-in. We were going for it rain or shine, but the weather didn’t cooperate. We were already soaked through before the start but still cheerful as we crossed the start line with a great group from Active.

The heavy rain and winds for the first 22 miles caused us two stops to buy extra layers and a pair of dry gloves. We reached the 2nd aid station at mile 30 in the Olympic Training Center well behind the other century riders, and my son’s bike needed a bracket repair. Despite the delay, we were feeling good and decided to push on into the countryside for full mountain route rather than turn back for the 50 mile route.

We were the last ones to start the climb at the King of the Mountain timing line, just as the course timer was packing up. Neither of us are strong climbers, but we ground out the mountain stage one mile at a time. The course crew tried to talk us out of it three times since we were now the tail end of the century group and behind course schedule, but neither of us would quit. We got a mental boost at the mountain aid-station, and some quick support to temporarily fix a broken bolt on my son’s bottle cage with tie wraps. Ride tip: you cannot each a sandwich on a mountain descent… even at slow speed each bump throws tomato and cucumber on the course

At mile 64, we met our match. My chain started skipping then the rear derailleur caught on a short climb and snapped off. We had brought the parts and tools we might need, but somehow a derailleur hanger hadn’t come to mind. I told my son we were done and called ride dispatch to see if we could get a repair. By this time, the repair teams were elsewhere on the course and they would only pick us up. When I broke the news to my son, he wanted to continue on solo and finish what we started. I admired his determination, but wouldn’t let him go on without support. With 37 miles to go, I decided to convert my 18-speed bike to a single speed by tying the derailleur out the way and shortening and repairing my broken chain. I thanked the SAG vehicle for the awesome moral support, but turned down the last ride in. The course was now closed, and we were on our own adventure to finish what we started. Who knew that you could seat mount a derailleur?

At mile 78, my son had a flat tire. After we had replaced the tube darkness had fallen, so we installed his bike light and made a push to get out of the backcountry. We were never so happy to see a street light, and the final miles in the city felt fantastic despite my slower pace with a single gear.

We successfully crossed the finish line in San Diego’s Little Italy 14 hours after we started. We were thoroughly soaked, but incredibly thrilled to have finished 101 miles distance, 4,000+ feet of elevation on climbs, and overcome every obstacle to finish our first century ride.

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Winter Warriors

Posted by Active Toby Mar 1, 2010

Jeannie Freis (Associate Product Manager, RegOnline) found some good bump skiing and powder on Eldora’s backside.

Jake Cooney While I wasn't actively participating in it other than drinking Canadian beers (sidenote: I did a 15 mile training run yesterday), I had the opportunity of attending the short track speed skating finals. It was by far the coolest sporting event I've ever attended and a very exciting event to see live. Unfortunately Apolo was robbed of the silver but at least we got a silver in women's and a bronze in the men's relay.

Matthew Henry (Interaction Designer on Foundation in Bothell) filled his weekend with endurance and athletic activities. He started his Saturday morning with an hour long run with Team in Training around Seward Park, preparing for the Seattle Rock and Roll Marathon. Immediately following, he endured 13 hours watching Avatar, Up in the Air, Precious, The Blind Side and Inglorious Basterds without falling asleep once. (It doesn’t have to be an athletic event to be an endurance event!!) Finally on Sunday morning, he showed up at the Granite Curling Club behind 150 people looking to try curling. Curling’s actually harder than it looks. For anyone with yoga experience, imagine half-pigeoning across the ice. At the end, the junior national champions showed up to make all the newbies feel extra bad.

Let me know if you’re interested in an ActiveX curling team. Leagues start in April!!!

We rode in the Chilly Hilly this weekend here in Seattle. A beautiful day for a bike ride and 2,675 feet of Hilly climbing!

In photo (JASON KARLS, UX Design Lead; SIJEN OLTHOF, Sr. Implementation Analyst; Nicole Wilde, Business Analyst) BOTHELL OFFICE.

ANDY GEORGE and his daughter AVA from the San Diego had an adventuress snowy weekend. Their group weathered over a foot of new snow in less than 18 hours at a remote YMCA Adventure Guide camp located in the southern California mountains.

Larry Andruetti and Stephen Matsuba were Olympic weekend Warriors. On Saturday, they went to the Gold Medal Men's Curling game that saw Canada's Kevin Martin rink win Gold. Then they went to see the Bronze Medal Hockey game between Finland and Slovakia. Finland won the Bronze.

Then on Sunday, they went to see the Gold Medal Men's Hockey game between Canada and the USA. The overtime goal scored by Canada's Sidney Crosby is now one of the greatest goals in Canadian hockey history (sorry, USA).

After the game, Larry went to watch the closing ceremony and Stephen went to view the Olympic Cauldron and celebrate with 100,000 other people in Vancouver's downtown core.

Rebecca Zent, New Account Specialist, did a two mile run with my dog in our open space. I also did lunges half way around the .5 mi loop and squats on the half of loop.

Alex Afandi volunteered at the Catalina Half Marathon. My assignment was to annouce the finishers throughtout the race and the race winners at the end of it. The boat ride to Catalina on Saturday morning was extremely bumpy so I also did some first aide assists with folks who were getting sea-sick.

Toby Guillette, Social Media Specialist in San Diego, took on a 23-mile portion of the Pacific Crest Trail for a trail run that climbed for the first 18 miles on a beautiful SoCal Sunday

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