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.

IT WAS A SEATTLE ROCK N ROLL PARTY!

CHRIS OCHS, Sales Mgr Active Events competed in the Great Urban Race, a scavenger hunt, (www.greaturbanrace.com) on Saturday.  The hunt involved finding and photographing various landmarks around downtown Denver.  The team with the fasted time wins the event and qualifies for the National Championship in New Orleans—He and his partner Kevin Davis (left) were not the fastest, but they had the most fun!  On Sunday Chris ran the Lyons River 5K in Lyons, CO.  His 5K time of 23:00 was more than six minutes slower than the winner.  How do those high school kids get so fast?!?!

JAKE COONEY, Online Marketing Manager in Bothell set a PR at the Seattle Rock ‘n Roll Marathon.  It was a great day and a beautiful course.  My previous 2 marathons were right at 3:40 so my goal was 3:30-3:35 and somehow managed to knock out a 3:12.  I’m a little disappointed I didn’t shave a couple extra minutes off and qualify for Boston but I’m not too upset because I wasn’t trying and I did much better than expected.  Gross photos are always a fun part of the weekend report so I included my shoe after the race.  I’d like to note that this is only the blood that reached the outside of the shoe after my thick wool socks became fully saturated.  In the next couple weeks I expect to pull my foot out of my sock with 1 fewer toenails than it went in with but it’s all worth it.

Another RnR Roller CHRIS INOUYE (Implementation Analyst in Bothell, WA) PR'd in the Seattle Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon this weekend with a time of 1:29:36!  Also raised money for Peak7 Adventures.  I need 10 more people to donate $10.  Help a kid get ACTIVE this summer: http://www.active.com/donate/teambothell/Chris4PEAK7.

NICHOLAS BATTAGLIA Implementation Analyst in Bothell, WA ran the Seattle Rock ‘n’ Roll ½ Marathon on Saturday. Nicholas didn’t give a time but I hope he liked what he ran!

ANDY BUCHANAN, Technical Sales Engineer - Bothell, WA On Saturday with his Church softball team from Overlake Christian Church played in the Owen B. Shackett Softball Tournament in Kent, WA.  SHANE WHITEHURST (Implementation Analyst) is also a member of the team, and RYAN MCDONALD (Account Executive, University Camp Sales) filled in for this tournament.  We started off the day at 10:20 a.m. and promptly lost our first game (barely).  Not yet recovered from our first lost, we dropped our second game immediately after in extra innings.  Luckily this tournament was a three game minimum (normally losing twice would mean an early exit) so we got another chance.  With nothing left to lose we played our 3rd game and won, convincingly (10 run rule enforced).  We rolled that into our next game which happened to be against the first team we lost to.  We again won with the 10 run rule enforced and moved on.  The next game was against the second team we lost to, and again won by the 10 run rule.  So we moved on to another team and rolled through them.  Somehow we know find ourselves in the championship playing against the top team and need to beat them twice in a row to win the tournament from the loser’s bracket.  In the first Championship game we scored a bunch early and held them off late.  So we forced a second championship game and only one win away from taking the whole tournament.  The second game proved uneventful until the bottom of the fourth (we were the visiting team).  We were up 3-1 before their offense woke up and scored a few to put them up 5-3.  Heading into the top of the 5th we knew we had to score some runs.  I came up with the bases loaded and proceeded to launch one (well) over the left center fence to put us up 7-5 and we ended the inning up 10 -5.  Just as we felt the game was under control and had them beat, they rallied for a huge inning putting them up 14-10.  We only got one run in our half of the 6th inning and then in the bottom they just ran away with it and enforcing the 10 run rule on us.  All in all we played 8 games and spanned 10 hours in the 80-90 degree weather leaving us all sore and sun burnt.  Yet we will do it all again gladly at the next tournament for another championship game!

SIJEN OLTHOF, Thrive Implementation Analyst Bothell had a wonderful weekend here in Seattle, WA.  The weather was perfect for the Seattle RnR race.  Ten people from the Bothell Office participated with the Active Team. 2 people, (Jake Cooney and Brian Cronrath) ran the full marathon, while the rest of the team ran the half marathon (Chris Inouye, Jason Karls, Joe Benoit, Matthew Wanamaker, Nicholas Battaglia, Nicole Pelley, Sijen Olthof, and Stephen Branstetter). Congratulations to everyone who ran the race.  Thanks for participating in all the training and fundraising leading up to the event.  Here is the photo I got at the race.  People in the photo left to right (Chris Inouye, Nicholas Battaglia, Sijen Olthof).

