rob field

World War II Paratroopers went through basic training at camp Toccoa at the base of Mount Currahee. As part of their physical training, recruits were regularly required to run up and down the mountain, approximately a 900-foot change in elevation.

When I woke up Saturday morning, I found the first real frost of the year. I had to dig around to add my gloves and hat to my running bag. It was a pleasant 2-hour drive to Toccoa, watching the sun come up, sipping my coffee, and wondering what the race was going to be like. The flier for the race said the following:

CAUTION; This is a strenuous race with the 5K following an out and back course on the mountain Forestry Service road while the 10K goes out and back to the top of Currahee Mountain.

The reason I signed up for this race was that I was looking for something that would be a bit of a challenge. Some of my recent reading material has included Dean Karnazes Confessions of All Night Runner and Kira Salak's The Cruelest Journey, and Four Corners. Reading those books has the effect on one of making you want to do something out of the ordinary.

I had visions of the race being a little challenging. Scoping out the first part of the course before the race, it certainly look doable. I was a little concerned about my footing running on the gravel roads. The first part of the course was a short steep uphill followed by a long rolling section that slowly gained elevation. Just before the mile and a half mark, there was a short, steep downhill. It was about a half mile after that, I was doing okay, getting used to the footing and trying to find my pace when suddenly the road started going up. I slowed my pace a bit and focused on getting up the hill. Unlike the hills on my regular runs however, this hill kept going and going. My run slowed to a jog, then slowed to a shuffle. I began gasping a bit for air. My shuffle turned into a walk. Fortunately, for my pride, pretty much everyone else was in the same boat. Only a select few made it up the mountain without walking at least a bit.

The sensation at the turn around point at the top of the mountain was exactly like when you get to the top of that first hill on a roller coaster. All of a sudden, the gravity that had been working against you completely takes over. As I plummeted down the rough gravel road, I found the trick was to take full advantage of gravity, but not to the point of losing complete control of one's descent. The steeper sections I navigated by taking short rapid strides. When the grade was not too steep, I was able to open up my stride and really set a blistering pace.

By the time, I got down the mountain my legs were a wreck. My calves hated me. My quads felt week. Even the small hills on the way back humbled me into walking parts of them. By the last mile, I was starting to recover a little bit and even managed to hold off several challengers.

I finished the race 44th in a time of 48:34. Given the difficulty of the course, I was nothing short of amazed.

It was a relatively small race and didn't have many amenities. However, the hospitality of the folks from Toccoa more than made up for it.