Braggin' Rights

Sunday, March 25, 2012

I decided to take a trip to Florida... and then neglected to plan for it. Fortunately, The North Face stepped in and took care of me. I was able to borrow a tent, the Phoenix 2, which was small and light enough that I was able to pack it in my carry-on. A co-worker mentioned that I could stop by The North Face outlet store in Orlando and purchase anything else I might need for my trip. I was trying to limit how much I was carrying on the plane, so I opted to buy a sleeping bag there. Fortunately they had a few in stock; unfortunately they were all down insulated; but at least I finally had shelter to get me through my trip.
I ended up staying at a campground with a friend of mine. Although it was much cooler at night, I did not need the insulation of the sleeping bag, so I slept on top of it. I was warned ahead of time that I would need to get airflow through the tent because it was a single-wall and would be very warm inside. It was warm in the tent, but I was not uncomfortable, if anything it made me get up bright and early every morning so I could have a full day of adventures.
The highlight of my time in the tent was definitely our nightly visit of a foraging armadillo. I was pretty sure from the first time I heard that frantic rustling of ground cover that it was an armadillo, but my friend was sure that it was a skunk and pleaded with me not to investigate for fear of me being sprayed. I had no problem sleeping while a wild animal moved around our tent, but my friend was too afraid to sleep. My suspicions were confirmed when she saw the animals shadow cast against the side of the tent, it was definitely an armadillo.
Although I did not do anything too extreme, dangerous, or exciting I really had a lot of fun and am looking forward to my next adventure.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Welcome to the 2012 Demo Gear Season!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to another season of the Demo Gear Program and the Braggin' Rights Blog Contest! I can't wait to read about everyone's adventures and see who wins next year's own personal set of 2013 Demo Gear.

Thanks!

Kristin

Monday, November 21, 2011

AND THE WINNER IS.....

Hello Everyone,

The results are in and the winner of the 2011 Braggin' Rights Blog Contest is Mark Hamilton from our Georgetown store with his blog "Location: Paradise". Congratulations Mark!

Mark will be receiving a set of 2012 Demo Gear including a new Phoenix 2 tent and an Alteo 50 in January. The product will be shipped to your store.

Thanks again to everyone who participated! We look forward to doing this again in 2012!

Sincerely,

Kristin Warren

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Monday, November 14, 2011

Monday, October 31, 2011

TNF Raleigh: Demo in Review

Demo in Review

Demo Gear was just one tool that enabled exploration for our awesome team here at TNF Raleigh! We are thankful to have had the opportunity to try out some gear. Not sure if it was the gear or this amazing state that we live in, but our team really got out and did some exploring! Here are some our favorite highlights of 2011. Be sure to check out the video!

Our team kicked off the season with some climbing at Pilot Mountain that is about 2 to 3 hours west of Raleigh. This became a favorite place and many of the team went back there all year. We had associates that have never climbed before and now they can’t get enough. We have created a great relationship with a local climbing center, Triangle Rock Club. There is not a week that goes by without us talking to each other! We even finished the year by climbing out there.

Chris, Brad and Beth teamed up with National Park Trust to participate in National Kids to Parks Day. The day turned into an awesome adventure with yoga, bird watching, ultimate frisbee, a hike and a swim in a watering hole! The team had a great interaction with getting kids out to explore parks and not explore their couches! This by far could have been the most rewarding event of the year. We really hope to do more events that will allow us to interact and help our area youth.

Maybe it wasn’t the best day, but it seemed half of the staff went camping at a local state park on one of the hottest days/nights of the year. The team themed it “80’s Campout!” Bright colored clothes, goofy games, ridiculous photos and a ton of 80’s music made a night of camping a night to remember. We even brought our pups with us to take part in the fun! Asked why we picked the eighties, we asked why not! You know we had a totally rad time and next year we might have to do it each month!

We can’t forget the Warrior Dash! In late August, ten (even 2 former employees) of us took part in this 5K race! Not only was it a 5K run, it was 3 miles of running through an obstacle course! We jumped over, ducked under, and weaved through some many different obstacles. We really enjoyed trekking through the green stale swamp, then to jump over fire and then cool it off by crawling under barbwire! Luckily we had Chris with his GoPro camera on to give his POV. We couldn’t have done it so well if it wasn’t for our friends at H.E.A.T. Studios. This training center gave us free classes every Sunday running up to our event! We found that it was more painful at our workouts than the actual event! We think that was a good thing! FYI, we all made it out alive!

As the season ended, Chris participated in the Tour to Tanglewood, a VF sponsored cycling event to raise money for MS research! Chris camped out and cycled for VF! A great event that ended up raising over $1 Million Dollars! We also saw Geoff and how he commutes to and from work. Not living too far away, Geoff went from driving everyday to riding his bike. Now he has helped reduce his carbon footprint.

We had a great year! We really worked the demo gear! We had so many ideas! We are very thankful to have such an amazing team that loves to get outdoors! The excitement was infectious that even former employees would tag along with us for adventures. Several of us learned new activities that we now crave! The demo gear did not fail us. We found the Angstroms to be a great fit our day travels, but no crave larger packs for longer travels and exploring. The Minibus rocked! This little guy held up in all kinds of weather and could fit a lot more than the recommended amount of sleepers! We think we got like 5 people and 3 dogs in it one night! Te Re Meows are awesome, but a 40-degree bag could work better in our climate! We can’t wait for next year to get out and explore. The team has done a great job trying new things and we can’t wait to see all the new adventures we go in 2012!

