ELAIN BERGERON & BROOKE KIRKPATRICK  I rode the Colorado-Eagle River Century Ride in Vail, Colorado on Saturday.  The ride was a bit challenging with 4500 feet elevation gain, but the mountain, river, and stream views made it all worth it!  This was Elaine's first time in Colorado and she conquered the ride even with slight high altitude sickness.   Brooke said it was her first Century and is sold!

SHEILA VANDER-HOEK went ocean kayaking with friends for the first time on Gabriola Island, BC (just off the east coast of Vancouver Island) – 20 minute ferry ride from Nanaimo.   I liked it so much I did it the next day too.  Weather was hot (28 degrees Celsius), very little breeze, lots of sunscreen and H₂O.  I am not really a hat person but the sun as so bright I had to succumb to the ball cap.

REPORT FROM XI’AN, CHINA, by ERIC MA (MRI Team Build Lead, M+M), said he really wanted to share this great ride with all the warriors, on Sunday he and CASH XU (Controller) rode a big circle along the Third Ring of the Xi’an City, totally 115KM according from the GPS log, the greatest experience ever counted the last 20mins rushing in the torrential rain when they’re trapped 15KM away from the destination. See the route they rode and where Active Xi’an office is in the map. Well, unfortunately both of them got severe sun burnt during the hours rode under the sun in the noon.

Over 70 SD Active team members did their first Triathlon at the Solana Beach Tri in SD.  First two from Friday’s “Buoy for Bubbly” post training/pre-race celebration. Last pic: pre first heat – Solana Tri.

JAMIE WILLIAMS did a quick 35 mile bike ride along the Coast Saturday to check out his bike thanks to Arch for getting a bike mechanic in this past week for tune ups!  And then on Sunday

he participated in the Solana Beach Triathlon for the second year and set a PR for this year’s race. He’s smiling in the picture so he must have been feeling good!

RICKY GREY and wife Carly and I took part in the Solana Beach Sprint Tri along with many of our Active friends and supporters. As in past years, it was great to have so many friends out their racing the course together as well as all the Active fans cheering everyone along.  The race was a great follow up from our first Ironman 70.3 that we completed just a week earlier.  For all those that are still riding the excitement of Solana Beach and thinking of their next race, I can't say enough about Vineman!  Such a fun race and awesome experience! I included a photo from  Solana Beach and a bike photo of each of us from Vineman.

ANDY REILLY did his first triathlon ever at Solana Beach and was telling his Mom and Sister how it was done!  Its just too bad his old man coudn't call him in since he was at Ironman Lake Placid.

Jessica Wexler (Active Works Communications and Giving) - enjoyed another fabulous Solana Beach Tri. Special thanks to the awesome ActiveX cheering squads out there supporting us and of course special thanks to Arch and Christy Fuston for - everything. Pictured: The pink ladies and Arch (trying to blend in).

AMY SCHWENCK had the BEST time racing in the Solana Beach Triathlon this weekend.  The camaraderie of the Active team before and during the race pushed me to my best time yet on the course.  CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who participated and a HUGE THANKS to those who cheered us on.  Only 46 days to Malibu!!

MIKE MACDONALD did the Solana Beach Tri in 1:05:21.  By far the most fun I've had in any of my tri's thanks to all of the Active crew being there.  We dominated out there!

JIM GARFIELD (M&M) was proud and thrilled to participate in the Solana Beach Triathlon with all the other Active peeps. Watching the Active tri vets and newbies was truly inspiring and getting the extra cheers along the way was better then GU shots for energy!!

RUBEN GOMEZ went to the Solana Beach Triathalon and took some pictures.  Feel free to grab any photos you need.  If for any reason you need larger quality image just let me know. Thanks.

http://www.rubenjgomez.com/solana-beach-tri/solana-beach-tri.html

BRENDAN EGAN this past Sunday, July 25^th I joined 70 other active colleagues in the Solana Beach triathlon. This was my first endurance event ever and definitely not the last. Overall the race was great and I finished in a time of 1:10:50. The swim was much harder than I anticipated but I managed to make it through, barely. The crowd and volunteers were fantastic and the energy surrounding the event was amazing, very fun and can’t wait for next year.

KAT KEIVENS, Online Account Coordinator San Diego, conquered her first triathlon this weekend.  I competed in the Solana Beach Triathlon along with 69 fellow Active Employees.  It was a great day, the weather couldn’t have been more perfect and the surf at the beach was pretty calm which made it easy to get through.  I actually surprised myself with how well I did.  I was able to  finish 11 in my age group with a time of 1:13:51.0.  A big thanks goes out to all those that came out to support and encourage I couldn’t have done it without you all.

PAUL MCLURE yesterday was my second year doing the Solana Beach Triathlon with the support of the Active Crew and my family which makes for a great event. It was really cool to see and hear all of the people cheering for us.  I was close to 20 seconds slower this year with a finish of 1:21:53.

