Active Warriors : Tags : active-warriors

Aussie's and U.S. Krispy Kreme's

Posted by IMVoice Nov 16, 2009

ROHAN LAWTON from our Australia office reports that we have a new endurance athlete in our midst! Our Aussie Account Exec, FIONA MACMILLAN completed her second ever marathon this weekend before last and finished SECOND. The event was the Marysville Marathon held just out of Melbourne. Marysville was the town completely wiped out by the devastating Black Saturday fires in February.

TOBY GUILLETTE, Social Media Specialist, San Diego joined a group from the Allied Climbers of San Diego non-profit for a weekend of camping, climbing and turkey eating out in the Valley of the Moon. This was my first time to this remote area which is only accessible via 4-wheel drive vehicle. We cooked 5 turkeys on Saturday and I managed to fit in couple hours of trail running and a few hours of climbing before the tryptophan kicked in It was a great pre-Thanksgiving weekend! Here's a shot of our campsite and the surrounding area.

ANUSHEH CHAVEZ & MARK WARBLE participated in the Silver Strands ½ Marathon. Mark finished at an amazing time of 1:40 and Anusheh finished at 2:20. Mark writes: The course was very flat with one rolling hill around mile 10 and weather was perfect. Fortunately, I felt great the entire race. I kept a better pace than expected and finished in 1 hour 40 minutes- very happy with my time. I also had the privilege to share a celebratory beer with fellow Active employee, Anusheh Chavez:

JIM GARFIELD (AMM) ran the First Annual Malibu Marathon and Half Marathon. The race was unique in that it was a point to point all along a closed PCH. It was a bright sunny day and a real joy to run down PCH without any traffic!!!

GREG WONG held his donuts at an informal “Krispy Kreme Challenge” with a bunch of ultra-marathon runner freaks held Saturday morning at Hospitality Point, San Diego.

The events consisted of:

2 mile run + 1 dozen donuts + 2 mile run.

Time: 53 min 11 sec.

See splits below. To recover from the donut overdose, I ran 20+ more miles, surfed, and napped over the rest of the weekend…

Wow, what a morning and where to begin…

The discussion of the Krispy Kreme Challenge surfaced during a run several weeks ago and as often happens, smack talking ensued. Within a half mile, it was agreed that there should be a KKC on the west coast. A few e-mails later, much to my surprise, registrations started trickling in and then I started receiving applications from people I had yet to have the pleasure of meeting… We had an event!

It was suggested and also agreed that the KKC should be wrapped around a toy drive, so as part of the registration process everyone was asked to bring an unwrapped toy. There were 23 starters and combined a few other generous folks that wanted to kick in some toys, we have a SUV STUFFED with gifts that will be donated to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation www.toysfortots.org . THANK YOU ALL!!

As for the competition, if was fierce! There were 23 starters and 13 that recorded an “official” finish by consuming the entire dozen donuts. The format for the event was to run two miles, stop and enjoy one dozen original Krispy Kreme donuts, and finish with another two miles. Here are the results.

Place	Last	First	Division	Time In	Eating	Time Out	Finish	Notes
1	M****	Tracy	M	0:12:29	0:07:05	0:19:34	0:31:40	Overall winner
2	C******	Scott	M	0:12:31	0:07:17	0:19:48	0:33:39
3	S********	Jeremy	M	0:14:39	0:06:43	0:21:22	0:35:39	Eating winner
4	K****	Stephen	M	0:13:26	0:12:19	0:25:45	0:39:50
5	E*****	Paul	M	0:15:11	0:12:34	0:27:45	0:42:26
6	D****	Matt	M	0:14:34	0:13:24	0:27:58	0:43:17
7	D*****	Robert	M	0:16:52	0:09:32	0:26:24	0:44:25
8	F****	Chris	M	0:15:41	0:14:35	0:30:16	0:47:14
9	Wong	Greg	M	0:16:34	0:18:51	0:35:25	0:53:11
10	S******	Joe	M	0:16:32	0:31:23	0:47:55	1:11:23
11	W****	Justin	U18	0:29:22	0:17:31	0:46:53	1:24:44	U18 winner
12	M*******	TJ	U18	0:29:22	0:25:32	0:54:54	1:24:45
13	W*****	Adam	U18	0:29:22	0:15:52	0:45:14	1:24:48

Congratulations to all that had the courage to start the event, it was very impressive!

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A Noteworthy November

Posted by Active Toby Nov 9, 2009

Jim Garfield (AMG) and Active alum Chris Wheeler, did the Big Rock Triathlon this past Saturday. It was great to hear the fans cheer "Go Active". Wish the cheers could have loosened my tight calf's.....but fun all the same!!

Last Saturday, Oct 31, David Detar (National Account Manager - ActiveOutdoors) and his son Matt (10 yrs old) participated in a local Jack-o-lantern Jog. It was a 5K race.

The course was tough - a 3/4 mile hill less than a mile from the start and then rolling hills throughout. We also were forced to run through heavy rain and wind. We still enjoyed our time together and finished respectably in 27:30 and 27:31. Pacing with Matt, I my time actually put in in 7th in my age group while Matt finished 4th in the under 11 age bracket. Next up for both of us is a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day!

Michelle Nation, Product Manager - I travelled to Las Vegas this weekend to take on the Desert Beach Big Dirt Triathlon. The weather and the 1.5 k lake swim were perfect, but the 30 k bike and 10k run were brutal! As the only female to finish the long course, I brought home the first place trophy which helps me feel a lot better about all the cuts, bruises and sore muscles from crashing on the bike course. It was my first off-road tri and I will definitely be back for more.

Jim Hine, GM for Consumer Access, rode with a group of eight riders on a 24-mile loop along the South Fork of the Boise River on Saturday. The stock trails in the Danskin Mountains aren’t maintained so you get pretty worked on the side hills and washouts. You can only ride this area in the fall/winter due to the heavy rattlesnake population in the spring. I hooked a pedal and got a close-up look at a rock, but the trails were a blast.

Mark Lister (Documentation – Burnaby) competed in the Haney 2 Harrison 100 km road relay this past weekend. Running with “Oconnor’s Washed up All Stars” (comprised of current and former Richmond Kajaks track runners), the team finished second overall in a time of 5:43.48.

