Blog Posts From What's your ACTIVE? Tagged With endurance

Climbing, Running, Running and Climbing

guest — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 18:57:29 GMT

BLAIR MATTHEW’S Lead Generation Team, Boulder office and Sara Duke his girlfriend took on the challenge of Long’s Peak near Estes Park, this Saturday morning. They made it to the summit of 14,259 feet and it was a very long and grueling trek but very much worth the effort. Starting a little after 2 a.m. in the morning, they reached the summit about 11 a.m. after climbing over boulders, near vertical climbing, and exerting nearly every ounce of stamina to make it there. But Wow! As for this picture, this was taken as the sun just started to appear over the horizon, with the “Twin Sister” mountains in the background. Roughly 5:30 am.

CAILIN LYNAM, Account Coordinator is a brand new Active team member one week. She ran the America’s Finest City AFC 1/2 marathon in San Diego this weekend in 1:39.. a personal best J 7^th in my age group and 85^th woman overall

SHANNON WINEMAN (PM San Diego) ran the America’s Finest City (AFC) Half Marathon this weekend. Finishing this race also allowed her to take home an even bigger medal – the Triple Crown! This is awarded to those runners who complete each of the three main San Diego Half Marathons in a calendar year, Carlsbad Half, La Jolla Half and AFC. Yahoo!

LAURIE PANI, Marketing Mgr did the AFC ½ Marathon yesterday. Last of the Triple Crown Series. Great course but the long, steady incline at the end killed the PR I was shooting for. Missed it by 25 seconds but still managed a 1:47 time. Great run that I look forward to doing again.

DEMIAN DORRANCE, Sr. Systems Administrator, San Diego ran a new personal best distance this weekend in the America's Finest City Half Marathon. My previous longest run was 9 miles, so I was happy to finish 13.1 miles well before the 3.5 hour cutoff with a time of 03:06:24.

ANITA STEWERT, Project Manager Events went to the Adirondacks in NY this weekend to camp and hike with friends. We climbed Catamount Mtn on Saturday. Although not one of ADK46 (peak over 4000'), it is a great climb –distance is 2 miles with 1500' elevation gain, but the views are great and the last 1/2 is all rock scrambling. We love this kind of hiking- in the open with great views.

DENISE KENDRICK and a few friends participated in the America’s Finest City Half Marathon this Sunday. It was my very first half marathon. I was amazed in how many people were there. Awesome experience!

JAMIE HAAF, Senior Technical Analyst reports the Burnaby Active Warriors slo pitch team finished off a great first season this weekend placing 5^th in the year end tournament. Our wins were due to great catches by Mark Dos Santos, Chris Hall, Asher Squire and Devin Carrier in the field; wonderful pitching by Mike Sproule and John Paleshnuik; clutch hits by Anita Mattice, Christine Ramage and Charlene Jackson; speedy base running by Mat Leroux; strong infield plays by Michael Baldwin, Jamie Haaf and Andrew Chau. Can’t wait for next season!

This weekend AMBER MARTIN hiked half dome for the 3^rd time. It doesn’t get any less scary on those cables. It was a great 4 days of camping with her boyfriend and friends. The best part was no cell phone or internet service for 4 days!

This weekend JEFF STRNAD AND STEVE MAZZA in the San Diego office rode to the top of South Fortuna Mtn in Mission Trails Regional Park. Killer views! As you can see by the picture it must have been a mouth opening ride!

JOHN MARTINEZ and TIM WOOD completed the Surftown Duathlon in Imperial Beach, CA. It was our second of the year and of our lives. From my perspective, the coolest part of the day was running into Tim at the race. I had never met Tim before, but now we share a common bond. Great part of being an Active employee and inspired by the ActiveX program – it has changed my life.

DEMIAN DORRANCE, Sr. Systems Administrator, San Diego. Ran a new personal best distance this weekend in the America's Finest City Half Marathon. My previous longest run was 9 miles, so I was happy to finish 13.1 miles well before the 3.5 hour cutoff with a time of 03:06:24.

Ashley Ellis, Account Executive Swimming. This weekend swam in the Optimus Distance Swim Challenge in Venice Beach, CA. One of my best friends flew out from Philadelphia to also compete in the 1.2 mile race. We both came in 1^st in our age group division where I also came in 12^th overall for men and women.

ANTHONY VALENTINO, Senior Account Manager (San Diego), owes some serious gratitude to two of our own and some friends outside of Active as well. For his birthday, he decided to do a private 70.3. Ashley Peters got him started with the 1.2 mile ocean swim, three of his other friends supported him on the ride and Bryan Pavin made sure he finished the full 13.1 mile run. Couldn’t have done it without those folks.

From Utah office COREY NENOV (wife of Ivan Nenov- Professional Services), SUZIE RENO (Professional Services), and JANAY JESPERSEN (Human Resources) spent Saturday morning getting dirty in the “Kiss Me Dirty” 5k mud run. Proceeds went to the Gynecological Cancer Research Foundation.

GAUTAM DOGRA, Sr. Release Coordinator ran first event last weekend: the AFC Half. Fact: Wearing an active shirt makes you go faster! Haaa… someone actually tapped me on the elbow and said "come on Active… you guys are pros!", which I did find motivating. Definitely a bit surreal running in the midst of thousands of others. Good experience. Will have to see about doing another one soon.

MATTHEW HENRY (Bothell, WA) finished his season with Donkeypower, beating Octave 15-9. Made some great catches including a diving catch in the end zone that was a bit abrasive on the knee. But no pain no gain! He also became the assistant captain for the Sentinels for the upcoming winter season. Who knows if that's a good thing!

TIFFANY SAIBIL hiked/ran while catching up with a friend in the Alps (which explains why we are squeezing in side by side on the single track). Enjoying the trails before thousands of people are there for the North Face Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc.