ANTHONY VALENTINO, Account Executive, finished his first triathlon at the Solana Beach Triathlon & Duathlon in 1:01:56.  The best part was the Cheer Squad – tons of Active Network supporters and athletes and my very, very loud and obnoxious family (daughter Jade in this photo).  I loved every minute of it and have tremendous pride in being part of the amazing culture perpetuated by Active Network and the ActiveX posse.  So proud in fact, I’ve decided to wear this outfit to the office today.

EVAN WITTE (Product Manager – San Diego) – Completed the Solana Beach Triathlon along side countless other Active Network Members with a finishing time of 1:00:45. Thanks to everyone who came out in support and congratulations to the first time Triathletes.

ERIN LANGI wanted to report in that I did my first Tri this weekend in Solana Beach with about 70 other employees from Active.  It was an awesome experience seeing so many people from Active out there both participating & cheering.  I had a side ache for a lot of the run which slowed me down a little, but ended up finishing at 1 hr and 17 minutes.

On a recent trip to the Burnaby office, MICHAEL STRICKLAND (ActiveWorks) and his wife Cassie reach the halfway point on Vancouver’s “Grouse Grind.” With 2,830 steps, and an elevation gain of 2,800 feet over 1.8 miles, the hike is aptly known as “Mother Nature’s Stairmaster.”

MATTHEW HENRY (Interaction Designer – ActiveWorks Swimming, Bothell, WA) finished the weekend 1-1, losing pretty handily (15-9) in ultimate frisbee to the inappropriately named Butterfingers. However, on Sunday his Playground Thuggz beat the Honey Nut Ichiros 19-8.  This is his first victory in kickball ever (now a total of 1-9)!  The big news of the weekend was that he kicked off the winter season of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training on Saturday morning.  For the next six months, he will be mentoring and training for his second Goofy Race and a Half Challenge, with stops at the Chicago Marathon and Las Vegas Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon along the way.  If you’d like to donate to his cause, please visit http://pages.teamintraining.org/wa/wdw11/mahenry.

After losing their first playoff game last week, the Active Assassins roller hockey team bounced back with a big 3-1 win on Sunday night. Led by a 1 goal and 2 assist performance by star defenseman Matt Cox, the Assassins stayed alive to play another game. Next up for the Assassins is Kdub on Tuesday night at 10:45pm – Burnaby Lake arena. We encourage all Active fans to come out and support the team for this late night game! The Active Assassins are led by Team Captain Justin Leung along with Matt Cox, Chris Hall, Jon Buyco, Nat Strull, Brian Choy, Ryan Lyster, Inderpal Dhaliwal and Julius Dagot.

MIKE REILLY & TOM ZIEBART a great Active client were in the tower at the finish line of the 12^th Ironman Lake Placid, NY.

ZACH PANTHER (Developer – Bothell, WA) and his wife Shannon hiked up to Wallace Falls near Gold Bar in the Central Cascades.  The hike was beautiful and the falls at the top definitely made the journey worth the effort, even with the temperature creeping close to the 90’s.  There are a couple of smaller falls along the way, but the biggest pictured below is 265 feet.  For more info on this hike follow this link: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/wallace-falls

KEITH WILLIAMS from UK office taking on his first road sportive EVER.... with shaven legs. Rolling hills around the UK countryside was not on his mind at this point.... after 51mile and 2000meters of climbing, the finishline and a cup of tea was needed.

AMBER MARTIN SD office said she is in Spain. I spent Sunday running with the bulls in Pamplona with my British friend Jess. The bulls were way bigger and faster than I started. We got passed by 8 of the bulls about 75 yards from the arena, but made it all the way into the bull ring. You can see a video of my run here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF166WuNwAc If you look along the left side just as the bulls finish rounding the tight turn you can actually pick out Jess and I in the crowd. The adrenaline rush of a lifetime. CRAZY GIRL!

MIKE REILLY reports it was one of the best Active weekends in the history of the company.  Over 80 Active team members working out and having fun at the Warner Springs resort north of San Diego.  Can't wait for next year!

Dave & Mike having a tough day!

The beginning of the best meal

The 3 Stooges watching and mixing Jumbalaya

Active Dad and Active Son

REGINA HURICKS-San Diego-Foundations-Data Warehouse-ETL Developer. This weekend we enjoyed ActiveX Endurance 2010.  Thanks to Arch, Christy, Karen and the gang for throwing the best Adult Summer Camp Eva!  The Banana Bread, Goodie Bags and Jambalaya were amazing! OH!, the swimming, biking, running and yoga was good also!  Thanks so much!

Arch & Karen Hardy

JIM GARFIELD (M&M) had a blast at Warner Springs weekend with colleagues old and new!  I even discovered a love of Arch’s Jambalaya!  Jim with Lindsay Nesselroad, Emily Nesselroad Slade and Victoria Tinsley.

SHANNON STEWART (San Diego Office), Sales Manager Endurance, completed the Carlsbad Triathlon on Sunday.  This event consists of a 1k Swim, 25k Bike and a 5K run.  The conditions were great for the event, waves were small and it was overcast.  This is a fun event that is well run and gives you the experience and feel for a longer ocean swim than most sprint tri's.  I finished in 1:50 which placed me 20th out of 40 in my age group.