Mark was 3rd on his leg of the race, running the 13.1 km stage in 46:26, despite the cold, persistent heavy rain.

Stage 6 results: http://www.raceheadquarters.com/results/2009/run/H2H2009Stage6.html

Marea Blue (Implementation Analyst) and I (Kirstin Hartos, Technical Account Management Team Lead) traveled to San Francisco over the weekend with our rugby team to play for the Division 1 National Championship. We faced the Atlanta Harlequins in Friday’s semi-final match, and although they scored first we managed to come from behind in the second half to win 21-10 and advance to the final against Northern Virginia. We had Saturday to rest and refocus, and came out firing on Sunday – scoring within the first minute of the game to go up 7-0. We got penalized several times for repeated offenses, and one of our players was sin-binned (like a penalty box in hockey) so we played a man down for 10 minutes in the middle of the first half. Although we didn’t score again until well into the second half, we managed to hold NOVA scoreless throughout the game. The final score was 14-0, marking our team’s first ever National Championship. Marea was also named MVP (well deserved). Thanks to everyone here for your support throughout the season!

Chris Ochs, Sales Manager - The Boulder Team participated in Habitat for Humanity.

L-R: Chris Ochs, Jen Napoli, Dan Partain, Aaron Romero, Eric Johnson, Holly Hale, Nick Stevens.

A fun time was had by all!

Here is the Weekend Warrior from China.

Phoenix Zhong, Jex Chen and Crusoe Xia (From left to right) from Foundations, Chengdu office attended a cycling match at Sunday.

This is the first time China ActiveX team members to attend a national wide, public cycling match in China!

Crusoe got the 1^st place in his group and got 53^rd in the whole match. It is China ActiveX team’s first record.

“225” in these two pictures is Jex

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NYC Marathon & Mud Run

Posted by IMVoice Nov 2, 2009

THE ACTIVE NETWORK WOULD LIKE TO CONGRATULATE MARY WITTENBERG AND HER NY ROAD RUNNERS STAFF FOR PRODUCING ANOTHER OUTSTANDING NYC MARATHON. ALSO CONGRATS TO AMERICAN WINNER MEB KEFLEZIGHI WHO ATTENDED HIGH SCHOOL HERE IN SAN DIEGO. THE FIRST AMERICAN TO WIN THE NYC MARATHON SINCE 1982!

MICHELLE CREPEAU ran the NYC Marathon! She ran the 40th Anniversary race of the NYC marathon for my 4th time as a fundraiser for the Huntington's Disease Society of America. Time was 4:44:50. A little slower than past years, but just had fun with the race and tried to take in the buzz and excitement this race brings to each of the 5 boroughs in NY. Played Jay-Z song at least 6 times along the course, Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Manhattan.... "In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York, These streets will make you feel brand new, Big lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York, New York, New York". LOVE THE NYC MARATHON!!! To anyone who has ever dreamed of doing it, JUST DO IT! Photo taken with friend of mine I helped coach, Matt Morchower.

JIM GARFIELD (Active AMG) threw it all down in this past Sunday’s Muddy Buddy L.A.. An epic muddy, climbing, falling course was as always a mess and fun! My buddy Billy Gerber and I actually came in second….but everyone who finishes I think are winners…and very dirty!

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Marine Corps Marathon, Challenged Athletes Triathlon and a Mountain!

Posted by IMVoice Oct 26, 2009

I hope you all enjoy the Weekend Warriors report now being sent directly to you. Mike

MICHELE CREPEAU did the Marine Corps Marathon 10k in Washington, DC yesterday, 56:09. Best moment…last mile, slapping hands and thanking each of the 25+ Marines in uniform with their hands out, Natalie Merchant's Kind and Generous playing on ipod, wow I had a lump in my throat & wave of emotion that almost stopped me on my race. Thank you to all the marines and military for your service and for the inspiration. Special kudos to all the charities for raising over 7 million!!!!!

JIM GARFIELD, AMG joined Active Europe’s LAURENT GAUTHIER and ACTIVE co-founder MITCH THROWER in participating in this year Challenged Athlete’s Triathlon in La Jolla Cove. This annual year event has raised over $21 M since 1994. As always the race was challenging and exciting. The CAF athletes are always inspiring!!!

ARCH FUSTON spent all day Sunday at the Challenged Athletes Foundation event in LaJolla. We accompanied a special guest of CAF and their "Operation Rebound" program for injured soldiers, a long-time family friend Lt.Col. Tim Karcher. Tim lost both legs above the knee in June in an attack in Iraq. In just 4 months, after 126 liters of blood, and countless surgeries, Tim and his family of 4 made it out to San Diego to "see what's possible". What they found is a world of opportunity. As CAF's special guest, Tim was presented with a brand new hand cycle to get him going on his road to recovery. I fully expect that this time next year, Tim will be a participant in the race. When you hear someone say "attitude is everything", Tim epitomizes that. Something we call can learn from.

I received a message from DAVID PAN in the China office saying that they had a football match (assuming soccer) that lasted 4 weeks and they failed to win. WOW 4 weeks that must have been one heck of a shootout!

The Sports and Endurance teams in the San Diego office had another kickball game to determine bragging rights. Sports overtook Endurance by a score of 9 to 5 in a hard fought contest. Each have now won a game with the rubber match to be determined. DAVE ALBERGA also played but had to leave the game with a calf injury in the 2nd inning, we play tough! MIKE REILLY was the referee and received no respect because of his controversial calls. Fun was had by all (except Dave)!

KRISTIN HARTOS AND MAREA BLUE traveled to Boston over the weekend with our rugby team (the San Diego Surfers) for the USA Rugby Division 1 play-offs. As the #2 seed going into the 12-team play-off, we earned a bye on Saturday (lucky for us, since it was rainy and cold). We played the Valkyries out of Austin, Texas in the quarterfinal match on Sunday -- who had narrowly beaten our league rival Belmont Shore (Long Beach) 7 to 5 the day before to advance.
The weather was much better on Sunday with plenty of sun and a strong breeze -- and we were ready to play. We scored our first try just four minutes into the match to go up 5-0, and never looked back. We dominated in the rucks and were able to retain possession and get clear ball out to the back line to run in the open field. We won the match by a final score of 39-0.
We will travel to San Francisco to play for the National Championship on November 6th-8th. The semifinal match on Friday pits us against the Atlanta Harlequins. The Seattle Breakers and Northern Virginia (NoVa) face off in the other semifinal. For more information about our team and the upcoming games, please visit our website at: http://sdsurfersrugby.com.

