MARATHON MANIA FALL SEASON IS UPON US!  HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYONE.  Mike

SCOTT EVANS, TIM MCMAHON, MICHELLE CREPEAU, JAMIE SNOW, AND TRACY SCHUSTER worked the Chicago marathon last weekend representing Active.  This photo is from the finish line, what a good looking group!

Congrats HEATHER HAWKES who finished her first triathlon this weekend at Mission Bay in San Diego!  It was the Mission Bay Women’s Series-Sprint distance and it was incredible!! There were 1000 women in the event and it was such a fantastic first experience. 

JIM HINE in Sun Valley on Saturday rode Adams Gulch just west of Ketchum ID.  We weren't sure why the 20-mile loop was marked "abusive" on the map until we came upon 'shale city" - a mile of sharp rock slides that made pushing the bike...you know, abusive.  We climbed a total of 5,560' to just above 8,500'. Our descent was all single track - with technical sections passing through burn areas from last year's Castle Peak fire – followed by tight switchbacks through turning Aspens that formed tunnels over the trail.  On Sunday we rode "in town" on Bald Mountain from the River Run chair to the Warm Springs chair.  This new trail traverses the ski runs through dozens of switchbacks!  It was tough not to peek at the white-capped Boulder Mountains instead of focusing on the descent weaving through the pines. We closed-out the weekend with a dip in the hot springs followed by prime rib and huge baked-potatoes at the Pioneer Saloon…and washed down with a 'few' Sun Valley Ales.

JANEAN NATION, Account Manager for Active Sports ran in the Nike Women’s Half Marathon yesterday in San Francisco with my mom and oldest sister.  It was an amazing experience to be a part of…over 20,000 women running the streets of San Francisco!

MICHELLE VALENTI did the Women's Triathlon on Sunday in San Diego with her sister? It was her first tri and we entered the family division of the supersprint so that we could go in the same wave. We had a blast and now there is one more person hooked on tri!

MEGAN DUVALL, Prod Mkt Analyst and her friend Laura Craig ran the full Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco this weekend.  It was our second marathon together and we both PR’d!  We probably could have gotten an even better time if we hadn’t taken pictures, but it was such a beautiful course!    

BURT REPINE (far right) and his mother (center) were last minute fill-ins for his wife's (second from right) work team at the Camp Pendleton Mud Run on Saturday. They finished 14th out of roughly 365 teams overall in a time of 1:09:52. "Not bad considering we had 2 guys on the team" his mother cracked. Cheering them on were his two sons Noah (in foreground) and Max (center with grandma). What a blast of a race this is! Highly recommended.  WAY TO GO MOM!

More Mud Runners BRYAN PAIJIT, MIKE MACDONALD, DANNY ROA, JESSE HAMMOND AND BRYAN PAVIN ran the Camp Pendleton Mud Run.  It was a 10k obstacle course which included walls, pipe crawls, a lake crossing, mud pits and mud crawls.  Our team finished in 1:14 minutes which was 15th in the men’s team division and 32nd overall in the teams.  The race was fun, although the first 5k was just a long uphill run without any obstacles.  The last 5k made up for it though.

The JON BELMONTE family were in Sequoia National Park last week.  You can check out the pictures on Jon’s Facebook page.  Plus in the U6 Soccer matchup of the weekend, Calvin Belmonte’s Land Sharks and Jackson Landa’s Silver Serpants dueled to a 1-1 tie.  Good time had by kids as well as parents.  Jon we all know a tie to Matt Landa is like a loss!

ANDREA LEVINSON, KAREN HARDY, BETHANY DOMINICK, STEPHANIE SNAMAN and MICHAEL DIVITA joined the Tri Club Sat am for a beautiful 30 mile bike ride along the 101.

What an amazing ride and great way to start the weekend! Come join them next weekend for Andrea’s B-day.

TOYA REAVIS, Implementation Analyst raced the Cougar Chase 5K Cross Country Meet at Cal State Marcos in San Diego County this Saturday. Again, I had a crazy physically emotional week leading up to this race so it was not a great effort but I won my age group and ran 20:09 on a fairly easy Cross Country course (no steep hills but slight inclines on the double loop). Only 2 more races before the Cross Country series finish.