JEN ROMINE, Account Manager - Endurance, ran the AFC Half Marathon on Sunday in 2:02 to complete the 2011 triple crown which is the Carlsbad ½ marathon in January and the La Jolla ½ in April.

Summertime Active Fun

guest — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 18:09:54 GMT

JEANNIE FREIS on Sunday with boyfriend waded thru waist high water, climbed numerous rope ladders, chain link fences, metal and wooden walls, climbed through and slid down inflatable objects, ran, biked and finished crawling through a mud pit at the Muddy Buddy. Mark Plaatjes (former [2:08] pro marathoner and owner, Boulder Running Company) was a couple feet ahead of us in the mud pit. Upon emerging from the mud I told my boyfriend, Kelly Feagans, "quick, run fast to the finish - this is the only chance we'll ever get to outsprint Mark!" My kids and I navigated the mud pit a 2nd time in the Mini Muddy Buddy. We also met The Bachelor, Andy Baldwin, who told me he has a bunch of friends over at Active in San Diego.

LARS NORDHILD RONNING, Senior Director Business Development (EMEA). Yesterday (Sun 14 Aug) I did the Challenge Copenhagen. It was a great day! Personal best of 10.43 - an improvement of 50 minutes compared with Lanzarote, despite a slow swim (1.16) and - as expected - a long and slow "diesel engine" run (4.16). I came in as #28 out of 164 starters in my age group (AG). But more impressive is that I had the 4th fastest bike split in my AG (5.02). It was also the Danish National Championships - In my AG I came in as #15 overall our of 130 starters and #3 on the bike. See the photo where my mom and kids run with me to the finish line; they had a blast - and I was very proud crossing the line with them again.

JACK SIEGMAN, Technical Account Manager this weekend competed in Spin Your Wheels, a bicycle tour benefiting The Children’s Center. The race started in Bethany, OK and traveled down the Historic Route 66. This was my first official race, just a few months after purchasing my bike using the Employee Bike Purchase Program (thanks Arch!). The courses ranged in distance from 12 to 100 miles. I chose the 27 mile track and finished in 1 hour and 44 minutes, 16 minutes under my goal….

DAK JORDAN (Events) ran the Chicago Rock and Roll Half Marathon with 20,000 other runners. Bethany Dominick (formerly at Active) helped put on the event for the Competitor Group.

ERIC OLSON, GM Events SMB, did Ironman Lake Stevens 70.3 this weekend. No one told me Washington had so many hills. It was not a banner day and far from a PR. But, it was fun as always and it was great to see other Active folks out on the course kicking butt!

MATTHEW HENRY (Bothell, WA) had a rough weekend in league sports. Donkeypower lost to Baker's dozen in its latest playoff game on Friday night, 15-4. It didn't help that the opposing team was led by someone from the Seattle Sockeyes, runner ups in last year's ultimate frisbee world championships… This leaves the team 0-3 in the playoffs. Ouch. But one more game to go out on a high note! On Sunday night, the Sentinels opened and closed the books on its summer hockey season, losing to the Loose Cannons 5-2. He did manage to score the team's last goal of the season on a completely intentional (I swear) tip in from a shot off the point (or was it a pass?). If only that didn't make him –3 for the game. He also figured out that getting hit by a puck can hurt a little. Now it's a little bit of a break so he can train for Ragnar!

BRANDON RICH – Business Analyst – Draper Utah Office. On Saturday with my sister hiking to the top of the north peak of mount Nebo. It has been on my list for a long time, so it was great to finally check that one off. It was a little less than 5 miles to the top, and is only the 45^th highest peak in Utah at 11,928’, but a great climb none the less, and an amazing day to do it.

JUSTIN MOSER, Lead Gen -Boulder, contemplates life atop Mt. Blanca, one Colorado's 14ers in the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range, on Saturday.

AUSTIN BRAATEN, Account Executive competed in the Lake Stevens 70.3 Ironman Triathlon on Sunday, battling 4 flat tires and too many hills! Pictured with her dad an Ironman finisher.

Melanie Wiviott (Application Specialist- Bothell) has been enjoying the sun (finally) in Washington! She enjoyed last weekend in Camano Island, crabbing, fishing, kayaking and trying Stand Up Paddle Boarding for the first time!!!

KRISTI GARCIA, VOIP Engineer Sacramento did her first Olympic Distance Tri at Folsom Lake. It was a beautiful day. Definitely plan to sign up for another one!!

DANIEL LI reports Active Agents finished summer season at Burnaby Ultimate League with historical best record of second place. As a cooperate team the agents have quite some new players each year and experience level has always been a challenge. The challenge was beaten by the astounding enthusiasm, surprising talent and growth, and consistence and commitment brought out by the agents this year. They not only achieved best historical performance in regular season game winning one third of the games but also defeated the #1 team in the play-off and took away the second place as a black horse.

Here is the roaster of this season.

Name	Position in Active	Role in team
Team photo, Front row, L to R
Doug Johnson	Senior Manager, Activeworks	The “head/organizer”, the best handler of the team. Free coaching resource.
Rai-Anne Dulat	Upgrades Project Lead, Tech Support	The best female defender who always gives opponent’s sole female player a headache. A tough catcher too.
Shannon Mah	Senior Client Application Specialist, SW Cust Support	“Fast and furious” striker. Best female scorer of the team!
Team photo, Back row, L to R
John Kadota	Software Manager, Active International	“Sticky hands” and “tireless cutter”.
Daniel Li	Software Engineer, Active Works	“Disk destroyer” who knocks down disc very hard during defending
Andy Guo	Software Engineer, Activeworks	Frequent scorer, good jumper and great commitment. One of the strongest “new blood” of the team.
Raymond Lei	Senior Software Engineer, Activeworks	Striker and cutter. Great commitment throughout the years.
Important agents in Active missing from the team photo
Jim Cruickshan (individual picture)	Associate Product Manager, Class	Most reliable old member (male) that you could expect wherever badly needed: cutter, handler or striker, he can be all
Ophelia Chan	Software QA Engineer, Activeworks	Striker. Consistent supporter of active agents all the time.
Carol Zhang	Software QA Engineer, ACM	“Behind the glory”: Although showed up only 3 times, she freed the captain from baby-care-taking.
Special agents from Active relatives missing from the team photo
Lisa Dhir	Wife of Vishal Dhir (Marketing)	Most reliable old member (female). Same as Jim, foundation of the agents.
Rick Dulat	Husband of Rai-Anne	The other strongest “new blood” of the team. “17^th-taker”: the scorer of universal point of two 17-16 nerve-racking game.
Sharon and Lingyan	Daughter of Doreen Xue (and her friend)	Young legs, great devotion and best potential!