BRET HARRIS in the SD office this weekend attempted his second summit of Mt. Whitney 14,505 feet (4,421 m) in California with a couple of buddies. The last time I made the trip was in the middle of summer with perfect weather…however I soon realized that climbing in the winter is a completely different story! And when the locals tell you that crampons and ice-picks are a must…they aren’t messing around! Most of the climb was pretty smooth and we had great weather…but due to the late hour of the day, the unknown factor of the softening snow on the switchbacks and being struck with a severe bout of altitude sickness, we were forced to turn around just shy of the summit.

MICHELLE NATION Product Manager in SD on Saturday teamed up with my friend Melissa to complete “the Great Urban Race” in San Diego as “Team Fairy Princess”. Teams of two solve clues, find checkpoints, complete challenges and navigate the streets by running and/or taking public transit only (in matching outfits/costumes). This was an AWESOME event and I can’t wait to play again next year. http://www.greaturbanrace.com/

JESSE HAMMOND and his wife EMMY along with MICHELLE VALENTI participated in the 108-mile Death Valley Century Ride in California on Saturday. They conquered the 108-mile course over desolate desert roads in just less than 10 hours (sounds like fun)! Despite temperatures rising above 100 F at times (and pretty much zero shade), we had a great time completing the longest ride any of us had ever done.

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Ironman, Mud Run, Kickball and More!

Posted by Active Toby Oct 19, 2009

On October 10th the 31st running of the Ford Ironman World Championships were held in Kailua-Kona Hawaii. The Active Network was well represented from Endurance, AMG, International and Management. A group pic is included along with a crazy nut at the finish line pumping up the crowd.

MICHELE ULRICH in SD with Four friends and I did the Camp Pendleton Mud Run on Saturday morning. It was a blast and my team finished third in the mixed division.

MICHELE CREPEAU in NY is working her way running events training for the NYC Marathon. Ran Tunnel to Towers Run, Sept 27th, Grete’s Gallup ½ marathon on Oct 3, 20 miles of the Chicago Marathon on Oct 11th

BERT REPINE in SD was also in Kona, HI rooting on Mom in the Ironman World Championships as she took home 1st place in the 60-64 year old age group. The race marked her 10th Kona Ironman and 5th age group win. (Great job announcing by the way, heard you from the wee hours of the morning all the way into the night. Don’t know how you do it?)

This past weekend I tried my hand at the Camp Pendleton 10K Mud Run --- though I’m certainly no Ironman --- I managed to finish in 51:08, good for 17th overall and 4th in my age group.
This is certainly one of San Diego’s funnest races if anyone out there has ever thought about trying it.

Two weeks ago, CHRIS OCHS Sales Manager, Active Events-Boulder flew to San Diego and competed in the Mission Bay Triathlon. Battling a fierce headwind, Chris finished with a 1:06, good for Top 10% overall. Yesterday I tried my hand at steer wrestling here in Colorado….I will NOT be joining the rodeo circuit anytime soon!

STACEY JOHNSON ran the Chicago Marathon last weekend (the 11th). It was SO COLD (never got out of the low 30s that day), but I took 10 minutes off my previous best and finished in 3:49. Very fun race!

KRISTI DUBIEL Implementation Analyst with Thriva (Scottsdale, AZ). My kickball team in Arizona, We Kick Your Balls (WYKB) traveled to Las Vegas last weekend to compete in the 2009 WAKA Founders Cup - World Kickball Championships. We were seeded #5 out of 72 teams going into the tournament. Although we did not finish as well as we did last year we still had a blast playing. The level of competition increased significantly over the past year so losing in the Sweet 16 was definitely bittersweet. We really wished we could have played more games, but we lost to a really great team. Below is a photo of my team after our loss.

After we got eliminated from the tournament, we started up an unofficial game of Sloshball with the 2008 National Champions (Frosty Balls out of VA) and the #1 seed ASO out of Maine. It was a great time of shoeless kickball, great friends and alcoholic beverages.

WILLIAM BASSLER in the SD office did the mud run Saturday and said it was fun!

JESSICA WEXLER (Foundations) October 4th participated in the Mission Bay Sprint Triathlon. It was a fun course and great to see so many beginners out there enjoying the sport for the first time!

JIM GARFIELD reports also from Kona 2 weeks ago. Active’s Tina Novak, Burt Repine and Jim Garfield tried a new sport…paddleboard! The water and sun was so great..guess it did not matter if we were good or not! In reporting on the race for Huffington Post and Active.com Jim also had the opportunity to observe one of his hero’s in action…Active’s own Mike Reilly once again hit it out of the park with his hall-of-fame announcing! This past weekend Jim Garfield tried another new sport…beach Volleyball! I’m sure the MGD 64 wrist bands helped his game!

JASON SLUSARCHUK Account Exec on Saturday I ran in a local charity fundraiser. The Daniel Igali 5k run for the kids in Surrey, BC
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=136674339060&ref=mf

JESSE HAMMOND, AIREY BARINGER and Jesse’s wife EMMY rode to the top of Palomar Mountain in SD County on Sunday. The 41-mile total trip took about 3 and a half hours. Beautiful weather, beautiful views and a thrilling descent down East Grade Road made for a good time out in East County

.

JIM DE LA CRUZ Application Support Administrator last week ran the Long Beach Half Marathon with CHRISTINA HANSON & EMILY CHAN-NORRIS. It was a great event, nice flat scenic course and terrific food afterwards at the beer garden. This past Sunday JIM completed the Playa Del Rey Sprint Triathlon at Dockweiler State Beach in Los Angeles time was about 1:29:08. Great conditions for the swim, bike was a nice and open street course I recommend this course next year!