MIKE REILLY announced the 30th Anniversary of the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii last weekend for his 20th year.  He was honored to have been part of an autograph session with Ironman World Champion MICHELLE JONES of Australia and BOB BABBITT Ironman Hall of Fame inductee.

ARCH FUSTON always discovering ways to hurt and have fun!  Arch and his wife Christy did some reconnaissance work for the up coming ActiveX Winter Running Series. They discovered a set of trails that are close to the office and will lend themselves quite nicely for the series. Headlamps, trail shoes, and gaiters required!

REI

Petzel Tikka Plus Headlamp - http://www.rei.com/product/751757

REI Gaiters - http://www.rei.com/product/712867

Women Salomon Trail Shoes - http://zeta.zappos.com/product/7376385/color/128854

Men Salomon Trail Shoes - http://zeta.zappos.com/product/7291634/color/86313

JENNI MILLER did her 2nd triathlon - The U.S. Women's Sprint Triathlon at Fiesta Island in San Diego. It was a very different experience doing this tri alone as opposed to my Solana Beach experience; however I had a bunch of friends come out and support me which really helped me get through it! I ended up finishing in 1:34. Can't wait for the next one!  Hey Jenni I did my first triathlon on Fiesta Island back in the late 70’s.

STEVE MAZZA spent the weekend in Sequoia Nat’l Forest in California at the Kern Fat Tire Festival, mountain biking the epic Cannell Plunge. 8,000 feet of extreme vertical (mostly descent) covering gorgeous terrain in the Sierra Nevadas. At 28 miles it was a long day! The top of this ride started with a hail storm. This is the type of ride with crazy dropoffs, steep rocky descents, and long sweeping downhill single-track. One that you are glad to make without injuries. A guy on our trip had a compound fracture of his ulna, his right hand dangling free and his forearm bone sticking out through skin; another had internal injuries and had to be carried off the mountain by motorbike after he plunged 30 ft off a cliff face. Once back in town, we relaxed on Ewing’s deck, sipping a cold beverage on the banks of the Lower Kern River. Pic attached. 

Yes Steve it sounds like fun except for that poor Dude’s crash!

LIZ HARRELL reports that Scott (AP Specialist in SD) and Liz (Product/Project in SD) accomplished another milestone in their training. Scott rode 73 miles and Liz rode 61 miles around San Diego County this Saturday.  Gorgeous weather accompanied us on our 7 hour day as we covered the miles and more than 3,000 feet of climb. We are both training for the El Tour de Tucson that will be taking place November 22nd…109 miles!!!  Good thing we’re doing this through Team in Training!!!  Check out our websites:  http://pages.teamintraining.org/sd/tucson08/sharrell and http://pages.teamintraining.org/sd/tucson08/lharrell

ASHLEY ELLIS, Account Exec. Swimming this weekend was ACTIVE taking part in The Tourist Attractions of San Diego.  With my families first visit in 2 years we went to the Birch Aquarium, Wild Animal Park and took part in kayaking in the COVE.  The best part about the cove kayaking was seeing 3 dolphins and a school of 50 leopard (the nice ones) sharks. The leopard sharks are so cute so where the Monday night swimmers take off watch your step tonight.

MATT & JENNIFER LANDA, DAVE & CHRIS ALBERGA and MIKE REILLY all played at the Coastwise Mile event held Saturday just down the street from the original Active office in La Jolla, CA (such good memories!). The event was sponsored by Coastwise Financial the company owned by one of Active’s original founders and former CFO SCOTT KYLE (back right of pic) and his wife CARLIE KYLE a former Sales rep at Active (Yes an Active romance & marriage). Scott ran the Mile and their son JET ran the 50 yard dash. 

MATT & JENNIFER LANDA were there with their 3 boys (all pictured) who each ran very fast and had fun. Even though their youngest, 2 year old ADAM decided to go missing during the event but was found heading down the stairs to the beach! DAVE & CHRIS ALBERGA ran with their daughters KATE & EMMA. KATE & MOM ran the Mutt Mile with their dog SCOUT while DAVE ran most of the way with EMMA on his shoulders. 