The agents are hoping to get old members back from renovations, weddings, babies, injuries and hockey leagues and etc: David Zeigler, Carl Lin, Owen Liu, Vishal Dhir, Megan Hollstedt and etc.

PAUL MCLURE, Account Mgr. and family went camping in the Big Sur area of Northern California from Thursday to Sunday. We did a few hikes each day with the highlight on Saturday when our 6 year old daughter Lily spotted a family of 3 mountain lions across the canyon getting a drink of water at the stream. I was a little slow with my camera but if you look close you can see one of the mountain lions going back up the hill.

Shelby Abernathy (Quality Assurance Engineer), Mike O’Brien (Desktop Support II), and LeeJayne Stone (Business Analyst) from the Nashville office enjoyed rock climbing on Sunday.

TODD PREECE ran to the summit of El Cajon Mountain in San Diego. 10-mile round trip and 3000 ft of ascent over some particularly vicious trail, where the downhill may actually be worse than the uphill sections. The trail is primarily a hiking destination for backpackers training for larger climbs and Todd got more than one comment about "being insane" from hikers he met along the way. They were right, it was crazy, and Advil is his friend today.

Liz Harrell, Director - Project Management reports on Sunday morning, 6 Active Peeps, 1 former Activite and 1 “Friend of Active” took the train up to San Juan Capistrano, then rode their bikes down the coast back to Solana Beach. We kicked off the ride with an awesome pancake breakfast, enjoyed our leisurely trip up the coast on the train, felt sorry for the one guy sitting in our section. (He wasn’t wearing any lycra) The ride down the coast was beautiful. We met up with two other folks on our way down, bringing our party to 10. We did stop to gaze at the Cardiff Kook. After our 48 mile trek, we refueled (some even retoxed) with pizza and beer. During our gorge-fest we were joined by additional Active folks. Such an amazing day, shared with amazing people! The cast of riders: Bryan Pavin, Liz Harrell, Michelle Nation, Megan Duvall, Jeremy Spitzberg, Valerie Prestidge, Jamie Williams and Hal Helbock.

Jim Garfield (M&M) traveled to Leadville, CO to cheer and support competitors at the famous Leadville 100 Mile Race Across The Sky. I got an exclusive pre-race interview with World Champion Rebecca Rusch before her record time setting win and record setting 3-Peet championship of the race (7:31 for rugged 100 miles with 12,500 of altitude)which will be appearing in our content soon. Additionally, I was able to ride with the professional Herbalife 24 team, human lungs they were, for a pre-ride of part of the course. If you are into mountain biking….this event should be on your bucket list!

A Grand Fondo Weekend

guest — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 21:32:28 GMT

Rui Zhang (Class Team): ActiveX-Xi'an Ping-Pong tournament!

ActiveX-Xi'an Ping-Pong tournament is held in Xi’an now. There are 29 Activers from different teams to attend the tournament; these players are divided into 2 groups by drawing lots. The whole tournament includes group game and Elimination game, and there are 196 matches to take place only in group stage. 8 players in each group can enter into Elimination game! This is really funny and interesting with a long schedule around 2 months. Every afternoon, many colleagues will come to watch the matches and add oil for players.

Danae Brooker, Director of Business Solutions:

I wanted to provide you an update of my 10-year old son and my Spring Break. We rode from Yuma (the Colorado River) to Carlsbad (the Pacific Ocean). We completed 224 miles over 6 days! Awesome trip!!! Here are some pictures:

Marshall & Danae dip their tires in the Colorado River at the start of the trip!

Marshall riding down a dirt road to get to our first campsite.

Mornings were cold as we geared up to ride between 35 and 55 miles per day!

A quick rest stop before continuing the ride through the Anza Borrego Desert.

The weather changed drastically as we headed into Julian – riding up Banner Grade, I was actually knocked off my bike by a huge gust of wind!

On Saturday, we make it to the Pacific Ocean to dip our tires!

Here is the entire group of riders – 50 of which are 5th graders! Amazing!

Robert T. Klingensmith, Vice President, Media + Marketing: Team Active lines up for the third annual Gran Fondo Colnago San Diego. Thanks to everyone at Active for their support... it was the best event yet!!

MIKE REILLY rode the Gran Fondo 60 mile event and it was an Active history day. Mike rode with Active USA founder JIM WOODMAN all 69 miles talking about the beginning years of Active up to the present. The 60 miles went by in a flash. Our own ROB KLINGINGSMITH produced the event and LARKIN GEYER & LINDSAY NESSELROAD lead the way at the start.

Jeannie M. Freis, Associate Product Manager: The Boulder office sent 4 teams to Sunday’s Buckhorn Exchange (half marathon) Relay. I ran most of leg 1 (5 miles) with fellow ActiveXers Brett Burch and Chuck Langdon, and was thankful for their many encouraging words along the way. Just prior to the race start, Brett stated his intention was to see if he could get one of us to throw up. “After all, this is a race and we should push ourselves!” added Chuck. Attached is the photo of my relay team members post race - my boyfriend, Kelly Feagans, me, and friend Katy Rhoades. We came in 8th in the co-ed relay division.