Mark Lister (Documentation - Burnaby) ran his second marathon over the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, the Royal Victoria Marathon.

Conditions were perfect - sunny, little wind and only a slight chill in the air. Working in a pack with several other runners, he went through the half-way mark in 1:19:40 en-route to a 6 minute PR!

He finished 19th overall (5th in his age category) in 2:44:10.

Mark now looks forward to resting on his time off this week.

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Will Ferrell works at Active (not really)

Posted by IMVoice Sep 21, 2009

THIS IS THE BIGGEST NAME DROPPING YET FOR WEEKEND WARRIORS!

AMG’s MATT BECKMAN, LATANE MEAD AND JIM GARFIELD were with actor Will Ferrell in a golf outing to raise money for “Cancer for College” an organization that funds scholarships for college students fighting cancer. Although we’ll never make it to the tour…we had a blast. Sure our game could have been fixed with “more cowbell”!

VANESSA ALLEN did a weekend hike in SD on Iron Mountain in Rancho Bernardo.

JAMIE WILLIAMS competed in a practice Sprint Triathlon with the San Diego VAVi Sports & Social club in Coronado on Saturday. The practice Tri was 500m swim; 11+ mi bike; and 3.1 mi run. . . . He’s preparing for the Mission Bay Sprint Tri on 10/4!!

MICHELE CREPEAU in NY did Fall kickoff health and wellness weekend, ran 9 miles, weights classes, spa, healthy snacks, herbal teas and went hiking yesterday in New Paltz at Mohonk.

TIM VALANTI said he is fairly new to Active and was wondering what the Weekend Warrior report was all about. I’ve raced almost every weekend over the summer and my Cyclocross race season is coming up. On Sunday I competed in the final Playa del Run series race in Malibu. 1000m Swim and a 5k Run. Fun race to end the Aquathon season with. WELCOME to you Tim and now you know what the Weekend Warriors report is. Mike

http://www.playadelrun.com/results/2009/points/playa2009_agegroup_points_aquathlon.pdf

This weekend was the Boulder/Denver Charity Challenge Event, and we participated in the Boulder Marathon & Half Marathon. TINA NOVACKf and Robert Ham (from our charity, Urban Peak) ran the Half Marathon, and we had 3 Relay Teams participate as well.

Justine Tumolo, Mike Schultz, Staci Rieder and Stacey Edlund of Team Speedy Turtles ran a great race!

Michael and Leslie Cimperman, Ryan Bell and Gina Puzo of Team Knee Pain cruised in with anchor Gina running a 56:35!

Team SFWDY consisting of Sue Fonda, Brian O’Neill, Brett Burch and Akira Shirai had speedster Brian keeping them in the race! It was a beautiful course, on dirt roads along the foothills with incredible views of the flat irons. Got to be a little windy and toasty towards the end, but everyone had a great time!

Tina Novak, Michael Cimperman, Sue Fonda, and Justine Tumolo pictured

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September Warriors

Posted by Active Toby Sep 14, 2009

Scott Novell, Development Manager in San Diego - Participated in the La Jolla Gatorman race for the sixth time. The Gatorman is the longest running swim race in America, it is a 5k swim from the La Jolla cove to Scripps pier and back, No wetsuits allowed! It was a tough race this year with 6-7 foot swells and a lot of current, there were times I thought I was going backwards. It was not one of my fastest times but was still an exciting and challenging event and always an exciting start as seen in the picture!

Robert Subkow, Director of Network & Communications - This weekend marked the 4th annual Helen Woodward Surf Dog Competition at Del Mar in which the Golden Surfer’s were well represented. Jill Sonar Subkow (Our Golden Retriever) placed 4th in her heat of 13 dogs over 60 pounds, and 7th overall in the X-Large dog category, (Please don’t tell her she is extra large, she is a bit touchy about her weight, lol)…. The waves were challenging as the rip current was strong but Jill was able to get in 11 runs in 20 minutes, well she rode while I ran after the board and reloaded her for the next wave. Hope this is a worthy update

Ryan Lyster, Customer Experience Project Manager - I returned last week from Peru where I did a 4 day trek up the Inca trail to reach Machu Picchu with my Dad on his 60th birthday. The trek was difficult for my standards, reaching 4,215m’s above sea level and hiking the vertical of whistler mountain in a single morning! It was well worth it to see all the stunning ruins along the way and to be surrounded by the Andes. Cant say enough about the experience, would recommend it to everyone!

Charlie Trottier, Team Manager in San Diego, CA played with his Saturday Ultimate Frisbee league team for 60 minutes, 8 v. 8 and surfed on Sunday for 40 minutes. The waves were huge!

Jim Garfield (AMG) joined 1,500 athletes to compete in the Nautica Malibu Olympic distance triathlon. Jim joined fellow Active X’s Rebecca Divita and Kelly Schulty along with Active alum’s Chris Wheeler and Carrie James. In addition to Sunday’s race Jim channeled his inner Mike Riley once again to announce Sunday’s celebrity race. This year’s field included Terri Hatcher and Felicity Hufffman (DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES), Paul Lieberstein (THE OFFICE), William H. Macy and his high school buddy Jeremy Piven ( ENTOURAGE) among many other celeb’s and 3,500 hard charging athletes. This year’s event raised over $1 Million dollars for Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.

Dave Detar, Account Manager for ActiveOutdoors - My ten year old son (Matthew) chose Labor Day to run in his first ever timed race. We registered and ran in the 27th Labor Day 5K Classic in Washington, PA. Since he had never run in an organized race of this length, I kept cautioning him against starting too fast. Even with the first part of the course downhill, I was concerned when our 1 mile split was 7:15. I thought Matt was in trouble. Much to my surprise and delight, he kept running, stopping only for a quick drink at the mid-point water station. With the finish line in sight, he pushed forward and crossed in 24:03. This time earned him first place in his age group. I finished 6th in my age group. Not bad for what I thought was going to be a leisurely jog to introduce Matt to organized racing! Here is a picture of Matt picking up his first place trophy.

