The 2023 Ride Like the Wind 50-mile endurance ride in Big Hill Lake, Kan., had one very unique competitor – Nicole Teeny, a runner on two legs competing against a field of horses.

When long-distance runner Teeny was diagnosed with epilepsy in October 2018 following two severe seizures, she thought her running career was over. Having lost the freedom to run on her own, drive a car, take a bath, or even use sharp knives in case another seizure hit, Teeny needed to find a way to take back control of her life. A single line in the book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall sparked Teeny with the inspiration that she needed. McDougall explains the endurance running hypothesis, which states that humans are the best long-distance runners because they evolved to persistent hunt prey. He claims that over distance, humans can outrun any animal – even a horse. 

“To me, horses were these powerful, really fast creatures like in the Pony Express,” Teeny marveled. “How could I outrun a horse if humanity has relied on them for centuries and civilizations have been built on their backs?”

Despite her initial disbelief, Teeny made it her goal to race a horse in an ultramarathon, and in doing so, take back the control of her body that epilepsy had stolen. The filmmaker and founder/owner of Teeny Motion Pictures chronicled her journey in a four-episode podcast for ESPN’s 30 for 30 Podcasts titled GIRL V HORSE.

“The fact that I could potentially outrun a horse was mind-boggling to me,” Teeny said. “It was a wacky, out-of-this-world crazy idea that lodged in the back of my head ... My epilepsy diagnosis broke the paradigm of what was possible. So, I thought that if anything is possible in a negative way then maybe anything is possible in a positive way, too.

“Having a big goal like running against horses gave me hope. Sometimes, when it seems like the rules of the universe no longer exist, then you can break the rules in other ways. What we think of as unimaginable suddenly becomes imaginable,” Teeny went on to say. “This dream became a symbol of regaining my freedom and independence. If I could get to the point where I could race against a horse, then I'd know that I’d regained my sense of self and was strong again.”

Teeny first came in contact with horses through her aunt, who owns three horses named Storm, Lucy, and Echo, but she had limited experience with them. “The more time I spent with them, the more comfortable I felt as they got to know me,” she said, as her aunt explained that horses feed off our energy.

“After doing the race and spending time on the trail with a lot of horses, I feel connected to them in a way, as if their spirits are with me,” Teeny said. She talks about that equine spirit a number of times in the podcast series, as she compares the impact of epilepsy on her brain to a stampede of wild horses.

The horses she raced against in Ride Like the Wind were not wild horses, but highly trained and conditioned endurance horses, and Teeny learned that the equine athletes were more like herself than she’d ever imagined. “I talked to the vet at the endurance ride and the way that he described his examination of the horse was very interesting because he was comparing body parts of the horse to humans,” she said. “I had never thought about those corresponding with our own body parts. Seeing how it manifested with the different bones and biological structures being the same as ourselves was fascinating.

“When I crossed the finish line at my own race, the vet said: ‘should we have you pulse down?’ which I thought was pretty cute!” she laughed. Teeny was also fascinated to learn that horses are prey animals. “They are such large, majestic creatures, you wouldn't think that they would be scared so easily,” she said. “That was really something that I could empathize with, and it was a perception shift moment for me. Everybody has a fear, everybody has something they have got to get through.”

While medication kept her seizures mostly at bay, Teeny committed to an intense training program to prepare for the race. With the help of running coach Sarah Scozzaro and the support of her now-wife, Mariel, she managed to build up her endurance to beat the longest run she’d ever ran: 30 miles. However, the 50-mile course over hilly terrain for Ride Like the Wind was still daunting, especially as she would also have horses galloping past her on a single-track trail. “You have to really trust that the horses see you and aren't going to literally run you over,” she said, describing it as both scary and inspiring. “Part of that is learning horse etiquette and warning them so that they're not afraid of you. In turn, I had to not be afraid of them so that we could work together.”

There were 18 horse and rider combinations doing the 50-mile course and the first horse Teeny encountered on the trail was named Roslyn. “She was kicking up and a little bit upset. I didn’t know what to do or how to get around,” Teeny said, but as Roslyn calmed down and Teeny passed other horses, she became more comfortable with the situation and began to appreciate the uniqueness of it.

“It was neat to be running with each other because I felt like it's a vantage point not many people get the chance to have, which is literally running next to a horse.” She described it as sharing a moment in time together. “It's this magical space where it's only you two in the world. Running on the trail next to the horses is an experience unlike anything I could have ever imagined,” she smiled. “It felt like we were doing something together, it was something we were both invested in on equal footing.” 

Teeny witnessed firsthand how agile horses can be when she encountered a steep uphill rock scramble, which she had to tackle on her hands and knees. “I just watched a horse fly up the embankment like a mountain goat. It was basically perpendicular, and each leg was like Spiderman,” she said. “It was just wild! There were legs going in every direction.” 

The experience at Ride Like the Wind has inspired Teeny to bring horses into her life more. “I told my wife at the end of the race that I don’t want to run people races anymore, I only want to race with horses. It would be great if more of these horse and human collaborative horse races happened,” she said. In the meantime, Teeny is going to take riding lessons from her aunt. “We're going to Glacier National Park [in Montana] and I was going to do a lot of trails running but now I want to ride as there’s some really cool places that you can only get to on horseback.”

On Nov. 3, 2024, Teeny successfully completed another bucket list goal by running the 2024 New York Marathon. 

Listen to GIRL V HORSE on Apple podcasts or 30for30podcasts.com to find out if Teeny managed to beat any of the horses in her race of a lifetime.

November is Epilepsy Awareness Month, click here to learn more about it.