Michael O’Brien, Desktop Management: I ran a 5K for St. Jude this past Saturday in Nashville. I raised over $200 in donations and set a personal record of 29:21. I attached a pic of me in my St. Jude racing jersey before heading out the door to run.

Scott Yeske, Industry Manager: My "Thirsty Niners" Ice Hockey Team Won the Winter Season Championship this past weekend. We played a best of 3 series and Won 2 games to 1. This marks our Second Championship in Three Seasons!

Damon Mathews, Sr. Web Designer: Damon took 2nd place in his pool at the 2011 Las Vegas Footbag Jam. Competitors traveled from as far away as Austrailia to attend the event. This was the second time Damon has competed at this event. Below is a link to some random Footbag Circles at the event. Damon is seen in the opening shot and again at 6:06.

The overall winner this year (and last year) was tournament host and director Evan Gatesman from Las Vegas. The official final Circle Contest can be seen in the video below:

Dak Jordan (ActiveEducate) and Mike Fries, ran in the Shamrock Shuffle 8k in Chicago. After a long, cold, snowy winter, the sun came out and the temperature was in the low 70's, perfect for a run.

Eric Olson, GM of SMB Events, watched his fiancée Mary Beth Ellis out sprint fellow American Kelly Williamson down the finishing shoot for the 70.3 US Championship and 4th overall at Texas 70.3. She fought through jet lag and a cold for a strong follow up to her win at Singapore 70.3 two weeks ago. The race was more stressful for the spectator than the racer. Notice the Active.com logo on the finishing shoot. Sweet.

Karen Hardy, Christina Hanson & Sarah Moosbrugger completed the Medio Fondo 60 Miler with a bunch of fellow ActiveX’ers. We had a blast & think it would have been even more fun if we trained for it!

Alicia Towery, (Technical Account Manager) ran the San Marcos Roundup - 11K Double Peak Challenge and was the 2nd female overall. The course was straight up a trail for the first three miles with a total elevation gain of 1600 ft. It was a fun and challenging course.

MATTHEW HENRY (Bothell, WA) did not pass go and most certainly didn't collect $200 when The Game of Life played Monopoly on Friday night. We had a much better showing, though, losing 15-7. Some great bids (So close to making a catch behind my back!) But we're getting better! In bigger news, the Sentinels are in the championship game tonight (that's 9 pm at Kingsgate in Kirkland, if you're in the area)! After a horrible regular season, we won our game last Sunday night 3-2 and are now undefeated through the playoffs. Hopefully the season ends tonight, but if we lost tonight, we get one more chance to seal the deal.

Tyler Jump, Account Manager - Camps, and Janean Nation, Sales Manager - Sports, enjoyed a late winter storm and spent the weekend snowboarding in Utah. The powder was fresh and the riding was EPIC!

Liz Harrell (Director - Project Management, San Diego) and her boyfriend Hal Helbock rode the 105 mi route of the Gran Fondo on Sunday. We started the ride together, but that was about it. Lots of hills and headwind made for a great training day for me. (10 weeks and 6 days until Ironman!) Hal was the 3rd cyclist to cross the finish line... even though this was a "ride" and not a "race". Not too shabby for a Mountain Biker. :-)

Chris Gielow, ActiveWorks Interaction Designer, poses at the Olympic Training center SAG station, the halfway point at the Gran Fondo San Diego.

Vanessa Allen, Senior Marketing Manager, Sports, spent a week in Petite Riviere de Nippes, in southwest Haiti, working with school kids on art instruction at a school supported by the American Haitian Foundation. We took opportunities to do some sight-seeing, too, and on our last day in Haiti visited Saut du Baril spring/cascades up in the mountains. We hiked up the trail/road +/- 5 miles to visit the falls that are fed by a natural spring out of volcanic rock. Beautiful, cool clean water – a great way to cool off after a long, hot hike! My friends along for the trek are Mary and Debbie (ActiveX-ers by affiliation). Photo also included of one of our “art school” sessions with the students.

Lindsay Nesselroad (International Specialist) and Larkin Geyer (previous long time Active employee and current Active family member) finishing the Gran Fondo! What a great day and an even more amazing ride!

Steve Mazza had a great ride at the Gran Fondo Colnago, a great day, sunny and lots of smiling Active faces! Kudos to Rob and his team for such a well organized event. Photo snapped as I finished.

DEMIAN DORRANCE, Sr. Systems Engineer, San Diego -
My 16-year-old son and I volunteered then rode in our third Colnago Gran Fondo San Diego, taking on the challenge of the 105 mile century route with many miles of back country climbing. Hills are my biggest challenge on a bike, and the six mile continuous climb of the "king of the mountain" stage took everything I had. This was the only timed stage, and my 1hour 38minute grind placed me 908 out of 910 riders that attempted the climb-- brutal, but not dead last!

We rode the countryside together, but near mile 83 I turned my son loose to push himself for a better time - he still had fresh legs and mine were pretty well done. We both finished the full century route, a little late, but at least we made it back during daytime this year unlike the year before. Big improvements for both of us in completing our second century ride ever. We handled two flats and had fewer technical difficulties than the 2010 Gran Fondo. Loved the course changes from last year, which worked out well and tested us with a serious endurance event including 5,500 feet of climbing and headwinds for the last 25 miles. The event featured beautiful weather, a remote course green from the recent rains, and first class SAG support. A big thanks to the team at Active in supporting another great Gran Fondo, and also to the friends and family that came out to cheer us and other riders on the course.