Tina Novak, Software Consultant in Colorado - This weekend I competed in my first adventure race, the Bearable Adventure Race in Lakewood, CO. It was a partner race, though my friend I signed up with hurt her foot last week and had to recruit my boyfriend as a last minute substitute! We had to complete a water crossing, where the hardest part was inflating our mattress we both had to touch at all times… After the swim we mountain biked 10 miles and ran 4 trail miles over the rivers and through the woods with our stuffed bear in tow, all the way to our orienteering challenge where we had to find 6 different points before running to the finish line. IT. WAS. AWESOME.

Jessica Wexler, (Foundations) - Spent the weekend mountain biking, hiking, and camping in the Hurkey Creek area near Idyllwild, California. Next weekend is the big 24 hours of Adrenaline Race so there were many experienced riders practicing the route and zipping past me on the trail. Note to San Diego co-workers this is an excellent place to camp with your dogs!

Toby Guillette, Community Development Specialist, San Diego - For my last long training run before the Noble Canyon 50K on 9/26, I ran up and down Palomar Mountain this weekend via the Nate Harrison Grade Rd. It was a brutal 10-mile ascent with an 8% grade and 4,700’ of climbing. I would recommend it as a solid mountain bike ride but not as a run. The 10-mile descent was a quad killer and got really hot. At least the view was "kinda" worth it

Bret Harris, Account Manager in San Diego - I helped organize this year’s Paddle For Clean Water event around the Ocean Beach Pier. This is an annual gathering of ocean enthusiasts organized by the Surfrider Foundation to raise awareness about clean water issues here in San Diego by orchestrating a mass paddle out around the longest pier on the west coast. Unfortunately, this year’s 1.2 mile paddle adventure had to be postponed due to the large swell, but the festival carried on and was a huge success!

This weekend Tina Wilmott in the PR department took trapeze classes in Escondido for a friend’s birthday. I’ve always wanted to try and highly recommend. It was amazing! Here is a video of me (see attached) flying through the air.

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End of Summer - No Way!

Posted by IMVoice Sep 8, 2009

RYAN WOOD participated in the Labor Day Pier Swim, a one-mile swim around the Oceanside Pier in Oceanside, CA. The water temperature was perfect and it was a great fundraiser for the Oceanside Swim Club. Over 500 participated.

JIM GARFIELD, Dir of Business Development. From the land of peaches as big as your head and corn as long as your arm….Jim Garfield (AMG) raced the Niles, Michigan Super Sprint Triathlon finishing in 4th over all and 2nd in his age group. 36 minutes for a whole triathlon was definitely the fastest and shortest triathlon he has ever done. To fast to even stop at an aid station….Next up is the Nautica Malibu Triathlon with his colleagues from San Diego next weekend!

MIKE MACDONALD, Web Developer & SEO expert drove 13 hours (each way) to Redding, CA to camp on Whiskeytown Lake with my girlfriend's family. We rented a boat, tubed, swam, hiked around the dusty trails and generally had a good time...as did our puppy Jasmine (see attachment). Note to self: the "Patrolled by Aircraft" signs on Hwy 5 are legit, and a radar detector isn't going to help you when a plane catches you speeding.

JAMIE WILLIAMS reports he and LIZ HARRELL did a 50 mile bike ride Sunday. They took Amtrak from Solana Beach Train station to San Juan Capistrano and biked back ~50 miles.

The day was warm and beautiful. The traffic along PCH mostly cooperated. In our group of 9 we had 1 flat tire. Stopped for pizza at Pizza Port in Solana Beach to

refuel after the ride. Awesome day, awesome ride. J

MAREA BLUE, Application Specialist reports finding the temperate San Diego climate a touch too chilly for their taste, the San Diego Surfers Women’s Rugby Club traveled east on Saturday to play the Tempe Women’s Rugby Club in Arizona heat that managed to be oppressive and unpleasant even in the midst of a hurricane. The Surfers struggled in the first half against an aggressive Tempe side whose large forward pack had a significant advantage on a smaller than regulation field that was more suited for say, lawn bowling than a rugby match.

After a stern, yet gentle chat with coaches Richie Walker and Tim O’Hara at the half, San Diego recommitted to their game plan, setting faster, cleaner rucks and increasing their kicking game to gain field position and get the ball moving forward. Rookie hooker Becca Williams picked up the ball from the back of a ruck and dove it into the try zone to score the first points of the match early in the second half. A score by 8-man Alyssa Barker following a breakaway by Kate “Too Much Equipment” Henne and a successful two-point conversion kick by Active’s own Kirstin Hartos sealed the 12 – 0 Surfer victory.

The Surfers’ second side went on to win the B-side match and San Diego’s solid boat race team soundly defeated the Tempe men’s squad at the social, making San Diego 3 for 3 on a fabulous rugby weekend.

The Surfers play their home opener against the Sacramento Amazons at Robb Field in Ocean Beach on Saturday at 11:00 AM, followed by a match against the Davis Doubledeckers at the same time on Sunday. Come out and support the toughest and best looking rugby team in San Diego! A full season schedule is available at www.SDSurfersRugby.com.

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Summer lives on for Active Warriors

Posted by Active Toby Aug 31, 2009

Dave Detar - Account Manager, ActiveOutdoors participated in the Spirit of Columbus (OH) half-marathon on Sunday, August 30, 2009. The race setting was very nice as most of the course followed the Scioto river into the heart of the city. My goal for the race was to break the 2:00 hour mark. I had run my first half-marathon in May and finished in 2:06. With great conditions and a favorable course, I was able to achieve my goal, finishing in 1:53:47. Here is a photo near the finish line with my sons {Matt (blue shirt) and Andy (red shirt)}

Jim Hine competed with some friends in the Bogus Basin Hill Climb, which gains 3,600 of elevation over 15 miles. The record field was capped at 400 riders and I placed 17th in my age group with a PB of 1:15:26. The fast riders get to the top in under an hour, but I was just trying to keep up with the Nuns on the tandem! We devoured lime-and-salt popsicles and cruised down slower than usual to take in the views.