For me the race is the first event after having a baby last fall.  My goal was to run a 10 min mile and I completed the race at 2 hrs and 14 min. Great day, Great Race, Great Accomplishment.  YES IT WAS SIJEN CONGRATULATIONS!

BRIAN CRONRATH, Thriva Application Support Bothell ran his first marathon.  It was really fun but also ended in disaster.  I started out fine, was hitting about 6 minute pace give or take a few depending on if the mile was an uphill or downhill.  I was feeling great throughout the whole race really – I never felt overly exhausted, it was more of a fight against my legs cooperating with me.  I had to stop soooo many times during the race it war ridiculous.  I had to stop at least 3 times (as far as I can remember) to apply Vaseline to blisters on my feet.  The nike Lunar road racers definitely didn’t treat me too well.  Despite the blister setbacks, I was still doing pretty well for the whole race.  It was amazing to me how even though there were 25,000 so people racing, it seemed that I was completely alone for 95 percent of the race.  It was crazy when people would be so far ahead of me that I could barely even see them, and later in the race I would reel them in. 

I believe I was like 1:18 at the halfway point, and feeling great.  Things were going very well until about mile 23.  I believe a large blood blister on my right foot was causing me to favor one side of the foot slightly, and it just caught up with me at that point.  The pain was only mild at mile 23, but it was enough to cause me to slow up a bit.  I had had many various aches and pains throughout the race, but usually just backing off for a bit would allow them to go away after a little while.  Unfortunately, the pain in my fight foot just kept getting worse and worse.  To the point where I was hobbling the last two miles.  My mentality went from away from trying to get a  good place, to now I was just telling myself to “finish the race and not care about time or place”.  To give a little insight about how slow I finished, a friend (of a friend) of mine passed me during the last mile, and he finished in I believe 2:41, and I finished in 2:46.  The last mile I swear felt longer than the entire race before it, I couldn’t believe how long it took me to finish the last mile.  I had to walk a lot of it.  Surprisingly I think I only got passed by around only 8 o 9 people during my problems with my foot.  After I finished the race, I went straight to the med tent and got all my blood blisters lanced, and got ice packs immediately applied to my foot.  I could hardly walk, so I had to have my dad (who was spectating) drive around through traffic and pick me up behind the med tent.  Since traffic was so bad, this took around 40-50 minutes, I’m not gonna lie it was kind of miserable… haha!!  This whole weekend I basically just stayed off of the foot, it hurts immensely to put any pressure on it.  Originally I thought my foot may have been broken, but now I just think it’s a really bad strain.  I’m going into a doctor later to get a proper diagnosis.

!Brian_1086.JPG! 

MEGAN HOLLSTEDT Web Designer Burnaby reports. Thanks so much for continuing to do such a stellar job with the weekend warrior report. Here's the goods for what went down here in Burnaby, BC this weekend:

ActiveX Team Burnaby made their inaugural appearance this weekend at the Scotia Bank Half Marathon and 5k. Together the group has raised $4052 so far for KidSports, a Canadian non-profit  that provides support to children in order to remove financial barriers that prevent them from playing organized sport. A big thank-you out to Janette Kim for leading the way in organizing the crew and running with a hang-over at the same time.

Team Site (go ActiveGiving.com!!): http://www.active.com/donate/teamburnaby

Half-marathon runners:

Jamie Haaf - best time: 2:11:30

Jason Slusarchuk

Darren Jensen

Lorna Jensen

Matt Hoffman

Paul Hiller

Stanley Ulmer

5k runners:

Mathew Cox - best time: 25 min 30 sec

Janette Kim

Jennifer Saalfeld

Tamara Lee

Megan Hollstedt

Top Fundraiser goes out to Jason Slusarchuk  $930.00 and change. Way to go Jason!!

Some team members thoughts on the day: From Matt Hoffman "Ran with Darren and his wife, Lorna, the entire way and had an absolute blast chatting away with Lorna J."

From Stanley: "This was my first attempt at that distance."

Janette & Jason: Ran with injuries!

Paul Hiller: New dad as of a few days before the half marathon, probably ran without much sleep!

Janette's comments "Absolutely loved the vibe of the run and having done this as a team. Next year will be even better."

Megan's comments: "My time would've been better is I wasn't tweeting the whole way."

Way to go team Burnaby!