Snow, Miles and Smiles

guest — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 21:29:09 GMT

Lisa Baldwin, Director of Client Migration in Burnaby completed the Inaugural Golden Ears Bridge 10K run. Despite the relentless rain, some wind and the steep bridge incline, Lisa set a new PR shaving 8 minutes off her previous best 10K time! Ah, a good day indeed.

Rebecca Zent, Strategic Account Manager in Boulder, CO -- Did 6 mile snow hike without snowshoes. We thought we didn't have enough snow for our snowshoes, so we used our Yack Tracks but mine got lost on the hike. This photo was taken about 40 minutes into our hike. Areas of our hike, your foot would drop into about 2-3 ft of snow. You had to laugh your way through the hike even though it was frustrating to lose your footing. Great core workout to lift your body out of the snow and continue on the path.
Over the hike took us 3.5 hours for 6 miles. Great day, great company, and great workout!

James Lonsdale Hands (Events) and Sam Renouf (International) enjoying a day's skiing in Beijing with event clients. Note the smog and complete lack of snow beyond the piste - it was entirely artificial only a few miles from Beijing Airport.

Brian Enge, VP, Revenue Growth -- This weekend I traveled to Catalina Island for the Catalina Marathon. I was thankful to finish 3rd overall and 1st in my old guys age group. It was fun to get ActiveX on the podium. The run across the island is spectacular and should be on every runner's short list.

Marc Kozai, Manager, Online Advertising Systems -- Justin Ramers, Jen Meanley and myself attended the Adobe/Omniture Summit last week in SLC and decided to extend our trip a bit to get a little snowboarding/skiing in. It had not snowed for about 4 days so there was not much powder to be found inbounds. 1/2 way thru the day, Jen told me she was bummed that she missed ActiveX this week and that she had not been physically challenged yet. So we went for a 45min hike and found the attached. Snow was so good, that we traded the second half of our day to get this twice before the lifts closed for the day.

Yesterday in Escondido, Mike Reade (Sr. Software Engineer), Anusheh Chavez (Executive Asst.), Mark Warble (Desktop Mgmt Team Lead) and Bree Kulis (Market Mgr, Golf) from the San Diego office finished the inaugural Safari Park Half Marathon. It was a beautiful day for a half marathon, but the course was hillier than expected. Not too many animals were out and about that early, but we caught a glimpse of some Rhinos near the finish line.

Chris Hemphill, Manager SCM and DevTools -- safari park 1/2 marathon - 1:56:11 chip time; 1:51:52 watch time which does not include the potty stop at mile 3 – best part of the race? Seeing the baby rhino doing laps with her Mom at mile 13. I also killed my previous PR of 2:12 5 years and 30+ pounds ago.

Valerie Prestidge, Technical Account Manager -- Valerie Prestidge (Technical Account Manager) & friends ran the Inaugural Safari Park Half Marathon on Sunday. Even with a gnarly spill after mile 6, I was able to PR the race!

Christine Crosby, Account Executive, Communities in San Diego - I completed my first 5K event with my husband, Bryan Crosby. We ran the "Finish Chelsea's Run 5K" in Balboa Park.

Anthony Valentino, Senior Account Manager - Strategic Accounts (San Diego) enjoyed a weekend of wheels and great California locations. Saturday he rode the Solvang Century in Central California and washed it down with a 4 mile run along State Street to the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barbara. Sunday was a little less intense - beach cruiser boardwalk crawl in Manhattan Beach.

Stephany Cavatoni, General Manager, Consumer Insight and Access -- The entire Cardenas family (Stephany Cavatoni, GM, Consumer Insights) enjoyed opening day festivities for Davis Little League, including a parade, dedication, the first pitch, picnic, games, and more. We are looking forward to Lucas' first season with Little League - Go Phillies!!

Amanda, Bennett, baby to be named later, and Joel Werdell (ActiveWorks Swimming Product Manager in Bothell) built some long lasting memories up at around 4500ft during the dead of winter. Amanda is with child and in her 8th month of pregnancy! It took us about 5 hours to hike the 6 mile trail with 1100 ft of elevation gain. We were all very glad to get to camp and have some hot food. The evening and morning consisted of playing in the snow, hanging in the tent and plenty of sleep and hot food. The next day we awoke to plenty of snow and a fantastic hike out. Bennett (16 months) was either belting out animal noises or conked out in the baby backpack. Overall we had a great time and surprising even for me, Amanda said she would do it all over again. As you can see in the pictures we got a few of feet of new snow while we were up there and Bennett, when warm and fed was all smiles. Thanks to our beloved community of Peak 7 who helped get us every step of the way. Couldn't have done it without you guys! http://werdell.blogspot.com/

This weekend I finally did something worthy of the weekend warriors updates. I did my first roller derby bout! San Diego has had women’s derby for years. We are starting up a men’s team. There’s not enough men yet so we play co-ed with the girls (which is a blast). This weekend, I played in my first public bout. White shirt in the photos. Number 1966 (great year to be born).

Burt N. Repine, Sr. Software Engineer in San Diego -- had a blast with the family at the inaugural San Diego Zoofari Park Half Marathon on Sunday finishing in 1:29:13, which was good enough for 2nd in his age group, but not good enough for the highest family placing, as his Mom ended up winning hers. His two boys and his step-father took on the 5K portion and everyone had a great time! What a venue/what an event!

(photo courtesy of Active's own Arch Fuston who was shooting and cheering along the course)

Demian Dorrance, Sr. Systems Engineer, IT, San Diego

I was in the UK to attend my graduation from the University of London with a BSc in Information Systems and Management, when I represented ActiveX in a local race organized by the Mornington Chasers running club. I landed on Saturday evening and ran my first ever 10k race, in freezing weather near 0 Celsius early Sunday morning. Finished the Regent's Park Winter 10k in 1:05:45, despite some outrageous event preparation that consisted of a transatlantic flight, a night on the town in London, some local cider, and three hours sleep. Still achieved a personal best: this was my first event running continuously with no walking breaks. Kudos to the local club marshals who kept everyone going with delightfully understated English cheers of "well done, runners." at every corner of the Regent's Park course.