JON BELMONTE suggests this great hike-trail run workout out by Cowles Mountain, which is part of Mission Trails Regional Park near Lake Murray.  Hike quickly up the back side of the mountain, which is accessible near the end of Boulder Lake Road.  Run down the ‘front side’ of the mountain, which deposits you about 1.5 miles from where you started at the intersection of Navajo Rd and Golfcrest Dr.  Finish up by running back to where you started (Navajo Rd to Cowles Mountain Rd to Boulder Lake Rd).  ~5 miles round trip.  Generally speaking, definitely one of the better ‘hikes’ in San Diego and a good workout however you do it.

TYLER CAIRNS, Nicole Cairns (and 3 week old Raiya Cairns), MATT WEBB, RITA CHAN, MARTHA COX, BROOK EWART and JASON DETLOR of the Burnaby Inside sales team (Team Sparta ) had a great time at the Nat Bailey ballpark on Friday afternoon enjoying the hometown Triple AAA Vancouver Canadians of the PCL league roughing up the Yakima, Washington Bears side 3-1.

A few pops were enjoyed by all, but little Raiya was just happy to be there snoozing the game away.

PAUL MCLURE on Saturday night decided that he would wake up on Sunday morning and participate in the San Diego Blood Bank 5K run downtown at the Embarcadero. The run was real nice along the waters edge with the cool temps that we have been experiencing. I finished the run with a time of 28:07.

MATTHEW HENRY (Interaction Designer – ActiveWorks Swimming) had a rough outing in league sports this weekend.  On Friday night, he and his Nerds were defeated in ultimate frisbee 15-9.  The Nerds are now 1-2-1 and are having a hard time covering deep throws.  On Sunday, the Playground Thuggz were beaten 12-6 in kickball.  On Saturday morning, he showed up at Memorial Stadium with more than 300 other people to join in Yoga for Hope, the largest outdoor yoga class ever.   The event was in support of City of Hope, an organization that is helping to fight everything from cancer to HIV to diabetes.  Visit http://www.cityofhope.org to learn more and maybe make a donation!

SKIP CLEAVER reports The Mount Ascutney Hill Climb in Vermont was the sixth and last event in the USATF Mountain Circuit--six races on Mountains in an eight-week period.  I completed this race and the entire series, earning "Mountain Goat" status.  Two of these mountain races are exclusively on roads, as was the case with Ascutney.  Three are on trails, and the sixth a mix of road and trail.  Four of them are to the mountain summit, as was Ascutney, and two traverse the summit and finish back at the base.  Three are run on New England ski areas. Including Mount Washington (my 20th MW running this year in the 50th race overall), this gives me seven Mountains in eight weeks.  I am seventh all time in USATF Mountain Circuit appearances (Circuit began in 1995, the same year Cool Running was founded), and 14th in points of all runners since inception; that is a total of 65 mountain races completed.  This year's USATF Circuit included Northfield Mountain (MA), Mount Wachusett (MA), Pack Monadnock Mountain (NH), Mount Cranmore (NH), Loon Mountain (NH),

and Mount Ascutney, (VT).

RYAN LYSTER & PAYAM KAVOUSIAN (both in burnaby) went on a 5 day kayak trip with some of our friends. We left from Tofino, BC and paddled out to hot spring cove (150 km round trip) in 4.5 days. We paddled about 7-8 hours per day in the beautiful clayoquet sound, saw lots of wildlife and enjoyed one of the best natural hot springs around. Others pay upwards of $1200 to go on a guided one way tour for 5 days to get to these hot springs and water taxi back. We rented our own kayaks and bought some charts and off we went.  Not only kayakers have recognized this area as a thing of unmatched beauty but the United Nations has as well, naming it a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.  Its pristine temperate, old growth rainforest is among the last of its kind surviving in the world.  Once you have paddled here, you will understand the nicknames Clayoquot has been given.  Among them are the “Eighth Wonder of the World” and “Hawaii of the North.” Attached are a few pictures and the map of the route.

BRETT DAVIES 0n Saturday participated in the “Death Ride” in and around Alpine County, CA near South Lake Tahoe.  I started my ride at 5 am when it was just barely light enough to see the road.  By the time I got to about mile 10 the sun was up and in full force.  The temperature was in the high 80’s almost immediately, hitting 90 in the afternoon without a cloud in the sky.  Perfect weather for everyone not riding their bike through the mountains!  Each climb was very challenging with grades ranging from 7% up to 12% for miles at a time.  The miles of downhill that followed were certainly worth the pain of climbing.  Check out this video of one of the descents (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL_ar4u2d38).  At 2x speed, the descent is still nearly 7 minutes long, quite epic downhill stretches!  I  ended up finishing the 4 pass route, which entailed 88 miles of biking and about 11,000 feet of climbing.  Total time was 11 hours including rest stops and lunch.  I was completely spent by the end, physically, mentally, and emotionally drained.  However, the feeling of accomplishment to have finished such a grueling course was amazing and made all the pain totally worth it!