Jim Garfield (Active) and his brother Craig participated in his hometown Chicago Triathlon this weekend. The Chicago Tri is the largest in the U.S. and I am sure has the biggest pot holes as well. Over 9,500 participants including Active own Bill Kennedy (Active Multi-Sports) braved the canyon size pot holes, semi- chilly water and great run to compete in this massive event. The Organizers are really lobbying hard for the 2016 Olympics and put on a first class show! Barely a 20 min wait for the porta-johns! You can read Jim’s race report as a featured blog on the Huffington Post.

Brittany Bowles

, Ellen Steevensz and Jamie Williams did the Bike the Bay ride (25+ miles) from Embarcadero Park behind the San Diego Convention Center over the Coronado Bridge and around the bay back to the Park. The weather was beautiful if a bit hot. J It was a lot of fun to go over the bridge on a bike – it’s the only chance of the year to do that. There is a 4 mile run/walk (May this year) that also lets you over the bridge. Otherwise it’s car only!!

!BikeTheBayJamieAndBrittany.jpg!

Meghan Swirski and Leah Pardini participated in the Great Urban Race in Seattle, WA over the weekend. The Great Urban Race is a timed urban adventure. Teams of two solve twelve clues, have a wild city adventure (think: running, lots of running) and complete fun challenges along the course. We didn’t place, but we finished with over an hour to spare. Team Name: Meerkats – WATA!

One of the challenges, as shown in the attached photo, was to find the Maximum Minimus Mobile Pig and take a picture of the team jumping in front of it.

Tons of fun, and we got lucky with the weather, was a gorgeous day!

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Hope that Summer never ends

Posted by IMVoice Aug 24, 2009

MICHELLE CREPEAU out of the NY office participated in the Inaugural New York Road Runners Club Sprint Triathlon yesterday with Jill Parker and ex Active team member.. It was a Great course at Flushing Meadows. Pool swim, 10 mile bike, 3 mile run.

Here is link to event if you want to check it out.

http://www.nyrr.org/resources/video/misc/2009/tri.asp

DAVE ALBERGA, CEO reports a great family weekend of camping, diving and learning about sustainable living with Jean-Michel Cousteau on Catalina Island.

JAMIE WILLIAMS reports he and LIZ HARRELL, JESSICA WEXLER & COREY BERNARDO did a 27 mile out-n-back ride through Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base Sunday morning.

Photo in Oceanside, CA near Harbor Drive before we started out.

Jessica also reports from the same trip. Corey “Road Kill” Bernardo, Jessica “Cruise Director” Wexler, Liz “Downhill” Harrell, and Jamie “Chain” Williams - ventured out to Camp Pendleton for a scenic 27 mile bike ride. We did an out and back starting at the base South gate with a turn around at the beach in San Onofre. More rides planned for the future. Let us know if you’d like to tag along next time.

JASON KARLS, Myella & Elva Karls went on a camping trip / music festival over the weekend. The venue was at Helsing Junction Farm, just south of Olympia, WA. There were a lot of great bands - all from K records (calvin johnson/kimya dawson/tender forever...). The shows lasted well into the night w/ the disco on the farm lasting to 2:30 am. It was Elva's first camping trip and she did awesome; even sleeping through the thumping music!

KELLY SHULTE placed 3rd at the Santa Barbara sprint triathlon this weekend. No pic of Kelly but the plaque is the important picture.

JANETTE KIM from the Burnaby office participated in the Mitsubishi City Chase on Saturday which is an urban adventure that is a combination of a smaller scaled “Amazing Race” plus scavenger hunt. It takes about 4-6 hours for average teams to get the course done - there were 800 of us “Chasers.” In teams of two, we used limited resources, determination and the ability to make decisions on the fly as we searched for ChasePoints scattered in unknown locations throughout the city. At each ChasePoint, there were a series of challenges designed to test the teams with a variety of physical, mental, and otherwise adventurous tasks. Each group had to complete 10 out of 25 ChasePoints. All of the teams ran, walked and could only use public transit to navigate our way throughout the city, while calling family and friends for help, accessing the Internet wherever, and we even had random strangers give us a hand. The short of the challenges my team did was: dragonboat racing, scaling a climbing wall, doing some bootcamp, doing a blindfolded dunking for pop cans in a large vat of water, etc. There were some ChasePoints where people had to eat bugs (I ate a cricket last year) and get naked but fortunately, I was able to avoid those ones! All in all – a great way to spend the day running around Vancouver!

ANDREA RISHMAWI, Acct Exec Swimming ran the 4 mile End of Summer Fire Run this weekend, put on by Stay Classy. Though the premise for my participation was the mother load of single San Diego Firefighters waiting at the finish line, there were only a handful of said firemen… Here’s a pic of some hot firefighting action…

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Summer Time Fun

Posted by IMVoice Aug 10, 2009

DAVE DETAR, Account Manager - ActiveOutdoors, participated in the Brookline Breeze. The "Breeze" is a 5k run and 1 mile fun run in the Pittsburgh suburbs. The 5K course was challenging with plenty of hills. I finished top 15 for my age group with a time of 24:52. The race was part of my training for my next half-marathon: The Spirit of Columbus (OH) on August 30. I'm hoping to break the 2:00 hour mark at that event.

JESSICA WEXLER (Foundations) spent this last weekend camping on the beautiful Santa Cruz (Channel) Island with family and friends. During the weekend we did a 12 mile hike to the summit of the island followed by a hike to a remote beach. On the return ferry home we were treated with 2 blue whale sightings and a pod of a thousand dolphins.

TIM WOOD Played in a golf tournament in Coronado, CA. Did well on the front nine, fell apart on the back. But it was a PERFECT San Diego day! Tim didn’t say what his final score was.

MARK LISTER (Documentation – Burnaby) ran his first half marathon on Sunday, the Delta Half Marathon. The course is entirely flat, running along farm roads, residential streets and next to the dyke along the Fraser River. With very little breeze, moderate temperatures and a mist-like rain, conditions were perfect for a fast race. I placed 4th in a time of 1:17:25. WOW a first ½ in such a great time!

Lily and Chuan from Chengdu office. We went to Qinghai-Tibet Plateau last weekend. The view is beautiful over there.

We climbed up to the peak of Zhe-Duo Mountain which altitude is 4407 meters (14458 feet). We almost could touch the cloud!