Valentines Day fun runs, PRs, hikes and good times

guest — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 19:07:24 GMT

Jim Garfield M&M and Mike Rielly ran with the Running USA crew including Boston Marathon race director McGillvary in San Antonio this weekend.

Scarlett Dalgleish, Software Consultant, ran the San Diego Mermaid Run 10K on Sat. with a time of 55mins 20sec.

Jeff McHugh hiked along the Columbia River Gorge on Sunday. Multnomah Falls to Wahkeena Trail to Angel's Rest (picture). Great day for a hike.

Margaret Patrick, Sports Sales Manager and Emily Joller, Endurance Account Manager, participated in the Inaugural Coronado 10K for Valentine's Day. It was a gorgeous day, beautiful course, PRs for everyone and we had Andy Reilly announcing our arrival. Emily claimed one of the coveted Tiki statues with a blazing time of 40:10!

Tyler Jump (Account Manager - Camps) and Janean Nation (Sales Manager - Sports) participated in this weekend's Puppy Love 5k benefitting Helen Woodward Animal Center. It was a good sized crowd, and fun to see all the dogs settle in very quickly with each other as soon as the event started. Carlie and Edward (our pups) had a blast as well...it was Carlie's first 5k!

PAUL HOMER and MELANIE WIVIOTT (Bothell, WA) completed the Valentine's Day Dash 5k around Green Lake in Seattle on Saturday. Melanie had a great day with her sister and Paul PR'd (well, it was his first 5k) but failed to find a date for Valentine's Day. The second photo shows the winners of the costume contest.

Valerie Prestidge (Technical Account Manager) & friends returned to Three Sisters Falls for a great hike, some cliff jumping, and all smiles. A perfect day with amazing people!

Paul McLure, Account Manager Educate - completed my first half marathon on Sunday, the San Dieguito Half. I finished with a time of 2 Hrs 12min 14 seconds. The area is real nice with some hills - fun!! This event has some really good chili and and beer which helps you get to the finish line.

NYC’s Rick Penque placed first in the annual Rick Penque Metric Ton Challenge, a series of weekly shoveling-endurance events that commenced in mid-December. Online registration among family members continues to remain low, but Rick is glad to report increased back strength of recent…

Triathlon Mania in San Diego

guest — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:24:36 GMT

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.

Irontastic Weekend

guest — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:41:22 GMT

I finally got to hear Mike Reilly tell me "You are an IRONMAN!" while crossing the finish line this weekend in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The course was amazingly beautiful and the community here was incredibly supportive. I was spoiled to have my parents and my older sister here to cheer for me in person and many people supporting and following along via the web. I've never felt anything like running in the last 4 blocks with screaming fans lining the streets towards the music and lights at the finish line. It was worth every sacrifice I've made to get there. What a day! Finished in 15 hours and 7 minutes ... way ahead of my goal. Huge thanks to everyone who was a part of the journey! :-)

Congratulations to Michelle!

Eric Olson, Associate GM – Events, competed in the Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon this weekend. The race was changed to a 5K run, 40K bike, 10K run duathlon after a swimmer went missing in Saturday’s sprint. I’m not a duathlon guy, and it was a tough day. The race started well with a good first run and a decent bike. In the end, the 100+ heat index and lack of shade took its toll, and I was just happy to finish. My girlfriend finished 5th in the pro women’s race, suffering through the heat and humidity at a much faster pace than me.

Mike and Brian Law at ironman coeur d alene

Michele Crepeau ran the Achilles Hope and Possibility 5 Mile run in NYC, such an incredible inspiration with all the Achilles athletes participating. Followed it up with a bike ride down to Battery Park City. Fun in the NYC sun!

Anthony Valentino - Account Executive, Higher Education, San Diego – spent the weekend with daughter Jade teaching her to build and start her first campfire at Cuyamaca State Park, share apple pie in Julian, celebrate his grandmother’s 90th in Corona, and watched his girlfriend compete in the Huntington Beach Sand Soccer Tournament. Perfect!

Chuan Hu from China:

Chuan and Lily continue their Tibet trip. We drove to the Everest Base Camp at June 24th. We saw the beautiful lake, the glacier and the highest mountain in the world – Mt. Everest.

On the way to the base camp, there is 102KM road under very bad condition. It requires very good driving skill. After 3 hours, we arrived at the base camp.

When the evening was coming, Mt. Everest in the sunset became red. It was the most beautiful view in the world!

Matthew Henry (Interaction Designer – ActiveWorks Swimming) ran the Seattle Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon on Saturday with Team in Training and a few of his friends from the Bothell office, including Sijen Olthof who he caught up with around mile nine. The course was incredi-hilly, but he managed to finish in 4:31, a PR by 17 minutes. The best part was, he felt good enough to do 90 minutes of hot yoga on Sunday morning. Next up, Chicago!

SCOTT FRIESEN (Associate Product Manager for Golf & Resort Solutions) ran in his very first marathon at the Seattle Rock N Roll on Saturday.

I was a little disappointed in my time of 4:16. But considering that my longest run before the marathon was 15 miles, overall I’m happy to have finished with a smile on my face. This was easily the most challenging physical event that I’ve participated in. I couldn’t help but fill up an entire notepad of the things I’ll do differently next time. Despite all of the new pains I enjoyed over the weekend, I’m looking forward to running this distance again in the future.