TNF Raleigh

Never Stop Exploring

WARRIOR DASH

I don’t know when it happened exactly. It was Brad’s (Stock Supervisor) idea. I vaguely recall having a conversation with him about mud races and other alternative competitions, when he said something like “Hey! We should get a group together and do this!” Like many of my conversations with my team while on the sales floor, I was only half paying attention, nodding and smiling in agreement. The next thing I know, here I am, standing at the starting line of the Warrior Dash in Huntersville, NC (over three hours west of Raleigh), with about 200 other participants, many of them in costumes, many of them showing far too much skin. It is a scene reminiscent of spring break. There’s live music, and lots of people having fun. There is beer drinking and partying for those who have finished their heats. But that’s for later…

Melinda and Chris rockin’ the Angstroms! Carrying all the gear, even a first aid kit!

I look over at Chris, my ASM, who is proudly wearing his GoPro on his Endurance Hat covered head, and smiling nervously, thinking the same thing I am, “Please Lord, do not let me get hurt… well, not seriously, at least.” Then there is our crew… There’s Melinda and Allie in their eye black (yeah, they’re pretty badass) and fluorescent sports bras… I can’t look at them without cracking up. There’s the men, Lewis, Makana, and Brad… all mean and lean... well, lean at least. Then there is Will, who signed up months ago, but had his appendix out recently and is supposed to be taking it easy. He cannot resist the atmosphere and the temptation to participate in the madness (and the free beer) and decides to run. We are huddled together and ready to go. We’ve seen the other finishers, covered in mud and shoeless. There is a giant heap of muddy shoes at the entrance to the event, where most participants donate their footwear. We have seen the beginning of the course where the competitors before us charged into the fields and entered the woods. It’s what lies in wait between the start and the finish that worries us. The only things we are certain of, is that we are going to get really dirty, and have a lot of fun.

We do a TNF cheer as the countdown to the start begins. With a burst of flames into the air and an explosion of cheers from the runners, we are off and running in a field that is not much different than a regular cross-country course. Like I said, there are a couple hundred people in our heat, so there is a lot of congestion. Lewis. Will, and Brad take off while the rest of us scatter into various groups. I know that Chris is taking his video documentation even more seriously than the race, so I leave him to his artistic endeavors. We stay fairly spread out through the race, and everyone manages the obstacles well. There are dumpster hurdles, walls to scale, and other things to climb over and crawl beneath. The racecourse runs not just through the open fields, but through the woods too. There are dirt trails, loose and rocky with lots of dust. It is a 5k course, but I find myself pretty disoriented the entire race, not knowing what is around the next corner or how long I have been running.

Chris’ Single-Tracks after the race.

Then, I see it… the water obstacle. It is a pond, it is green, and it smells like a sewer. As I follow the participants ahead of me into the “water” like a good little lemming, I remember the waiver that I had to sign. It stated that I would not hold the promoters responsible for any disease(s) that I might contract as a result of contact with water that was not tested for (apparently) any sanitary conditions. “Oh crap,” I think,” my whole staff is going to have Giardia or Dysentery… OMG… Cholera! Am I going to die from this??? I am so going to kill Brad!” Just as I emerge from the sludge and round the next bend of the course, I see Brad contemplating the final set of obstacles. I summon what little breath I have left to call out to him, and we reunite to finish the race together. Brad is one of those people who you cannot help but like, and he was also my training buddy the month leading up to the event, so it is great that we have the chance to finish together.

The last obstacle is a 20-foot long mud pit, beneath tangles of barbed wire. Obviously, once you jump in, you have to belly-crawl the distance to the finish. This is also the part of the race where spectators cheer you on and watch the final moments of your suffering. After hitting the “shower station” (aka man sitting on a truck with a hose) Brad and I run back over to the finish area to watch for the rest of our team. Of course, Lewis and Will had already finished, and though they were covered in mud, looked like they could have gone another 5 miles… I hate them.

Our teammates cross the finish in their own unique style. We shout for each of them to get down and get dirty as they tentatively enter the mud pit. Chris makes sure to get it all on camera, and gracefully rolls over in the mud, doing a backstroke sort of maneuver. As he looks our way, we can see that he has a blob of mud on his teeth, blacking them out. I am laughing hysterically, but having mud in my mouth would definitely be preferable to where I have it. Makana, Melinda, and Allie each finish strong and also head over to the hose down trucks.

Everyone has finished in a respectable amount of time and no one got hurt. We might have a disease or two from contaminated water, but we seem to be in good health for the moment. Time to celebrate with free beer and perhaps a giant turkey leg.

Check out our video below! You might want to grab a snack as you watch this POV and images from the event!

TNF Raleigh

Beth Uydess

Chris Rief

Brad Muszalski

Melinda Freeman

Makana Dumlao

Will Tucker

Lewis Braswell

Allie Lebenson

Kara Buhr

Never Stop Exploring