Congratulations TERIS Bay Area Tough Mudders!
Congratulations to the TERIS Bay Area Tough Mudder crew for their amazing accomplishment this past weekend. For the past 6 months the team put in a tremendous amount training and hard work to condition for this event. When this idea was first proposed, most of group had never run more than a couple miles in their entire lives. During their first attempt at a jog as a team, they barely made it a full mile (there’s video to prove it). Within a few months the group ramped up to 8-11 mile hikes/runs and regular trips around the Stanford dish (~4 miles of rolling hills). The team trained together on a regular basis before and after work and on weekends to prepare for the toughest physical and mental day of their lives.
The race officially started at the base of Squaw Valley in Lake Tahoe at approximately 6,500 feet above sea level. The team arrived at 7 am on very little sleep and the temperature outside was 32 degrees – nearly all of the vehicles in the parking lot were covered in ice. Over the course of approximately 6.5 grueling hours the team hiked 13.19 miles, competed in 24 obstacles and reached the tops of 3 different peaks that took them up to nearly 9,000 feet above sea level (the significantly thinner air made even breathing a challenge). Along the way the team conquered obstacles that required them to swim under wood barricades and floating barrels in ice cold water (there were literally ice cubes floating in the water). They also crawled through 60 foot tunnels that were so small that participants could feel the sides around their backs/shoulders as their knees and elbows were being cut over rocks that emerged under barbwire and muddy water. Another obstacle was 30 feet of slanted monkey bars that twisted as team members clutched them, and one wrong move dropped participants into 5 feet of ice water. The team then climbed over multiple sets of walls that were 15 feet high and pulled each other up a 25.5 foot pipe. At the very top of the highest peak they carried wood logs that ranged from 30-150 pounds for more than a quarter mile (up and down hills).
The final obstacle was a 40 foot run through a web of wires that had 10,000 volts of electricity running through a few random sections (luckily no TERIS team members got shocked).
Throughout the entire day the team maintained a level of camaraderie and support that made TERIS Northern California Executive Vice President Kevin Brooks honored to be a part of the group.
“Beyond the physical aspect of the challenge, this was a test of our mental and emotional strength and we would not have gone through it as well without each other’s support,” Brooks said.
“We weren’t the fastest or best dressed group out there (there were some wild outfits), but I don’t think any other team could hold a candle to our teamwork and support. We trained together, started the race together, competed together and finished together. I am so incredibly proud of this team and feel grateful to have gone through Tough Mudder with them!”
Congrats to the 2011 Nor-Cal Tough Mudders – Team TERIS
