Brownsville ultra marathon runner Art Hurtado crosses the finish line in the Border to Badlands 50-Miler in Del Rio, Texas, earlier this year. (Courtesy photo)
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Avid runner Art Hurtado, who runs the beach patrol on South Padre Island, has become a specialist in ultra marathons, which start at 50K, or 31 miles, and go up to 250 miles or more.
Since running in the 126th Boston Marathon a year ago, Hurtado has won the grueling Habanero 100, setting a course record of 18 hours, 57 minutes in August 2022
After that he signed up for another 100-miler near Zion National Park in Utah.
In between, he ran four marathons and a 50-mile race to get ready for the Zion Ultra, including a win in the Brownsville Marathon in December to go along with top-three finishes in the Harlingen and McAllen marathons in early 2023.
He also ran in the Marathon to Marathon in Marathon, Texas, finishing in the top three, followed by winning the Border Badlands 50-miler in Del Rio, Texas, in a course record-time of seven hours, six minutes.
Finally, he ran the Zion Ultra Marathon three weeks ago.
“It was pretty brutal, it took out a lot of people” Hurtado said of the Habnero 100 in Cat Spring, in East Texas near Houston. “Just because of the heat and humidity here in the Valley and my job as an ocean lifeguard, it helped me prepare for it, so I felt good going into it, but I didn’t know it was going to go that well,” he said.
“It’s on a horse ranch that they have out there, so it’s sandy horse trails,” Hurtado said of the terrain.
The climate is slightly drier than the Valley, but the race started at noon under a heat index of 110 degrees.
“It’s purposely billed to be just that hot and difficult. On race day, 39 didn’t finish and 28 finished,” he said, quoting the race website.
“They’re ultra marathon trail races, and I’m very much embracing them,” Hurtado said. “I think I can push it a lot farther. I’m still trying to find how far I can push it.”
A year ago, Hurtado was aiming toward the Moab 240 in Utah. Now, he said his priority has changed to trying to qualify for the Badwater 135, a race in Southern California’s Death Valley, billed as one of the most difficult races in the world.
“It’s really hot and in the middle of the summer as well,” he said.
The race is in July. Hurtado is trying to qualify for 2024.
So how does one prepare?
“Besides the obvious running, which I do tons of almost every single day, I cross train a lot. I swim. I lift a lot of weights. I started doing pilates and a lot of yoga, because you can only run so much. You have to make up the training with other things, and you have to strengthen for the environments you get into. We’re here in the Valley where everything’s basically flat. You have one hill. I try to do what I can with the resources we have here,” he said.
And how do you fit running in and training for these long races into your work schedule?
“Basically I wake up very early or stay up late to get my mileage. I’m an early bird. As long as I get it done early, I have no problem with work, and my job itself is athletic. It ties in with my performance here at work. I’m able to stay in shape,” he said.
Hurtado ran his first marathon in 2019 and took up running in ultra marathons during the pandemic when there wasn’t much else to do.
His long-term goal is the Moab 240, in Moab, Utah, and then there’s the triple crown, which is the Moab 240 and two other 200-mile races, the Bigfoot 200 in the Cascade Mountains and the Tahoe 200 in Lake Tahoe, California.
In September, Hurtado is signed up for the Piney Woods 50K in Tyler, Texas, in November for the New York City Marathon and in December for the Brazos Bend 100 miler in Texas.
He credited sponsors including Hardknox Strength and Performance and My Body Pilates in Brownsville, Footworks, and financial planner Humphrey Thomas for providing financial support that makes running in the races possible.
“I’m staying healthy. I think it’s a celebration of what my body can do and what anybody can really do. I’m fortunate enough to be in a position where I can train for these races, and I’m taking advantage of that. But I don’t think I’m doing anything that the average person wouldn’t be able to do,” Hurtado said.
“I want to be an example of being able to do what anybody is capable of. Every time I do one of these races, I find I have gone a lot farther than I thought I was capable of,” he said.
Hurtado is 37, but he said an older demographic of people in their 40s and 50s often do well in the long races because they have the patience required.
“Age is just a number. The mental game is embracing the pain when it does come and be able to still function, still push it and reach your goal,” he said, adding that recovery is just as important as the training itself.