JASON SLUSARCHUCK Acct Mgr Burnaby did the Scotia bank Half Marathon in

2:46:39 in Vancouver, BC.

JIM HINE Mountain Biking in Ketchum, ID. On Saturday the family road the 'Rip and Tear' loop near the Galena Lodge 25 miles North of Ketchum.  Our dog Lewis was on point the whole time on a trail that serves double-duty to xc skiers and snowshoers in winter.  We had great views of the Sawtooths, checked out a couple of the rental yurts, and returned to the lodge for 'adult' grill-cheese sandwiches.  http://www.galenalodge.com/  On the way back to Sun Valley I got 'dropped off' at the trailhead for Oregon Gulch.  I rode the lower Oregon Gulch loop and connected to Fox Creek.  Trails around Sun Valley right now have high-run off so some of the creek crossings can be deep and I had to climb over a half-dozen downed trees.  But the 13 mile ride was 100% single track and the descent was fast and smooth.

MICHAEL WILSON, Sales Mgr Endurance & Giving and Brandon did the SD International Tri this weekend…beautiful day and great course!  I finished in just over 2 hours and felt great.  Saw some other Active-ites out there as well as some Active spectators.  Beautiful day for a triathlon in San Diego!

MIKE DOBRANSKY (Team Lead, LeagueOne – San Diego) participated in the San Diego International Triathlon this weekend in sunny San Diego.  There were a handful of Active folks out there and we had way too much fun.

Yours truly MIKE REILLY finished up 3 event weekends in a row with the Buffalo Springs 70.3 Triathlon in Lubbock, TX.  It was there 20th anniversary.  The event directors Marti and Mike Greer are among the best in the Country and produce a world class event.  In the picture with me are Jamie Whyte top NZ triathlete, Cameron Brown 8x winner of Ironman New Zealand and Mike Greer race director and youngest 70 year old I know!

Scott Friesen, Business Analyst at the Burnaby office, travelled south to participate in the inaugural Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle Half Marathon on Saturday.  He had a great time being apart of the largest running event in Washington State history.  He also enjoyed bumping into several members of the Bothell team along the route and at the finish line.  Scott ran his first half marathon in a time of 1:47:26.

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!

Janean Nation, Account Manager – ActiveSports

My sister Michelle (Product Manager) and I participated in the Iron Girl Las Vegas Triathlon this weekend with another of our sisters.  It was my first triathlon and I had a great time.  Michelle and I did the sprint, finishing 310th and 312th out of about 800 racers.  Michelle had a slightly heroic moment when she helped a panicked swimmer out of the water in the first 25 yards and then swam back up to help me through my weakest leg.  Overall it was a great experience and I can’t wait to give it another go!

Shawn Boom, Sacramento office

On Saturday I ran the Diablo Trail Marathon - 8,000 vertical feet of climbing and 90 degrees, quite a feat and quite tough on the feet given the rocky trail.  I'm normally a 3 hr marathoner and this one was so steep and hilly it took me 7 hours!  Attached is a photo from near the 4,000 ft summit.

Carrie Smith, Marketing Services Conversion Specialist

Last week I was in the British Virgin Islands as part of an open water swim vacation.  The water was so clear that we did underwater videotaping in the sea for stroke analysis!  The temperature was perfect, no wetsuits needed.  This trip had it all…snorkeling, sea life, sailing, plenty of swimming, and sunsets.

Caitlyn Barker, Support Team Lead, Professional Services

I recently travelled to Guam and spent a week swimming, snorkeling and hiking around the island. One of the cool things I discovered was a Geocache game that is played all over the world. Little “caches” like the one in the picture are hidden all over the world and folks are supposed to use GPS devices to find these. I pretty much liken it to a modern day treasure hunt! I just happened to learn about this game when I almost tripped on the canister in the rock on Mt Lam Lam. My boyfriend Colin and I hiked this mountain which happens to be the tallest peak on the island, about 3,000 feet in elevation. Later, we went snorkeling in the bay to cool off. The trip also included a chance to watch some friends participate in the Xterra Off Road Triathlon and Guam Marathon that weekend, watching these participants compete while enduring the high heat and humidity levels amazed me!

Amber Martin

I went on a 3 day cruise to Mexico. Between the sunbathing still managed to get in something Active. We went horse back riding down the beach in Ensenada. My first time on a horse since being bucked off when I was 10…it was interesting to say the least.

