Hollywood residents Brian Pendelton and Chad Goldman have been part of a lot of events like this — bike rides from Montreal to Quebec City; or “The Underwear Affair”, a 10-kilometer run participants undertake in their skivvies.

A team comprised of employees from CauseForce will be competing in the L.A. Triathlon. (photo courtesy of Katey Goorvich)

Usually, Pendelton and Goldman organize these events — their organization, CauseForce, has raised more than $200 million for cancer research programs since 2002.  But this Sunday, the pair, along with a group of other CauseForce employees, will swim, bike, and run in the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Triathlon, the first time either of them has taken part in the kind of event they usually organize.

“It’s funny when you produce your own fundraising events,” Goldman said. “You get to see all these other people participating, and they look like they’re having such a good time, but you can’t participate because you’re working. So we thought this was a great opportunity to have all our employees participate in a team event.”

The Los Angeles Triathlon, will take nearly 3,000 participants from 13 countries from Venice Beach to downtown Los Angeles on Sunday.  Though professional athletes will compete for the top prizes in the Olympic course, many of the participants are local amateurs who, like Pendelton and Goldman, have never done a triathlon before.

For Goldman and Pendelton, who have been together for 11 years, and just recently celebrated their second wedding anniversary, the impetus to take part in the triathlon started almost on a lark.

“Back in January, I declared that I was going to do a triathlon this year, and then proceeded to do nothing about it,” Pendelton said. “My husband signed me up for it, which means he pays attention and listens to me.”

From there, however, the event became a team building exercise, as other CauseForce employees also signed up for the race. Pendelton said that the staff has collectively lost several hundred pounds in the lead-up to Sunday’s race. At lunch, outside their office on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, employees will be throwing medicine balls back and forth, jogging, or biking.

Katey Goorvich, a print production manager at CauseForce, used to swim in high school, but hadn’t done so regularly for 15 years. Though she expressed some nervousness about the upcoming race, she said the training had helped her get in good shape, and was confident that she could finish the triathlon.

Pendelton and Goldman, on the other hand, have mostly trained by biking and running, respectively. They both expressed more trepidation about the swimming portion of the race. Goldman said they have only trained once in the ocean, where the swim portion will be held, and got winded after putting on the wetsuit.

“As I see everyone this week, I’m acknowledging that it might be the last time I see them,” Pendelton joked.

Pendelton and Goldman were more excited about the success of the training as a team-building exercise.

Goorvich has been swimming with some of the other female employees, and, at least once a week, going out for nachos.

“If I were doing it alone, I don’t think it would be the same experience,” Goorvich said. “It’s brought the group of people who are doing it close together. We keep each other motivated. A few of us, after we swim, always go out for nachos. We thought, what’s the most disgusting thing we can eat to counteract the thousand meters we just swam? Oh, nachos! So now we have nacho Mondays. The social, team building part has been great.”

The CauseForce team was also excited to experience what it felt like to participate in a large public event, rather than to organize it.

“It’s good to see the other side,” Goorvich said. “I’m really excited to get a free T-shirt. I’m usually in charge of getting the shirts printed, but now I’m the one that gets the free T-shirt.”