Big kudos go out to Jamie Williams who powered through a weekend of serious cycling. Friday evening sported an intense spinning class at 24 Hour Fitness, followed by an early morning 30-mile road ride through the hills of Palos Verdes on Saturday. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? Ask Jamie about the 13% grade on Via Coronel. On Sunday, Jamie set out to conquer the hills of the Santa Monica Mountains with Lorraine Daly, and former UCLA varsity crew members Justin Price and Brad Stapleton. The 72.5 miles may have had close to forty miles of rolling to flat terrain along the Pacific Coast, but the remaining 32+ miles dished up just over 4000 feet of vertical gain, with gradients as much as 11%. The climb up Stunt Road, very close to where the Tour of California passed earlier this year, was sweetened as Jay Leno drove by in a classic 1915 roadster and waved to our weekend warriors.

Jim Garfield, Tawnya Bordalo, Mike MacDonald and Jim Sola participated in the San Diego International Triathlon on Sunday. All four of us competed in the International distance race (1K-30K-10K), and the cool and cloudy morning was perfect for all of us to meet or exceed our expectations… “good times” were had by all: Jim G. (2:01), Tawnya (2:29), Mike (2:13), Jim S. (2:25). They were cheered on by Nolan Hansen and Karen Hardy. A beautiful course winding its way up over the Spanish Bay Park. Interesting point to point run finishing at Fisherman’s Village. It was a long walk back to the transition area…..oy!

Active Boston Marathon April Weekend

guest — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 22:55:59 GMT

MIKE REILLY working and reporting from the Boston Marathon. Happy Patriots Day! His daughter Erin (white visor) and Niece Kim (Pink visor) ran the marathon for the first time. Lisa Rainsberger the last American woman to win Boston (1985) started the women's race. Robert Cheruiyot from Kenya set a new course record in 2:05:52. The Boston Marathon in my opinion is the best in the world and not to be missed.

Photos from Mike:

Jim Garfield (M&M) and Jared Hinkley (M&M) participated in the 6k DOW/Live Earth Run for Clean Water. Active is doing the registration for this 200 city world wide event to raise awareness for clean drinking water. 6K is the average distance a woman has to walk in Africa to get to clean drinking water. The DOW event is also the largest clean water initiative in history. We were joined by Los Angeles based advertising agency clients, professional triathlete Jenny Fletcher and Fall Out Boy musician Pete Wentz.

Lindsay Nesselroad Solana Beach Training @ Mission Bay Park. 4/17 Good Times!!

Stella Cardenas (daughter of Stephany Cavatoni, GM, Consumer Insight and Access) and her U6 Softball Team had a great game against tough competitors this weekend – and all team members had great hits (no tee required!) and are really picking up their fielding game. Stella rocked out first base!

Eddie Rafols, Software Trainer, kicked off my running season with the St. Albert 10 Mile Road Race on Sunday. I finished with a personal best of 1:10:11. And true to my roots as a member of the golf consulting group, I managed to squeeze in a round of golf in the afternoon as well!

This is WW report from Xi'an, China.

Weekend Warriors From XI'AN, CHINA - CASH XU (Accountant), EDA ZHAO (Development Tools Administrator), PAUL GUO (Desktop Administrator), Fod Shadbakht (English Trainer) and ERIC MA (Directory Market Dev, M+M) took an 80K (60K Flat, 10K Uphill and 10K Downhill) tour ride to Jiulong Pond, a beautiful scenic spot in Qinling Mountains.

It was not cool to ride in such a chilly day, especially they just experienced a weird snow last week in Xi'an! But it's an awesome ride with such a great group. There're so many funs riding the sinuous rocky terrain, so challenging to ride uphill! While downhill was crazy, their hands were so stiff to hold the brake all the while for 20mins, besides have to dodge the vehicles passing through!

Tawnya Bordalo, Heidi Achenbach, James Sola and Jeremy Spitzberg enjoyed a beautiful Sunday morning ride from Fiesta Island to Solana Beach and back (35mi). As expected, the fog you see in the picture burned off just as we were about to climb the hill at Torrey Pines.

Brooke Kirkpatrick, Account Manager, ActiveSports - I celebrated "spring back to Vail" for the last day of skiing this season. We have a tradition of dresssing up as Omigos and Senoritas every year. Yesterday was a perfect blue bird day to spend the day with friends, skiing, and watch pond jumping!

Evan Witte (Product Manager - Foundation) ran the Carlsbad 5000 last weekend with a finishing time of ~20 minutes. Unfortunately due to losing a bet he donned a full 80's inspired costume in celebration of the 25th anniversary event.

Busy weekend here in the NW. Rain or shine, we had a Zoo Outing followed by a Red Mill Burger Outing(In and Out of Seattle). Great day out with Family and Friends. Thank you for coming out to play

Daffodil Classic Metric Century (100 kilometer/62 mile).

Sijen Olthof and Nicole Pelley (Business Analyst)rode the Daffodil Classic this weekend. Great day for a ride with Mt. Rainer as our backdrop. This is the longest distance we have ever ridden. Our goal by the end of the summer is to ride from Seattle to Portland.

Toby Guillette, Social Media Specialist in San Diego camped out in Cuyamaca State Park (thanks ReserveAmerica!) with Airey Baringer, Jesse Hammond and Mike Clarke and did a 5 hour mountain bike ride on Saturday

Gran Fondo Warriors

guest — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:14:21 GMT

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.

Winter Warriors

guest — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:17:04 GMT

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

Active Lifestyle Weekend

guest — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:01:31 GMT

ActiveX made a good showing at the 2010 Endurance Sports Awards ride and expo this past Saturday. A number of Xers participated in the 200+ cyclists, 25 mile bike ride. Mike Reilly, Ricky Gray, Airey Baringer, Mark Warble, Marc Villaneueva, Tawnya Bardolo, Chris and Julie Barnwell, and Arch and Christy Fuston rode in the peloton with the likes of Craig Alexander (2009 Ironman Hawaii winner), Chris Lieto (2009 Ironman Hawaii runner-up), and Kristen Armstrong (world-champion trim trial). We got dropped.