Yours truly MIKE REILLY at Ironman Lake Placid, NY on a rainy morning but all was well and the sun came out on day race day. Glad I found a banner to keep the fence up!

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Mountain Biking Only

Posted by IMVoice Aug 3, 2009

ONLY 2 REPORTS, EVERYONE MUST BE USING THEIR PTO AND ON HOLIDAY! Mike

PATTI ROSENTHAL, Cycling Industry Mgr. rode Kennebec Mountain Bike Loop – this is an epic MTB bike ride we do every year. You climb up to 11,600 feet to the top of Kennebec Mountain & then go down the back side down to Wall’s Gulch, up to High Point & back out Junction Creek. Miles of single track through the forest with creek crossings, waterfalls and some hike-a-bike. Had several crashes – one trying to cross a creek, another off a tree root & fell off the cliff climbing back out (that one hurt!). Our friend also did several endo’s & cut his hand pretty deep which we duct taped closed for the remainder of the ride (he ended up with 6 stitches). All in all it was a terrific ride (over 8 hrs) & we were rewarded with cold beers & lunch at the finish.

JIM HINE, General Mgr Database Services rode his father in-law's Trek 2200 this past Sunday while vacationing in Jamul. "I swapped out the 15-year-old bald tires for new rubber when I noticed the tube bulging out of the sidewall! The 40-mile loop climbed above the morning clouds on Skyline Truck Trail and out through Japatul Valley. The descent towards Alpine tool me past Sycuan Casino and back to Jamul on Dehesa Road. I'd guess that 80% was over full bike lanes...way to stay classy San Diego!"

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2009 ActiveX Charity Challenge – Solana Beach

Posted by Active Toby Jul 27, 2009

From ALYSON REA:

Months of hard training prepared Team ActiveX for Sunday morning at the Solana Beach Triathlon & Duathlon. The 2nd Annual ActiveX Charity Challenge was another huge success with over 80 Active employees competing in this year’s events, many being first time Triathletes/Duathletes. As if this was not accomplishment enough, the team was also successful in raising over $31K in support of the Monarch School!

Check out the results:

http://www.y-events.com/09soltri.htm

http://www.y-events.com/09soldu.htm

JESSICA WEXLER had a blast at the Solana Beach Triathlon. I hadn’t done a full tri in 5 years and now realize how much I have missed it. It was great fun to see everyone out there on the course! Looking forward to the next one already.

DEBRA URKA participated in the Solana Beach Triathlon for the second time this weekend. The waves going into the swim were intense but overall it was a beautiful and fun day. I look forward to next year.

JAMIE WILLIAMS also did the Solana Beach Triathlon on Sunday!

Michelle L. Ulrich did her first triathlon yesterday at Solana Beach and finished in 1:07:01. What a fun day and ready for the next one!

RYAN WOOD competed in the San Luis Obispo Triathlon on Sunday with his wife, Lauren. It was their first triathlon. The race was a 900-yard pool swim, a 15.3-mile bike ride with way too many hills and a 3.1-mile run. We finished neck-and-neck, just like we thought we would. It was a great accomplishment for a couple of newbies, and it will NOT be our last tri!

Michelle Nation (Product Manager – San Diego) had the treat this weekend of travelling to Idaho to compete in the Burley Lions Spudman (international distance) triathlon with my mom and my older sister. We took fourth place in our division with a time of 2:46:24.5. As promised by the Race Directors, I PRd on the 1.5 k swim (thanks to some help from the current) with a time of 18:49. This was an amazing event put on by a really cool group of volunteers. I now understand why it’s so popular they had to switch their registration to a lottery!

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Toby's 100 Mile Adventure

Posted by IMVoice Jul 20, 2009

TOBY GUILLETTE, Community Development Specialist, ran the VERMONT 100 MILE ENDURANCE RUN over the weekend. The course offered a brutal 14,000' of elevation gain and 14,000' of loss through the rolling hills of southern VT.

My support crew consisted of my parents, brother and close friends and we executed our race plan perfectly. I averaged a 13min09sec pace to finish in 21hrs57min. That is 2.5hrs faster than my previous PR and was good for 30th place overall, 5th in my age group. I'm thrilled that my months of hard work came together and brought my family together to share such a unique and exciting experience. With only 8 toenails remaining, soon to be 7, I'm already being asked what's next... Stay tuned! TOBY YOU ARE MY HERO! Mike

I didn’t yet receive a report from anyone who competed in the Vineman 70.3 ½ Ironman event in Sonoma, CA but did talk to ARCH FUSTON. He said it was one of the toughest triathlons ever. The swim was interesting because the river was so low that they actually walked part of the swim! Then on the bike they were all safe which was good because a tree fell on the road during the bike ride and hit a few riders. They have some broken bones but are okay. I’ve been in triathlon over 25 years and have never heard of that happening! Then on the ½ marathon run the temperature hit 101 degrees with no wind.

The CHAMPIONS from Active that finished and should be congratulated by all are ARCH & CHRISTY FUSTON, KAREN HARDY, MIKE DOBRANSKY, SARAH MOOSBRUGGER, KEVIN BEATTY, BETHANY DOMINICK, STEPHANIE SNAMAN, ANDREA LEVINSON AND REBECCA DIVITA. Next step IRONMAN baby!

BRIAN CHOY, Customer Programs Specialist in Burnaby reports that ir was a big weekend for the Active Assassins roller hockey team consisting of BRIAN and JUSTIN LEUNG, JASON LO, JIMMY LAM, INDERPAL DHALIWAL, RYAN LYSTER, MEGAN HOLLSTRDT, MATT COX, ANDRE TESSIER and MATT HOFFMAN. After finishing in 8th place after the regular season, we needed to play an elimination game against the 9th place team to qualify for the playoffs. The Assassins came out hard and got a well deserved 9-2 victory on Friday night to advance into the first round of the playoffs led by a 4 goal (5 point) performance by team captain Justin Leung. With little rest, the Assassins were back on the floor on Sunday afternoon to face the top seeded team, the Angry Dragons in the first round of the playoffs. After losing both regular season games to the Dragons, we knew we were the underdogs going into the game. Sunday’s game was definitely the most physical, hard-nosed game that we have played all season and both teams did not let up even after the whistles. However with nothing but pure will and determination, the Active Assassins pulled off an amazing 4-3 upset victory playing our best game of the season. The game was a closely fought battle with the game-winning goal coming with just 8 seconds left on the clock to break a 3-3 tie and seal the victory for the Assassins. A huge thanks to the fans who came out in the blistering heat to support the team! Next up for the Assassins are the Sharpshooters who we will face on Tuesday night.

