2025 Horse Thief 30 Mile

The Background

My next race was to be the Horse Thief 30 Mile.  It was a new race put on by Trailzen, Joyce & Joe Prusaits and others who were part of Tejas Trails back when I started ultrarunning.  Plus, the race would have many steep hills.

On breaks at work, I did stair repeats.  Plus, I used our gym's Stairmaster.  I tried to get in a greater volume of running.  The Labor Day weekend I did 5-mile runs followed by 100 flights of stairs for 3 days.

Also, I got into David Goggins' videos.  Then, I read the first few chapters of his book Can't  Hurt Me. The second challenge in his book was an accountability mirror.  You set a goal, then break the goal down into steps.  Put the next step on a sticky note and put it on your mirror. My goal was to finish the Canal Corridor 100 Mile and earn a Western States qualifier.  The next step I was: "Run what is runnable at Horse Thief 30 Mile."  I had relied a bit too much on hiking at Habanero 50k, so I thought I would try to force myself to run when I did not want to. Plus, Goggins talks a lot about embracing suffering and callousing the mind, which I hoped would help me not quit at Canal Corridor. 

I had a work party the evening before, so Terri and I went to that and got home a bot before 8pm.  I was supposed to leave by 3:30am, but I woke up and could not sleep. So I left early.  But then I got sleepy on the road and stopped at a gas station.  When I woke up, I realized I would only arrive 30 minutes early, a bit less than I like.  But I got there, and it was all fine.

The Race

When I looked at the weather report a few days before, it said high of 92.  So I wore my long-sleeve USA Fit Marathon shirt to protect me from the sun.  But it was overcast and humid, so the long sleeves were pointless and made me uncomfortable. 

Course Profile

The race is a 10-mile loop with aid stations every 2 miles or so.  The first half mile is the West Fenceline climb.  Then there is a bit that is uphill but runnable, so I ran that. After about 1.25 miles there is a gradual downhill to Party Barn Aid.  

Right after Party Barn Aid there is the Road Hill climb.  Then, there is a drop down Cave Hill to the Valley. Then, you climb up Mustang Hill to the Mustang Aid.

Then, you drop down Arabien Hill, and there is a road section.  This whole section is pretty easy, save the climb up East Fenceline to Shetland Aid.

The next section is the hardest and 2.7 miles long.  You drop down Shetland Hill, and then there is climb up the Clydsdale Loop. There are two more climbs along the way.  Then, you climb back up Shetland Hill to Shetland Aid.

The final section is 1.3 miles.  You drop down the East Fenceline, and it is mostly easy runnable trail back to the start.

On the first loop, I ran all that was runnable of this including some slight uphills. I was slow on the climbs, maybe because I wore myself out running. 

I needed to use the restroom, and I went to my car to change from the long-sleeve shirt to a t-shirt. I lost 10 minutes for this, and starting the 2nd loop it was 2:45 elapsed.

I remembered by accountability mirror step: run what is runnable.  I did that all the way to mile 14 or so.   Then I threw in another burst of running to mile 15.  By that time, I knew the hills were ahead so I hiked a bit to prepare to face them.

Along the way, I saw a runner I know, Nancy, and I said hi.

At some point, I was hiking and another lady ran past me.  I pictured David Goggins yelling at me, "You gonna let her pass you? You said you would run what is runnable! This is runnable!" So I ran for a while to get ahead of her.

I hiked through the hills and ran a bit to finish the 2nd loop. I saw Joe and held up my finger: "One more!" and he cheered.

I hiked up the West Fenceline.  Remembering my accountability mirror step, I forced myself to run up the rest of the incline. 

Then I got a bit low on calories and felt weak.  I tired to move as best as I could.  I could tell I was getting close to my finishing time being 9 hours, and I worked to keep it under that.  

Anything relatively flat, I said, "Give me more of this. Let me move." 

Finally, I approached Shetland Aid.  I told myself to take it one hill at a time.  I also thought I missed the boat by not putting something about hills in my accountability mirror step! I hiked through the hills.

Leaving Shetland Aid, I ran a lot of the last mile.  I finished in 8:46, 8th place out of 14 finishers and 17 starters.

Results

My ultrasignup rating had dipped below 60%, then I got it back up above 60%.  This race looked like it would be about 69%, which would help.  Not that that really matters, but it is something that can motivate me to not take it too easy in races.

Reflections

I love Horse Thief, and I will run it again, God willing. It was great to see many folks from my earliest days of ultrarunning.

The Goggins philosophy  helped me.  I might have been over 9 hours without it.  I did not run everything that was runnable, but I did that a lot. Goggins does stress that this is about progress.

I'm glad I did the stairs.  I had not done enough stairs before Bandera this year.  Still, I wasn't super strong on the climbs, so I need to ramp it up leading into Dinosaur Valley this year.

My pace was 17:32.  That gives me confidence for the flat Canal Corridor 18-minute pace and the hilly Dinosaur Valley 21:17 pace.

Thanks to God, Joe, Joyce, Trailzen, the volunteers, Terri, James, Paloma, friends, and all my family for the support!