'Bring it On'

Executive: Roxie Jerde, president and CEO, Community Foundation of Sarasota County. Jerde regularly interacts with the business community and donors in her role with the foundation, which has nearly $240 million in assets in more than 1,100 charitable funds.

Diversion: The Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, commonly called Ragbrai. The ride is an annual seven-day summer event that's also a celebration of small towns and cities across Iowa. The route changes every year. It normally covers about 500 miles and it starts somewhere in western Iowa, on the Missouri River, and ends somewhere in eastern Iowa, on the Mississippi River. Two columnists for the Des Moines Register newspaper founded the ride in 1973.

Iowa flyers: An Iowa native, Jerde has participated in Ragbrai for 18 years, ever since she and her husband, retired attorney Mike Jerde, first tried it in 1994. “Once we did it,” says Jerde, “we were hooked.”

Just breathe: Jerde, 60, participates in a host of sports and activities, from yoga to skiing to cycling. But she suffered from asthma when she was younger, and rarely did anything athletic. She took up running in her mid-20s, and at first she struggled. “My legs were great,” she says, “but I had the worst time with my lungs.” Jerde eventually overcame the asthma and in her 30s she completed a marathon in Lincoln, Neb. She later completed triathlons.