Jim Garfield, Director, Business Development

In the true spirit of Mr. Reilly, I had the opportunity to channel him in announcing the Nautica South Beach Triathlon.  In the photo I was happy to announce the winners of the female celebrity relay team (Triathlete Katya Meyer, Tennis Star Anna Kournikova, me and Olympic Gold medalist and world record holder Dara Torres.  Next time I am going to race!!!

Kirstin Hartos, Implementation Analyst

I attended the first of three weekend rugby camps to try-out for the Southern California (SCRFU) women’s select side team.  Each of the seven territories in the US will put a select side team together to play in the USA Rugby National All-Star Tournament in June in Pittsburgh.  We had almost 30 girls at the try-out this weekend, and expect more players at the camp in Los Angeles at the beginning of May.  On Saturday we did some ball-handling, tackling and fitness testing in the morning, broke out into backs and forwards in the afternoon to run through set plays, and then scrimmaged ourselves at the end of the day.  On Sunday morning we had another scrimmage against another women’s team representing the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union (MARFU), but ended up losing 15-0 after 110 minutes of rugby.  I managed to nail the goal-post on our only penalty kick attempt, and the ref changed his mind and took back our try in the first period – it was a frustrating that we didn’t convert on our opportunities to score.  But aside from being generally sore (and bruised), I managed to stay injury free – and am looking forward to the next camp in May.

Michelle Valenti

I supported being active by attending the Navy Moto X World Championships at Qualcomm. I had a fantastic time and really enjoyed the event! The freestyle tricks are unbelievable, and riders like Ricky Carmichael and Travis Pastrana are really impressive to watch.

Tina Novak, Software Trainer

I was up in Utah for a long weekend, camping, hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, and all around loving life at the majestic Zion National Park. Hiked up a bunch of different trails there, but the highlights were Observation Point and Angels Landing. Observation Point we kind of tackled as an afterthought, and came to find out that we hiked 4 miles to the top of Zion (about a mile high) where this photo was taken. What? You can hike to the top of Zion? I’m glad we didn’t know we were going that high because we might not have done the hike! Angels Landing was my most challenging hike, not physically, but emotionally. I am absolutely terrified of heights but managed to crawl my way across the narrow trails with 1,000 foot drop offs on both sides to the top to enjoy the amazing views. Talk about feeling accomplished!

Alex Walker, sales at EventRegister and Andrew Frantz, developer from Thriva, took a trip to Steven’s Pass for a little action in the Terrain Park. After months of building up the courage, faceplants and failed attempts, we finally we able to compile this short video of our accomplishments.

San Diego Mud Run

LAURA HILTS, ANDREA RISHMAWI, and CARRIE JAMES did the SD Mud Run (Team 5k) Sunday afternoon. At 100 degrees, it was a scorcher, thank God for those breathable Active X shirts

Marc Villanueva,Danny Roa, Bryan Paijit, Jesse Hammond and Jesse's girlfriend

"Mud Run Baby!!!"

Kevin Beatty

Ran in the San Diego 10K Mud Run in La Mesa with a group of friends. Still picking the mud out of my ears and fingernails today but had a blast doing it. No idea what our time was. 

Amy Steiner, Heidi Achenbach and Christina Hanson ran the San Diego Mud Run on Sunday. We finished the hilly, muddy, obstacle-ridden and crowded 5K course at 50:10, but with temperatures over 100° in La Mesa on Sunday, we’re just glad we survived it!

Lacey Shaw, Polly Marrangoni and Katrina LeBlanc did the San Diego Mud Run 5K in el Cajon on Sunday. As temps reached record breaking 100 degrees we were glad there was some mud to cool us off. =)

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

This was just posted by the Tri Club of San Diego:

It is with great sadness that we inform everyone of the death of TCSD President Jim McCann.

Jim died suddenly in his home last night, June 20. Jim was 46 years old

Jim joined the Triathlon Club of San Diego in 1988.  He was Race Director from 1997-1999.  He has been the club President since the year 2000 during which time the club has grown from a few hundred members to one approaching 1800 members.

We will do our best to keep you all informed of memorial services and how you can send your condolences.

In the meantime, please keep Dee Dee and her and Jim's family in your thoughts and prayers.

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This is indeed sad news.  Jim was an enthusiastic triathlete and a great ambassador for the (multi-) sport community.  He brought a level of fun, and an acceptance of competitors of all skill-levels, to the SD Tri Club that will be a proud legacy.  All of our best wishes go out to his family and friends at this time.