MIKE REILLY said announcing a 1 mile event this Saturday then next Saturday (Oct.11) the 140.6 mile 17 hour Ironman Hawaii World Championship is a bit of a contrast to say the least. Oh well someone has to do it! Then on Sunday, Reilly rode the 62 mile Tour de Poway bike event with over 3000 ft of climbing in east San Diego County!

JON BELMONTE reported another active weekend for the Belmontes. This week’s soccer matches had an interesting twist…Silent Saturday. Parents and coaches were restricted from yelling, screaming and cheering during the game.  An interesting experiment…benefits were that the kids were forced to be more self motivated / directed while also having the figure the game out on their own (as opposed to be told what to do by parents and coaches the entire game).  The other benefit was a heightened awareness by adults re: what’s appropriate behavior on the sidelines.  Hana and Jon’s team won their U8 Girls game 2-0, while Cal scored 2 goals in his team’s U6 co-ed game. 

On Sunday, Rita and Hana went on a Brownie troop hike at Torrey Pines reserve, and then joined Calvin and Jon for fishing at Crystal Pier.  They came back empty handed, but had a good time nonetheless.

CAITLYN BARKER reports that she and MIKE DOBRANSKY (Team Lead, LeagueOne) ran, crawled, climbed and push-up’d their way through the Boot Camp Challenge this weekend at MCRD. Mike raced the Men’s Elite division and placed 5th in his division and 20th overall with a time of 20:19. My friend Chelsey and I came in much later with a time of 31:37 but had a blast! They added a few new obstacles this year making for a very fun but still challenging run. ANDA WILLETT (Software Trainer, Active Net) came to cheer us on and decided it looked like so much fun that she’s going to participate next year! I included a couple of pictures; my favorite is Chelsey getting creamed by one of the Drill Instructors…I should have known better than to stop and laugh because he dropped me for ten pushups right after that….lesson learned!

PATTI ROSENTHAL (Industry Manger, Cycling in Durango, CO) did the Road Apple Rally on Saturday in Farmington, NM.  It's the longest running annual mountain bike race - 28th anniversary this year. A fast, fun course with lots of whoop sections. Finished 1st in the Beginner Women's 40-49 Division (blue-hair division). Main goal was to stay upright since I had fresh stitches in the arm from a MTB crash last Thursday.

TOYA REAVIS competed in the Balboa Boogie Cross Country 5K Race on Saturday. It was at Morley field in Balboa Park (without the crazy hill). Unfortunately I had a very emotional 2 weeks and no sleep the last 2 days before the race.  I won my age group in 20:39.  I am fitter than 6:39 pace but I could not move due to no sleep. I am glad I could win my age group and keep my team in first place in this Cross Country series.

MIKE MACDONALD, Web Developer, finished my first triathlon in 1 hour 10 minutes, just slightly slower than I had hoped.  The weather was great and I’m already looking forward to my next tri.  Thanks to all the Active folks that came out and cheered us on!

MARC VILLANUEVA, Web Applications Developer in SD, did the Mission Bay Triathlon this past Sunday.  This was my first triathlon and I had a good time.  Thanks to all of the Active folks who came out to cheer us on.

MARK WARBLE, Desktop Management Admin, participated in the Mission Bay Tri yesterday (sun 10/5).  It was nice being involved in one of the oldest triathlons held here in San Diego.  I had a finishing time of 1:08:28.  It was good to get back in the water…even if it was Mission Bay. =)  The morning was overcast and cool, which made for a nice race day.  I was happy to hear cheers from fellow Active employees (thanks for the support!) and seeing other Active members participating. 

KEVIN BEATTY, completed the Mission Bay Triathlon yesterday. Pretty interesting zig zag course and felt at times that a beach cruiser might have been a better choice of a bike to get through all of the puddles. Overall it was a great race and I’m excited for the next one…70.3 anyone? 

