Conquering the Odyssey Challenge

The number 178 may be just another number for most people but for the 15 members of the Conquering Sierran Altitudes Team it means guts, glory, sleep deprivation and the occasional lack of oxygen! As of June 5th 2010 Team CSA made a name for itself by completing a grueling 178 mile relay run around Lake Tahoe placing 50th overall out of 154 Teams with a total time of 26 hours and 25 minutes (8:55/mile).

The Team not only conquered Sierran altitudes with attitude (some race legs reached heights of 7500 feet above sea level!), they also traversed the arid pathways of the Nevada Desert, got swept away by consistent mountain winds, soaked up the rain, and even saw the snowcapped tips of the Sierras! Team CSA narrowly avoided bear encounters and successfully made it through mountain passes in complete darkness with nothing but the beam of a head lamp or the occasional headlights of their awesome support vans to guide them. Not all members walked away unscathed, but everyone walked away with a feeling of true camaraderie and accomplishment!

Team CSA would like to give a special shout out to team members Lee Arroyo and Colleen Kish who completed their Century Bike Ride the day after the Odyssey finished. (Yupp, that’s right, “century” equals 100 miles of grueling terrain!) Both Lee and Colleen road their bikes in support of “Team in Training,” and collectively raised over $8500 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Team CSA would like to extend a sincere thank you to Captain Joe Taormino (aka San Diegooooo Joe) for talking us into this madness, and making it all happen…. We all walked away better coworkers, athletes, and friends!

Thanks to the entire team for bringing your game face, stepping into help when it was absolutely necessary in order to continue onward, and bringing a positive attitude and great energy (even more energy than 5 hour energy could provide)!

Finally, thank you to the sponsors for helping us start an amazing tradition (DRASH, Ocean Pacific Office Products, Kathy Loper Events, and of course CSA)….We better start training for next year!