Former Resident, Paraplegic Inspires Many with Tough Mudder Completion

Completing a Tough Mudder, which is labeled as "probably the toughest event on the planet," is a grueling task.

The course, which stretches between 10 and 12 miles, takes participants through underground mud tunnels, up steep walls and across electrical fields.

Now imagine a T4 paraplegic attempting to grind through that terrain, and you have yourself one of the truly amazing accomplishments in the life of Tim Morris.

A former Windham resident, Morris suffered a spinal cord injury after he was thrown from his Jeep Grand Cherokee in July 2007.

On Saturday, he completed the Tough Mudder course on the rocky surfaces of Gunstock Mountain Resort in Gilford, N.H.

"It was amazing," said Morris. "We had a core group of 10 or 15 guys (helping me). The idea was to get out there and finish no matter what. To complete the Tough Mudder together, including me."

Morris traveled north with a larger group of 63 people, all of whom made up a team named GRIND Society, which stands for "Get Ready It's a New Day." Their slogan? Determination over impossible.

Each participant wore a yellow shirt with blue letters, the colors of the Boston Marathon.

Morris said the team raised $12,000 through the sale of hundreds of T-shirts and bracelets supporting his effort to complete the event.

The decision for Morris to tackle a Tough Mudder came in late 2012, but Morris and his friends kept it quiet until he said the "cat got out of the bag" three weeks before the event.

Prior to the race, Morris worked with the members of his team to prepare them for the upcoming challenges, and also to prepare them for working with him through obstacles.

When the day finally came, Morris described his core group of teammates as a "well-oiled machine," helping him through each major challenge of the course.

Take the group's effort to scale a 30-foot half pipe.

In order to get Morris up the obstacle, his teammates created a human ladder, allowing him to grab hands and arms to reach the top.

"I could not have done this without the people on my team," said Morris. "Without them, it would not have been a possibility."

The challenges persisted throughout the course, from the effort of fixing Morris' broken wheelchair at mile 2 to getting Morris through the length of the final obstacle – a long field of electric wires.

Morris said that the idea behind the GRIND Society is to send the message that hard work can pay off, no matter your goal.

"If you work hard enough, you can do anything you want," he said. "But it doesn't even have to be paralysis. You can lose 15 pounds. You can get that promotion at work. Basically the idea is to grind your way to a better situation.

As Morris squeezed out every bit of energy to complete the course, the emcee of the race took notice, acknowledging Morris over the loudspeaker and drawing a crowd of thousands to stop what they were doing and root him on as he craweled toward the finish line.

Morris considers the completion of the Tough Mudder to be the greatest day of his life, and the most remarkable accomplishment in his road to recovery from the injury that robbed him of his ability to walk.

"I had tears running down my face," said Morris, describing his reaction to the special day. "It was just such an emotional event and so many people were cheering for us and rooting us on and it was so incredible."

For more information on GRIND Society, visit their page on Facebook.