ASHLEY ELLIS was at the Mission Tri to cheer friends along. This was my girl Ashley and Jenny's first Tri and they did awesome.  Here is a cute picture from the event also with Kevin Beatty (account ex. Tennis) who rocked it. I have never attended a Tri before where I was so impressed with how well everyone did. Congrats to everyone from Active!

BURT REPINE and his friend day hiked Mt. Whitney (14,497 ft.) on Sunday. Though the previous day’s snowstorm left some parts of the trail a little dicey we had a gorgeous day of weather w/o a cloud in the sky. The 21-mile roundtrip (we shaved a mile off of the distance by starting at the old trailhead) took roughly 11.5 hours and I am happy to report that I made it all the way back home and in bed by 9pm last night -

gotta love So. California! Here’s a pic of me on the summit.

JAKE COONEY ran the Portland Marathon this weekend which was my first marathon. My goal was to get around 4:00 and ended up with a time of 3:40.  It was a very scenic run with just enough rain to stay cool but not get soaked. Also, with the help of Lauren Dachille and Dana Blackwood, I got some video footage of the race director Les Smith for the ActiveEndurance website. Stay tuned! I’m waiting for the website to post race photos.  If they get posted before the report goes out, I’ll send a photo.  Thanks.

KRISTIN HACE, Online Advertising Account Manager, participated in the MCRD Bootcamp Challenge for the second year in a row. It’s an extremely fun, fairly quick race that’s 3 miles long with bootcamp-type obstacles to go through, such as jumping over walls, crawling through tunnels and pushup stations (blew through those, thank you very much for the practice Arch!)  If you haven’t tried this one yet, definitely keep it on your radar for next year…it’s a great group of people and a great time!

LAUREN DANCHILLE, along with Dana Blackwood and MIke Coleman, attend the Portland Marathon Event Directors College in conjunction with the Portland Marathon on Sunday. Dana and Lauren even participated in the 10k Mayor's Run that started at mile 20. It was a beautiful course and we even braved the rain!

KRISTI DUBIEL, Implementation Analyst, woke up bright and early to run in the Hope for a Cure 5k on behalf of the Arizona Diamondbacks.  It was a perfect morning and it was so great to see so many people, young and old out supporting such a great cause.  Immediately after the run I had to go to my indoor soccer game where we ended up losing 7-8!!!  I have a fabulous battle wound on the back side of my leg.  One of the guys launched a shot and my leg caught the brute of it and now I have an actual soccer ball bruise on my leg.  It is pretty classy

JENNI MILLER, Account Manager, Running, did the MCRD Boot Camp Challenge this weekend. It was one of the most fun races I have ever participated in. Throughout the course there were drill sergeants yelling at everyone and obstacles you had to go through including hay jumps, tunnel crawls, fox holes & trenches. One note to anyone who ever does this race in the future – don’t smile at the drill sergeants when they are yelling at you or you will be forced to do pushups until they allow you to proceed… I learned that one the hard way! Good times!

GT from the San Diego Foundations team took part in the 23rd annual Tour De Poway. The 18 mile loop was scenic and the people great. Could have done without the 1,000ft climb though…

Liz Harrell, San Diego…Another great ride up the coast this weekend.  47 miles!!!  This was after I had to take a 2 week break due to some medical stuff. UCSD up to Oceanside and back.  No Torrey Pines this time. My goal was to increase mileage, not the number of times I conquered Torrey Pines  I’m close to the half way mark as I train for my first century ride.  Why the insanity?  Check it out…http://pages.teamintraining.org/sd/tucson08/lharrell

Amber Martin, Bret Harris, Andrea Rishmawi and friends summited Half Dome peak this weekend in Yosemite National Park.  The weekend started off as great as we rented beach cruises and toured through the valley floor on Friday.  Then came the 24 hour torrential downpour to try and dampen our spirits…but in spite of a few soaked sleeping bags and the rather ominous beginnings, the weather cleared up on Sunday and we were able to make the climb.  Standing at an elevation of 8,842ft, the 17 mile trek took about 12hrs roundtrip.  The final ascent to the summit is made possible by some metal cables, a few wooden planks, and a traffic jam of people suspended at 60 degrees of granite slab!