Prima Virtual Triathlon 2008: The Client Site Tour!

Posted on 05. Sep, 2008 by in 2008 Prima Virtual Triathlon, Prima Virtual Triathlons

Thanks to everyone who participated in the 2008 Virtual Triathlon!

Total miles: 2684.56
Swimming: 55.12 mi.
Biking: 1123.45 mi.
Running/Walking: 1505.95 mi.
Overall Points: 6181.7

The Trip is Virtual; the Rewards are Real.

Last year, the Prima team completed a virtual trip from our Portage headquarters in Schoolcraft, MI to Nicaragua’s capital city Managua, with route twists and turns to visit some of America’s oddest landmarks. We tallied over 3,200 miles building fitness and improving our heart and lung function along the way.

The Route

This year, we’re taking a tour of some client sites around the United States. Expect the same kind of offbeat attractions and historical landmarks with Ken acting as tour guide and team coach.

The Rules

  • Swim, ride your bicycle, walk, and run as much as you can during the event.
  • Count any mile (or fractions of miles) you accumulate beginning August 1 through Labor Day, September 1.
  • Calculate your distance as accurately as you can.
  • Use direct measurements, maps, time/pace conversions or GPS.
  • Be conservative with your estimates if you must guess.
  • Report/update your mileage totals through the Prima Portal at least every week; more often is better.

September 1 – Labor Day

Posted on 01. Sep, 2008 by in 2008 Prima Virtual Triathlon, Prima Virtual Triathlons

Today is like a welcome home party. From mile 2416 at the Benton Harbor beach, we zoomed through client visits to the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Paw Paw, and Perrigo in Allegan. Then we stopped at Ceetox, PTIS, and Inter-Source Recovery Systems before greeting our friends at the West Michigan Cancer Center and finally stopping for massage at Shanti Massage and Healing Arts .

It was just a wave as we passed the Pfizer Kalamazoo buildings, then the same in Portage to Elzinga & Hoeksema Greenhouses, Hi-TECH, and the Portage Pfizer complex. Passing 8585, we continued to Schoolcraft for a historical tour of the original Prima offices before returning to 8585 for a virtual victory celebration in honor of our 2680+ miles.

August 31

Posted on 31. Aug, 2008 by in 2008 Prima Virtual Triathlon, Prima Virtual Triathlons

Morning dawns in the east, but the shoreline won’t come into view for hours yet. It’s a long cold haul before the navigator points to a sailboat bearing toward us from the northeast. Ken switches to another radio channel and the skipper introduces himself. He’s from the Singapore Yacht Club in Saugatuck. Hurray! A friendly client (Prima handles their web site and newsletter updates) on a long Saturday sail just to meet us. He confirms our estimate that we’re about four miles out from Benton Harbor. After another hour and a half, we put all eight swimmers in the water and sprint to the sandy beach.

This is Benton Harbor, home to CQS Innovation, another contract supplier of technical services. We’ve partnered with them on some Pfizer projects. In fact, Tom Janik, the ghost rider who followed our triathlon team last year, is a CQS project manager who worked with Ken on several assignments, and continues on the C&Q team with Rachel, Robyn, Susan, Mary, and Ken.

August 29

Posted on 29. Aug, 2008 by in 2008 Prima Virtual Triathlon, Prima Virtual Triathlons

Strong teamwork as we near the end of our trip has helped us reach another client site in Lake Forest, Illinois. This is the headquarters of Hospira, a specialty pharmaceutical and medication-delivery company. Prima does many short-term graphics projects for them, including process maps, charts and logs, and spreadsheets.

Retracing our steps, we head south to Evanston, IL. We have now logged 2,362 miles and if we keep up the pace, we can get home by sundown on Labor Day!

As the sun descends behind the campus of Northwestern University, Kristen Crandle steps into the water at the end of North Campus Drive to begin the swim. Fifty minutes later, Charlotte jumps in and starts stroking from the spot were Kristen climbed into the chase boat. Ken works with the navigator to keep the swim on course and use the boat’s running lights to guide the swimmers through the night.

[11:00pm] As Charlotte’s stroke rate slows, Ken tells Susan Siferd to get ready to swim, then he calls Charlotte in for food and coffee.

August 27

Posted on 27. Aug, 2008 by in 2008 Prima Virtual Triathlon, Prima Virtual Triathlons

We’re on a beeline to Indianapolis where we’ll either catch a bus for home, or continue under our own power.

We’ve made 2100 miles together since the month began. Suddenly, there is a strange divider in the road ahead.Wow! We’ve never seen a road sign like that before.

Charlotte, Mary Kozloski, and Ed Krumm are pushing hard at the front. Is Ken saving something for a sprint finish, or will he just let us off easy and charter a nice air-conditioned bus to get us home?

We’ll have to see how the team does in the next couple of days.

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