He’s the one who keeps everyone loose. He adds enough comic relief that hard workouts and races are fun. He’s very sincere and caring. He would do anything to help anyone. We have strong Christian values and Curtis is at the center of this…and he allows others to grow (Rich, myself, others).
Curtis is Tough, Talented, Loving, Fun, Uplifting, Outgoing and Humble at the same time.
-- Bill Dwyer, Volte Founder, on Curtis Hooper
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| Curtis "Hot Foot" Hooper |
Nine Volte: What's your current "A" race and when and where is it?
Curtis Hooper: My "A" race is unequivocally Rocky (Raccoon) 100. February 2 in Huntsville State Park. I will have my obit written and placed in your hand.
NV: Curtis, Nine Volte aims to be a charge in runner's lives, not the holder of death.
There are many challenges in the world. Some of which you've taken head on and succeeded at.
Why a 100-mile endurance run and what is the most important quality you believe will enable you to succeed?
There are many challenges in the world. Some of which you've taken head on and succeeded at.
Why a 100-mile endurance run and what is the most important quality you believe will enable you to succeed?
CH: If you are not living on the edge, you are just taking up space. I am testing myself mentally with this run.
Do I still posses the ability to climb "the wall"? I need to know ... and that will drive me.
Do I still posses the ability to climb "the wall"? I need to know ... and that will drive me.
NV: Your coach is a veteran of two 100-mile finishes. Describe your training so far, given that you're three and a half months from race day?
Additionally, do you have any tune-up races planned?
Additionally, do you have any tune-up races planned?
CH: Three. Don't take one away from him. Pretty much like a marathon build up with the added bonus of every third week after a Saturday long, another long (run) is done on Sunday, at least 10 miles.
I was informed I have a six-hour training run in December and I am running a 50K in November. One could see that as a tune up.
I was informed I have a six-hour training run in December and I am running a 50K in November. One could see that as a tune up.
NV: Yes, two Rockys and one Arkansas Traveller. Nine Volte does leak a little here and there. (Correction: Volte founder Bill Dwyer confirmed that it was only two.)
Your faith is very evident in the athletic community. Aside from God, who do you draw inspiration from to help you achieve your athletic goals and why?
Your faith is very evident in the athletic community. Aside from God, who do you draw inspiration from to help you achieve your athletic goals and why?
CH: I feel like I am talking to a computer.
It is real easy to get inspiration from my fellow athletes of Volte. Witnessing a first 20 miler a new runner has completed (Kelly) to the epic speed of Ken (Reiger), the dedication of Mayra (Caamano).
The work ethic and desire is one and the same. It pushes me. No, it amazes and inspires me to become the runner I was gifted to be. This family works hard, it is almost the password to get in.
So yeah, my teammates are the only ones whom I derive inspiration from. Period.
NV: Better than talking to an abacus, don't you think? No fun pushing around a bunch of beads. I drain. (Battery pun, get it?)
Where and when did you first start to run and why? And what is the one most important thing that you've learned that you put to use the most?
Where and when did you first start to run and why? And what is the one most important thing that you've learned that you put to use the most?
CH: "Shall we play a game?" (Computer movie reference, can you name it?)
Let's go way back, shall we? My mom wouldn't let me play football until high school. Soccer and swimming were my first loves. By the time I arrived to Junior High, I was a pretty solid swimmer.
I took a weightlifting class in the eighth grade. We ran on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Two loops around a huge field. I would smoke everyone else. The track coach happened to be in charge of the class. He asked me to run track. Third time I ran the mile, I ran a 4:58. I hated to run, but loved to race.
I rediscovered running in 2007. Hmmm... I have learned you can't fake the funk.
Let's go way back, shall we? My mom wouldn't let me play football until high school. Soccer and swimming were my first loves. By the time I arrived to Junior High, I was a pretty solid swimmer.
I took a weightlifting class in the eighth grade. We ran on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Two loops around a huge field. I would smoke everyone else. The track coach happened to be in charge of the class. He asked me to run track. Third time I ran the mile, I ran a 4:58. I hated to run, but loved to race.
I rediscovered running in 2007. Hmmm... I have learned you can't fake the funk.
If you want to see the results you are capable of, you must put in the work. Racing these long events ain't no joke. I have been exposed a few times in marathons as a slacker.
It goes back to the dedication I have witnessed from Volte.
One final statement concerning the last two questions, the most important thing I have been taught from running with Volte is joy and fun can and do accompany hard work and discipline.
NV: Matthew Broadrick stars in "War Games". Thermonuclear War. And batteries, amazingly, can't Google either. :-)
You served our country in the Marine Corps (and, as always, thank you for that service). No doubt that it plays a very prominent role in your hard work and discipline.
What one piece of advice would you give to a new runner that maybe hadn't fully developed those qualities?
CH: Well played and you are correct. I appreciate your gratitude and am proud to have served. We used to say this little nugget quite often in the Corps: "Embrace the suck".
Here's the dealo (yes, he used the word "dealo" ... Ed.), you must become friends with discomfort and pain. To discover who you are in places few dare to go, deep inside, climb into the hurt locker and hang out awhile.
We are all much more capable than we may think. Wake up and feel what it feels like to live, test yourself. In a round about way that should answer the question.
NV: We learned earlier what your motivation for this upcoming 100-miler and preceding events is (and has been). You completed the inaugural Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas. The support at that event and a 100-miler are both incredible, but in totally different ways.
How are you mentally preparing for not having those partiers on the Waterway, let's say, during your Ironman run, but simply, possibly only fellow runners with headlamps, folks serving you at aid stations and teammates at strategic locations during those early evening hours?
CH: I tuned most of the folks on Waterway out. However when you lock eyes with one individual and you know when it happens, it does mean much.
This is the dichotomy with my running, I love group runs but I need and value the solo run. I think this mindset will play well for me out there in the dark. The contact I will have, or at least I presume will be on a more intimate level, with aid station (worker) and runner alike.
I have a good idea what your name is my computer-like friend.
NV: If you learned anything from watching the Wizard of Oz, it isn't good to be Toto and ruin the surprise for all in the great City.
We have two questions to go. If somebody were to walk up to you and look at you, what is the one thing about you that people would notice the most and what might they miss or stereotype you wrong(ly)?
CH: The Wizard is safe. We all need him.
Notice the most, now? (Chuckling) The beard. That is a great question.
I would hope the first thing noticed would be my sincerity and need to make folks feel welcomed. They may miss the intelligence and heart behind the clown makeup.
NV: Thanks for sharing with the world a little more about Curtis Hooper. Final question: What's your verse and why?
CH: Matthew 10:27. "What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs." To me a faith not lived out is no faith at all.
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