Cath Lab Director Pinak Shah (front) is all smiles as he and colleagues MaryKate Nelligan (middle) and Olivia Swiatek (back) ascend the stairs in Shapiro while wearing heavy lead aprons to train for an endurance event.

If you were in one of the Shapiro Cardiovascular Center’s stairwells last year, you might have encountered an unusual sight: dozens of people wearing 10-pound lead aprons and cheering each other on as they made their way up and down 10 flights of stairs. The dedicated group was actually the Brigham’s tightknit Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory (Cath Lab) team preparing for an endurance-testing obstacle course this past fall.

The 25-person team of Cath Lab technologists, physician assistants, nurses and interventional cardiology fellows put their mettle to the test in a Spartan Race at Fenway Park in November. The fast and intense “Stadion” race — designed to mimic ancient Olympic games — involved a 5K run and 20 obstacles, which challenged participants with activities such as climbing five- to seven-foot walls, performing burpees and lifting heavy objects.

“One of the things that I love about our team is that we have to work really closely together,” said radiologic technologist Catalina Tamayo, who served as the team’s co-captain. “I thought, why not bring that out into an outing? We can do something outside the hospital where we can enjoy each other’s company and just bring the best out of each other.”

The race allowed each team member to tackle the obstacles at their own pace and involved enough variety in activities where everyone had the potential to discover their own strengths and talents.

“Everyone has varying athletic abilities, and this race was great for people to be able to participate at every level without going too far out of their comfort zone,” said physician assistant and co-captain Holly Rand, PA-C.

Some members of the Cath Lab team already used the Shapiro stairs occasionally to exercise during their breaks. But for the Spartan Race, the team trained with the 10-pound –– and sometimes even heavier –– lead protective equipment they wear during procedures to protect themselves from radiation. (Staff worked closely with Infection Control colleagues to ensure the equipment was cleaned appropriately before and after use.)

The Cath Lab team celebrates their completion of the event.

“That was not easy,” Tamayo said. “You can think 10 flights of stairs are nothing, but when you’re wearing 15-pound leads and you’re going up and down stairs, it really does take a toll.”

Despite the challenge, the team fervently supported and encouraged each other during training. On the day of the race, all 25 members who committed to the event arrived to participate. That included two interventional cardiology fellows who came straight from the airport to the race after arriving home from a training conference and a physician assistant who came to the event after working 12 hours in the Cath Lab.

“We work in an extremely high-stress, fast-paced environment, so it’s nice to get together outside of work where everyone can be relaxed and have fun,” said nurse Taylor Risotti, BSN, RN. “It helps us at work because we are now bonded with our group experience, and we are going to continue to do group outings and strengthen our work bond, since we are basically family here.”

Throughout the race, the team stayed together and cheered each other on during the difficult obstacles. At one point, a team member was struggling to lift a heavy set of weights. Instead of going ahead of him, the team stopped to provide encouragement.

This kind of peer support and motivation is embedded in the Cath Lab’s culture, staff said.

“It made me to think about how we’re not only cheering each other on at this race, but when we’re at work and things are stressful, we’re also cheering each other on here,” Tamayo said.