Rebecca Divita (ETeams), Jim Garfield (M&M) and Tina Novak (Active) journeyed to Aspen for the winter X-Games. Thrills, chills and definite spills were had by all, including the three of us. Truly death deifying and gravity resistant tricks were the rule of the weekend….oh and a live concert by 50cent….

Orlando, FL, some of the ActiveGolf team went to Orlando for the 2010 PGA Show. The day prior to the show a group of us (Ben Cruise, Matt Kessler, Joe Pink and Don Cramer) were able to get in a round of golf at the new Waldorf Astoria Golf Club at Disney World (OpenCourse Client). The golf was unfortunately, well above par. However, it was a great time to catch up and enjoy the sport we are involved in.

Liz Harrell (Director, Product Management & Projects), Kat Keivens (Online Operations) and Jeremy Spitzberg (Development Manager, UI) rode the coast on a beautiful Sunday morning in Southern California. 26 miles from Solana Beach to Carlsbad and back. Gearing up for the Gran Fondo in a month!

Deborah Linggi, Director, Employee Communications -- New Year's resolutions to get/stay fit are still going strong. I taught packed spin classes on both Saturday and Sunday morning at 24 Hour Fitness.

On Saturday, Kat Keivens (Online Account Coordinator) ran in the Lake Hodges 5k Race along with some fellow Active Employees and finished with a time of 26:04.40. On Sunday Kat enjoyed a scenic 26 mile bike ride and played a soccer game.

Michele Crepeau Skied Vail sat, snow shoed at Beaver Creek Sunday, AMAZING:)

Toby Guillette, Social Media Specialist in San Diego, ran the Sun Strides Foundation Lake Hodges 5K on Saturday morning in 18:24 which was good for 8th place overall and 1st place in the 20-29 age group. It was great to celebrate at the finish line with fellow Active Weekend Warriors who also ran the 5K: Andrea Rishmawi, Giselle Domdom, Kat Kievens and Jason Johnson!

Active Warriorfest Weekend

guest — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:32:27 GMT

Chris Wheeler, Account Executive, Blue Bear Software

I did the Fiesta Island Time Trial on Sunday morning. It was a brisk morning with just enough wind to make it hurt that much more. It was my first cycling race, so it was way outside my comfort zone, but a fun experience none-the-less. Afterwards, I went on a 40 mile cool-down ride up the coast with friends.

Steve Mazza

I rode my mountain bike at Mission Trails Regional Park (with former Active-ite Matt Codling) on Sunday. After some sweet downhill sections, we pedaled up South Fortuna Mountain as far up as we could, then carried our bikes up the west face to the top. Incredibly clear views to the east of the San Diego backcountry, and to the southwest of the Coronado Islands and Mexico.

Bill Bliven, Account Executive- Major Accounts

Twenty two riders from all over the country descended on Lake Tahoe for our 12th annual “Old Guy Mountain Bike Camp” As in previous years, the trails, and the weather and rider entertainment were outstanding. The weather for the weekend: sunshine, rain, snow and wind were the order. As for our rides the scenery, workouts and crashes were better than ever! We spent our days on four fantastic, but different trails.

An update from last weekend on behalf of Emily Ogata Application Specialist, NFL and me Kirstin Hartos, Implementation Analyst:

Our rugby team, the San Diego Surfers, secured our region’s only seed for the USA Rugby National Championships in a decisive 24-0 win over our league rival Belmont Shore in the Southern California championship last weekend (please note: no ambulances or trips to the ER this time). The first round of the tournament is held in St. Louis, MO on October 25-26 with the potential to advance to the finals in Sanford, FL on November 8-9. The Surfers are one of only 16 teams that get the chance to compete at this level. Since we are a non-profit organization, funded almost solely by player dues, we are asking everyone we know to make a donation to help defray the cost of traveling and competing at a national level. All donations are completely tax deductible. Any support would be greatly appreciated and will assist us in bringing recognition to Southern California women’s rugby. Visit our donation page here: http://active.com/donate/sdsurfersrugby2008. Or check out our website for more info on the team: http://sdsurfersrugby.com. Thanks in advance for your support!

Mathew Henry

I ran the 2008 Chicago Marathon with my sister after a rough 2007 outing. We made it to the halfway point in 2:20, but the 80 degree heat got the better of us and we finished together in 5:07. All in all, the marathon went much better for Chicago this time around. Lots of water and much less busy medical tents. All the better as they go for the Olympics in 2016!

Patti Rosenthal

Did the annual 55-mile mtn bike ride from Durano to Farmington. A beautiful mtn bike ride on back oil roads & ends on 12 miles of awesome single track. There were 8 of us & I was the token female on the ride. It took us 6 hrs & 45 minutes which included 2 lunch stops

Mike MacDonald, Web Developer

From Tuesday to Friday I visited my aunt and uncle that live in a remote area of Mono Lake. Wednesday I did some manual labor for their landscaping business in about 35 degree weather. Thursday I drove 10 miles on an unpaved road to visit the ghost town Bodie, where I hiked around for 7 hours taking pictures and finding cool artifacts in 30 degree weather (and 50 mph wind!). Friday morning greeted me with 14 degrees on the thermometer, and a blizzard between Mono Lake and Reno. Tons of fun!

Toby Guillette, Community Development Specialist

This weekend marked the end of my peak training for Silverman (my first Ironman) in November. Saturday I ran 22 miles from La Jolla Shores to Fletchers Cove in Solana Beach and ran into Michele Ulrich who was out for her final long run before her NYC Marathon next month. We ran together for ~6 miles. On Sunday, Ryan Drew, Airey Baringer, Rebecca Divita and I froze on our bikes in 32 degree temps at the start of our ride in Pine Valley. We rode the Laguna Triangle route which included over 30 miles of climbing in the mountains east of San Diego. Here’s the shot of the day: