Our Editors
Although the members of our editorial staff come from varied backgrounds and careers (e.g., law, banking, journalism, sales, television reporting, professional athletics, etc.), we are all athletic-minded travelers. Some of us are hard core fitness enthusiasts, others occasional 20-minute elliptical loyalists and others limber yoga fiends. Regardless of our fitness fixation, we share a common interest in striving to live happier and healthier lives, and helping others to do the same.
Jim Kaese
Jim Kaese is a best selling author, accomplished corporate entrepreneur, and former nationally-ranked and sponsored athlete. In addition to his runner-up finish at the 2003 USA Triathlon Long Course Championships and Ironman achievements, he has built from scratch and merged multi-million dollar companies and has co-hosted live television broadcasts.
Jim presently serves as Co-Founder/Managing Member of Athletic-Minded Traveler LLC, which operates the largest healthy travel content site on the web at www.athleticmindedtraveler.com, creates healthy lifestyle content for commercial airline in-flight magazines and the hotel industry, and generates online custom wellness and work-life solutions for Fortune 500 firms. Hailed as a vital resource for road warriors and sporadic travelers alike, the web portal boasts thousands of first-hand hotel, health club, lap pool, run route, restaurant, bike shop (and more) recommendations.
In addition to leading Athletic-Minded Traveler, Jim presently serves as Active.com’s Travel Expert and has recently served as a Travel Contributor to Triathlete Magazine, Inc.com, and Men’s Health’s Best Life Online Magazine.
When he’s not racking up frequent flier miles, Jim enjoys doggie-paddling in the pool with his young daughter and volunteer-coaching an Indiana University cycling team that competes in the annual Little 500 - made famous in the movie Breaking Away.
Jim earned a B.S. in Finance from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and a J.D. from DePaul University College of Law in Chicago.
Erin Kaese
Erin is a former finance and business development executive who spent 10 years in sales and trading for a large commercial bank before relocating to San Diego in 2002. Her first years in America’s Finest City were devoted to leading the business development efforts for an early stage energy solution provider. Involved in nearly all aspects of this young company’s business, she quickly caught the entrepreneur bug and struck out on her own to create Athletic Minded Traveler LLC, a media company committed to helping others achieve a healthy lifestyle. Additionally, Erin has contributed articles and content to various magazines, websites, and e-newsletters on strategies to improve one’s health — both financial and physical.
Erin is no stranger to travel and fitness. Having spent three years commuting back and forth from Chicago to Detroit, she confronted the perils of staying healthy while on the road on a weekly basis. If only she had this resource then! If there has been one constant in Erin’s life it is her passion for exercise. The former soccer player ran her first marathon in 1995 (Chicago) looking to “fill up her time” after completing her MBA at Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. In her rookie attempt, she qualified for Boston and ran in the 100th anniversary race. After switching her focus from marathoning, she earned a personal trainer certification from the American Council on Exercise to help others pursue their fitness goals. Highest on Erin’s current fitness scorecard is Bikram Yoga — hatha yoga practiced in a very hot and humid room.
Erin is best known by her friends and family as an amazing cook with a talent for transforming typically sinful dishes into healthy fare that actually tastes good. She’ll only reveal the ingredients and nutritional benefits after you say you love it.
Erin graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University, played sweeper for the University’s Varsity soccer team and was also a Rhodes Scholar Semi-Finalist. She earned her Masters of Management from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
Paul Huddle
Paul Huddle is co-author of Starting Out Triathlon and Start to Finish – Ironman Training. One of the sport’s most respected authorities, he co-hosts “The Competitors”—a weekly radio program on San Diego’s Mighty 1090AM (home of the Padres), writes a monthly “Dear Coach” column for Triathlete Magazine and consults to Ironman North America for the design, set-up and operation of Ironman events.
A former professional triathlete and Ironman champion, he continues to remain active in the endurance community as a partner in Multisports.com (a premier endurance sport coaching-services company) and as Race Director of Ironman Arizona and Half-Ironman California. He was closely involved in the early development of the USAT triathlon coaching certification program and is also a USA Cycling Elite Coach.
In his role as a course director for Ironman North America he travels extensively to race sites around the U.S., keeping in close touch with the needs and experiences of thousands of athletic-minded travelers.
Paul holds a B.S. in food science from the University of Arizona (Go Cats!).
Paula Newby Fraser
Paula is the most accomplished triathlete in history. She won the Ironman Hawaii Triathlon an unprecedented 8 times in 1986, 88, 89, 91, 92, 93, 94, and 96, earning her the nickname, “Queen of Kona.” In addition to her 8 Hawaii victories, Paula won an additional 16 Ironman races through 2004—her most recent 1st place finish coming at Ironman Japan during her racing “retirement.”
Among numerous other honors and awards, the United States Sports Academy named her as one of the top 5 professional women athletes of the last 25 years (1972-97), and The LA Times, Extra, and ABC’s Wide World of Sports have heralded Paula as “The Greatest All-Around Female Athlete in the World.”
Paula has switched her focus from professional racing to creating and pursuing business opportunities. She is the Co-Founder of Multisports.com, the premier coaching-services company that runs athletic camps and trains amateur/professional athletes throughout the world. Paula commentates and broadcasts as a media co-host for various sporting events during the course of the year. She is also the author of several books and continues to write columns for various publications. And yes, you will still occasionally find her at the starting line, but now it’s only for fun…so she says!
Becka Christian
Becka’s yoga career almost didn’t happen. She stumbled into her first yoga class as a runner looking to enhance her marathon training. With tight hips, a weak back and perpetually sore legs, her body at first resisted this new discipline. But as the months progressed, she felt the results—both physically and mentally. The long runs were easier and minor injuries seemed to correct themselves. She learned to respect the boundaries of her body instead of pushing through them. It was the yoga; and she wanted to learn more.
One year after her first class Becka enrolled in a 6-month teacher-training course with YogaWorks, one of the most comprehensive teacher training programs. The combination of its rigorous curriculum and Becka’s anatomy background has helped her become a more refined yoga practitioner and instructor. She now practices and teaches a unique style of yoga combining the strength of Ashtanga yoga and the alignment of Iyengar yoga. In addition, she also harbors a small “Bikram addiction,” and finds herself sweating in the hot room several times a week.
Becka graduated from Salem College with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Business. She now lives in the mountains of Virginia with her husband Jim Christian and their very spoiled lab, “Cali” — a name chosen to remind them of their years in “America’s Finest City.”
Carolyn Day
Currently based in Washington, DC, Carolyn Day produces and writes non-fiction cable series and documentaries for programmers such as Investigation Discovery and truTV.
The former television news reporter and anchor began her career in broadcasting at CBS News in New York working as a desk assistant at “60 Minutes” and “CBS Sunday Morning.” She also worked on the “David Letterman Show,” and later joined the CBS News Press Office as a press assistant. During her tenure with Fox Five News in Atlanta, she reported on the highly publicized Elian Gonzales case and the murder charges against famed NFL star and former MVP Ray Lewis. In her “lighter” news moments, Day agreed to let a camera follow her through the training process and finish line of Atlanta’s infamous, U.S. 10K Classic.
Carolyn has also collaborated on two different unpublished book projects. She paired up with New York City’s Sensual Cooking Diva for a book entitled, Appetite for Seduction. The other, No Laughing Matter, also involves food but from a very different standpoint—using humor to help women struggling with eating related issues. Carolyn also enjoyed a recent gig as a contributing writer for an airline in-flight magazine.
An avid runner, Carolyn reveled in her first marathon experience, the 2006 ING New York Marathon. Her time was good enough to qualify her for Boston, which she ran the following year. The weather proved to be the biggest challenge–the race was nearly cancelled due to the extreme conditions. These days you’ll find Carolyn sweating the heat in one of the District’s, Bikram Yoga Studios. She has twice competed in the Southern California Yoga Championship placing among the top five both times.
Carolyn graduated from UCLA in 1992 with a Bachelor’s Degree in English. She later earned a Master’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.