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.

LAUREN EDER found a great way to get the heart rate up while strapped to a seat.  I spent an exhilarating hour on Saturday in a 2-seat glider over the Fraser River and British Columbia coastal mountains, near Hope which is about 2 hours west of Vancouver.  Geoff, the pilot, is husband of ex-Class employee Judy Holt, who is really just on extended maternity leave. J  Of course I had to say Yes to the offer of experiencing some aerobatics.  I cannot describe the feeling of “pulling 2 G’s” (new lingo for me), but want to do it again!

Saturday, three members of European Active Team went to volunteers to the St Jean de Luz stage of the charities race series called Odyssea.

From left to right: Loic Metais (St Jean de Luz triathlon race director), CEDRIC PRIMAULT (France account manager), PIERRE DUVELLEROY (Senior account executive) & LAURENT GAUTHIER (Endurance European managing director)

JIM HINE's Bogus Basis Weekend:

On Saturday we mountain biked the Boise foothills to Gardener Peak, just East of Bogus Basin ski resort....climbing 7,490 ft over 32 miles in a little over 4 hours.  The single track along the ridge was solid, but one of our favorite descents - Shingle Creek - was rutted and sketchy after the heavy rain a week ago.  Then on Sunday my family (and Grandparents!) drove up to Bogus and hiked to the summit of Shafer Butte.  The views came and went with the clouds, but we made a couple snowballs before switch-backing down through the wildflowers.

ROBERT SUBKOW: There were dogs from all across the United States that came to ride the waves in Southern California.  CBS morning show, Channels 5, 8, 9, and even a station from Germany were there filming the contest.  The event has gotten so much notoriety that the film makers for the new movie Marmaduke were there to get shots of the “Big Dogs”.  Although my dog Jill didn’t place this year, her team mate from the “Golden SurFurs” took 1st place in the dogs over 40 pounds.  Next Year!  Pictures are courtesy of the Union Tribune.

JAKE COONEY reports, "With one week left until the Seattle Rock ‘n Roll Marathon, the Bothell office has done 2 team bike rides as an alternative training event.  Cody Lamens, Jake Cooney, Jay Lee, David Knapp, Nicole Pelley, Chris Inouye, Joel Werdell, Zach Panther, Sijen Olthof, Jason Karls, Brian Grover, and Stephen Branstetter have all participated in the rides."

FRANCIS DUPUIS and his wife, Faye Dupuis were in the dragon boat races this past weekend: Recreational Div C Consolation – 4th place @ 2:21.240

She's in the back of boat #2

Also, my two boys played in a roller hockey tournament, their teams finished first and third. This is Devon with his third place trophy.

TOBY GUILLETTE completed the 26-mile 9-Peak Challenge across the San Bernardino mountain range on Saturday in 8.5 hours. My 32-mile day started at 2am with an ascent of San Gorgonio (11,499ft), the highest mountain in SoCal, arriving at the summit for sunrise and continued with hike/running 8 more peaks all above 10,000 feet. Since it was a point-to-point route, I had another 10 miles to go to get back to my car after the 26-mile traverse was complete. This is when the real adventure began. I'll post a blog this week with details

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!

Team,

This kid was the most inspirational story in Kona at Ironman this year.  He is truly amazing and his survival and success keeps life in perspective.

Do yourself a favor and watch the short news clip.

Mike Reilly

"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who  have kept on trying when there seemed to be no help at all."

~ Dale Carnegie  (1888 - 1955)

Ever feel like nobody is on your side? I certainly have, especially with recent challenges in my life. True success and accomplishment will come from staying focused and not letting time or negativity get in the way. The end result will bring light. The movie Field of Dreams comes to mind. With that, I'll tweak the movie's famous quote from "If you build it, he will come" to "If you go for it, it will come."  "It" pertaining to that end goal. Don't let anyone get the best of you. Stay focused and motivated on those "important things" to you.