A President’s Day Holiday group of 16 left from MIKE REILLY’S house for a hilly 44 miler in the backcountry of San Diego County.  It was part Hammer, part Fun, part Climbing and the best part was killer Breakfast Burrito’s waiting for us cooked up by ROSE REILLY and LIZ HARRELL.

ANTHONY VALENTINO, Account Executive in San Diego, shared his Active weekend with friends and family.  The weekend included climbing 66 flights with 7-year old daughter Jade (Coach/Cheerleader) on his back training for the American Lung Association's fight for Air (http://www.lungusa.org/pledge-events/ca/los-angeles-climb/local/faq.html), indoor rock climbing with his daughter, niece, and mom, riding with the Active crew at Casa de Reilly, and paddle boarding with office mate and waterman Art Eckstrom.

RODNEY VAN WINCKEL said the 3800 foot Mt. Diablo got snow this weekend!  This usually only happens once each winter.  Rodney from the Pleasanton, CA office took the opportunity to ride up and see it.  Do they make snow tires for road bikes?

ARACELI DAGDAGAN, San Diego – Marketing Manager with her husband on Sunday  went to the NBA All Stars game in Los Angeles, it was a blast. We got to see a great game and plenty of celebrities and not mention an awesome performance by Lenny Kravitz and Rhianna. This was a surprise birthday gift I got for my husband since I was away for a major birthday attending Running USA.  (I think I made up for missing it… )

COLIN LE (Foundations IT) climbed to 3^rd high summit of Qin mountain Ice Crystal Peak which elevation is 3015 meters (9891.7 ft.) with his friends in China. The peak was also well known for its remnants of Quaternary glacial,  actually that makes the course even tough. But the scenery was amazing, and the most exciting thing was that we dirked the “Ice” beer on the top to celebrate the birthday of my friend.

STEVE MAZZA ran the Austin, TX 1/2 Marathon with his daughter and they both had a great time as you can see.

LINDSAY NAYER, Enterprise Mkt Mgr wanted to send along a few weekend warrior pictures, courtesy of Izania Downie! (A few more to follow this email.) Here's a short explanation. Izania Downie, EMEA Sales Strategy (London, UK), Paul Homer, Sales Manager (Bothell, WA), and Lindsay Nayer, Marketing Manager, (Boulder, CO) took a hike in Chautauqua Park over the weekend while gathered in Boulder, CO, for the Events team Sales Launch. The trio enjoyed views of Boulder from the base of the Flatirons!

ELAINE BERGERON, MEGAN DUVALL and former Active employee Andrea Levinson ran the Surf City ½ Marathon on Sunday in Huntington Beach, CA.  The weather was perfect for running and it was a great way to start Super Bowl Sunday.

Jim Garfield (M&M) joined professional Triathlete and Team Livestrong member Laurel Wassner on a epic ride throughout the Santa Monica mountains.  Laurel and her twin sister Rebeccah, who also races for Team Livestrong, are training for another winning season here in SoCal. Can't say I saw Laurel on the ride too much...she can climb!!!!

ROB KLINGENSMITH, ARCH FUSTON, REBECA DIVITA, ANDY REILLY AND MIKE REILLY rode the 55 mile Klingensmith “crash ride” route the site of his 9 year ago bike crash.  The originals on that ride were MATT LANDA, MARK KUUSIK & REILLY.  And yes on the crash decent this past Saturday Rob was leading us down the grade still like a crazy man!

MATTHEW HENRY (Bothell, WA) did his first assisted hand stand in an arm balances workshop on Sunday!  Once he was up, in was pretty easy to sustain, actually.  He's aware this pretty much demands a picture.  Well… Sorry!  He also ran his way through the Belltown bar scene late Saturday night.  He couldn't help but overhear he might have inspired some people to go run instead of hitting the bars.  This inspiration probably ended once they walked inside, though.

MICHELE CREPEAU took on a little bday challenge….Empire  State Bldg Run Up to benefit  MMRF in honor of my uncle John who was just diagnosed with Multiple  Myeloma.  $275K raised by our team of 100.

The race itself was quite a  challenge but YES I was still walking afterwards:)  We had over 100 of  us fundraising for MMRF and we all started in the same wave.  Thankfully  the crowds thinned out as we hiked the stairs.  Some ran, some walked, I  would say I did fast walking.  I learned that it is much easier to do  chewing gum as your throat gets really dry (who would have known!).  My  heartbeat was pretty high the entire time as I pushed my way up.  When  we finally reached the top, 86 flights, we were a bit shocked at the  view...I could have been in a washing machine it was so stormy &  foggy.  There was a lot of sleet on the observation deck.  I felt a bit  more like I was on a ship in the middle of the ocean somewhere than up  on the Empire State Building although VERY happy to be finished:)  So  unfortunately didn't get that beautiful view but I must say felt a huge  sense of accomplishment and thankfully got to take the elevator down!

I am told, I will never look at the Empire State Building the same way  and am happy to add it to my list of super cool NYC races I have been  able to do since I moved here including: The NYC Marathon, NYC Tri,  various NYC Swims in the Hudson River, Bronx/Brooklyn/Queens and  Manhattan Half Marathons (still have to do Staten Island one of these  days!), and the New Years Eve Midnight Run in Central Park which was  always one of my favorites (champagne and fireworks!).  This is race #46  for me with the New York Road Runners, which hosts many of our local  races.  As most of you know, I have run many of these for charitable  causes including Team in Training, HDSA, NYC 2012, Healthy Kidneys, Race  to Deliver, Hope and Possibility, Run as One to benefit Lung Cancer and  Haitian Relief.  I am very passionate about running and look forward to many, many more races!