JIM HINE did a short exploratory ride near Stanley ID. Climbed Boundary Creek to the Casino Lakes loop. The trail starts at about 6,700’ and tops out at 8,800’ in 2.5 miles, and my HR kept shooting up so I had to take some extra ‘photo breaks’. The ridge has great views of the Sawtooth range and Redfish Lake. Lewis (my aussie/lab mix) descended fast…cutting me off on 3-4 switchbacks, and whenever I gunned it he was on my wheel. Great session.

JESSICA WEXLER (Swim), LIZ HARRELL (Bike), MICHELLE NATION (Run) teamed up for the Carlsbad Sprint (Relay) Triathlon last weekend in San Diego. The event was a lot of fun and great practice for our upcoming races on the 26th. Jessica’s swim was much faster than anticipated (current aided), Liz’s ride was in fact 15 miles not 9 miles as previously assumed, and Michelle’s sub-10 minute mile was cheered on by all! We stayed after the race to cheer for some tri-newbies who were still out on the course. A great day had by all!

AMBER MARTIN, SD office climbed half dome this weekend with my entire family and Jessica Brustad who used to work at Active. I was extremely proud that my 53 year old parents were able to make the 17 mile Hike! It was my second time doing the hike, and it was much harder in 100 degree weather this time. And on a personal note - WOW 53 and hiking 17 miles, that’s soooo OLD!

MEGAN CARTER, CATHERINE HANSEN, ERIC RAETHER AND ERIC went for a killer mountain bike ride in Penasquitos Canyon last Friday. It was an epic ride, not too hot. Thanks Scott and Dave for fixing Megan’s mechanical bike problem.

MICHELLE CREPEAU out of NY did lots of biking in Nantucket this weekend. Ah summer in the East!

JIM GARFIELD (AMG) spent the beautiful weekend in USAT certification class so he could officiate at the Strawberry Fields Triathlon Sunday. The Junior and Youth National Championships were held during the triathlon. It was incredible to see 13-15 and 16-18's race with such skill and speed. Definitely saw our future Olympian's there! I did not even have to blow my whistle or throw a red card!!

!Garfield-1256.jpg!

DON CRAMER Product Manager spent last week competing in the USA Shooting National Championship in Shotgun. USA Shooting is the National Governing Body for Olympic Shooting Sports. Don opened with a 91 out of 100 targets on the first day within 7 targets of the lead. With the competition lasting over 3 days shooting 250 targets, Don finished 46th out of 120 competitors with a score of 215/250. In the women’s trap competition 2008 Olympic Bronze medalist Corey Cogdell won with a score of 250/275 after the finals.

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Happy Holiday Weekend

Posted by IMVoice Jul 6, 2009

HAIL TO ALL THE MILITARY MEN AND WOMEN SERVING FOR THEIR COUNTRIES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD – THANK YOU!

GORDON BOISVERT, Burnaby spent Thursday Rock Climbing at Horne Lake on Vancouver Island. A new area for me. Most of the climbs are in the Amphitheatre - a massive Limestone cave which is unusual since most of the rock around here is Granite. Did a half dozen 12's all Steller quality. Included a couple shots of Stormtrooper (12c). The start is off a tree stump and the second shot is about a third of the way up.

Friday the wife took me up to Lytton and we spent the day river rafting from Spence's Bridge back to Lytton on the Thompson river with a company called Kumsheen. This was in motorized pontoon boats. The temperature was 35C (95F) which was great since the river was freezing. 25 kilometers of river with more than 25 rapids with cozy names like 'Jaws of Death', 'Witches Cauldron', 'Terminator'. Most of them large enough to cover the boat soaking and tossing us around.

BROOKE KIRKPATRICK, Acct Exec in Denver and her husband Mike with yellow lab Aspen camped for 3 days in the Sangre De Cristo mountain range in Colorado to hike a few 14ers. We attempted to climb Mt. Ellingwood and Mt. Blanca on Friday, but were forced to turn back once we reached the ridge due to bad weather and visibility. On Saturday we summated Mt. Lindsay, which was a very fun and challenging 14er. There was one sketchy area in a gully that would have been smart to have an ice axe. Maybe next time we will take that suggestion! I can’t think of a better way to spend 4th of July!

JIM GARFIELD (AMG) ran the 32 annual Pacific Palisades Will Rogers 10K with the new K-Swiss K-Ona flag shoes. The mile long switch backs in the state park were incredibly challenging but the shoes had their own cheering fans that helped push me along.

CHRIS OCHS, Sales Manager-ActiveEvents OnDemand—Boulder, competed in the Superior Downhill Mile on July 4th and ran a 5:30 mile. The next day, Chris hiked to the top of Mt. Bierstadt, one of Colorado’s legendary 14’ers—Mountains with a peak of 14,000 feet or higher. This jaunt took a little longer, six hours from start to finish.

DEMIAN DORRANCE, SR Systems Engineer SD stayed local for some holiday weekend hiking while training for a Kilimanjaro climb this September. Hiked the Torrey Pines preserve three times, and the summit of Mt. Woodson once.

TOBY GUILLETTE, online community specialist-San Diego, made the 9-hour drive to the Sierra Nevada mountains over the long weekend for some mountaineering. We originally set off to attempt the Palisades Traverse, a classic ridge traverse that includes climbing five 14,000' peaks but we got off route early and basically climbed the wrong first peak (13,775'). One of our guys wasn't doing well with the altitude and we weren't going to have enough time to adjust and keep going with the route so we decided to bail. With 2 hours of sleep, we still had a blast on our 16 hour, 22-mile excursion. It's the price one must pay to see beauty like this:

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Active Warriors