From Road to Trail: Rachel Moore's Endurance Evolution

In this episode of the Infinite Endurance Podcast, host Philip J. Sebastiani interviews Rachel Moore, who recently completed her first backyard ultra, completing 41 yards and an astonishing 170+ miles. Our conversation covers Rachel's journey into ultra-running, her experiences in various races, her preparation for the backyard ultra, and her strategies for nutrition and hydration during the race. Rachel shares insights on the importance of listening to one's body, the challenges of transitioning from road to trail running, and the supportive community within the ultra-running scene. She discusses the emotional and physical difficulties faced during the race, the importance of crew support, and the empowerment of her fellow female competitors. Rachel also reflects on her recovery strategies, future aspirations in ultra-running, and the balance between her teaching career and passion for running.

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Transcript

Philip Sebastiani (00:01.062)
All right, welcome to the Infinite Endurance Podcast. I'm your host, Philip J. Sebastiani, and today I have my first guest on the show, and it is Rachel Moore. How are you doing?

Rachel Moore (00:13.676)
I'm doing well, thank you. Super excited to be here.

Philip Sebastiani (00:16.026)
Yeah. Yes. I'm really excited to engage in conversation with you over our time together. And just for our listeners, she just completed her first, if I'm correct, first backyard ultra and knocked it out of the park, 41 hours, over 170 miles. And when I saw that, I was just so impressed and I'm so glad that she agreed to be on the show today.

Rachel Moore (00:29.922)
Yes, that's correct.

Rachel Moore (00:41.438)
So thank you so much and congratulations to you being a national champion that same weekend.

Philip Sebastiani (00:46.653)
yeah. Yeah, that was a, that was just a good weekend for Texas runners. seemed in general.

Rachel Moore (00:50.74)
It was, yeah. That's awesome. That is huge. I'm still stoked for you.

Philip Sebastiani (00:56.346)
Yeah, so as we go and continue to talk, there's a fun fact. I don't know if you were aware of, but I looked it up, because I'm a numbers person, and I looked it up on Ultra Running Magazine. So your effort at the Summit Backyard Ultra ranks you 50th in North America, like top 50. Did you know that?

Rachel Moore (01:13.718)
I did not know that. Thanks for sharing. That's really cool.

Philip Sebastiani (01:16.06)
Yeah, that's overall. And if you zoom into the women, you're top 10. So that is something really to be proud of. Yeah, I thought if I share that with you, I don't know if you, I'm kind of nerdy in that way with the numbers, so.

Rachel Moore (01:21.61)
No way. Wow. Thank you. I love that. I was actually just listening to what podcast you were on with Texas Outlaw about how I think, what is it? I might get these numbers wrong, but 174 backyard ultras in the United States and five in Texas. Is that right? I thought that was funny. I loved that.

Philip Sebastiani (01:43.74)
Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's cool. So it really puts you in the top, top, like, you know, top echelon here. And so I think it's, we're just going to have a great conversation and something that I thought of, I'm sorry, I prepare you for this. Just, I was thinking about it during the day. It says kind of set me apart from other podcasts as I'm going to do at the beginning of these interviews, what I call an athlete profile. Okay. So this is going to be five questions.

Rachel Moore (01:59.416)
No, it's okay.

Rachel Moore (02:08.344)
Okay.

Philip Sebastiani (02:10.652)
And it's just going to kind of get listeners getting to know you a little bit, me to get to know you very, you know, kind of if we want to relate it to like a little icebreaker, right? Everyone loves a little icebreaker. Maybe some more than others. But here's the first question. Describe yourself in one word.

Rachel Moore (02:20.526)
Yes.

Rachel Moore (02:28.462)
Ooh, enthusiastic?

Philip Sebastiani (02:32.744)
I definitely agree with that. That's great. Just, just from when we started talking, yeah, definitely enthusiastic. All right. Second question. What's your, where is your favorite place to train? Out of all the places you've run, raced, what's, what's your favorite?

Rachel Moore (02:48.846)
That's hard, my goodness.

I feel like it definitely depends on what I'm training for because I mean, if it's a mountainous race, then maybe I currently live close to the Guadalupe mountains and it's beautiful out there and you get a lot of elevation within four miles up to the peak. if it's, gosh, that's tough. I also did good water loop a lot when I lived in the Austin area. So probably one of those two, definitely trails, somewhere outside in the trails.

Philip Sebastiani (03:14.928)
Mm-hmm.

Philip Sebastiani (03:20.444)
Yeah, I've done parts of Goodwater. I haven't been to Guadalupe yet at all. It's on my list. But yeah, it's good. Third question, what's one piece of gear you must have whenever you step out the door to train? What do you always pack in?

Rachel Moore (03:23.022)
Okay.

Okay.

Rachel Moore (03:38.326)
handheld probably. No I have a hydro just a hydro flask yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (03:39.706)
handheld, any specific brand or...

Philip Sebastiani (03:45.412)
sweet, yep, does it have like one of those, just like the straight, like just the jug or does it have like a handheld into it?

Rachel Moore (03:50.446)
It has a handle on it. I actually just bought a new one right before this ultra or this backyard that has the thumb loop, which was new to me. And so sometimes before a new loop would start, I would try and figure out how do I get my thumb in here? But yeah, always. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, but always drinking water, electrolytes, something.

Philip Sebastiani (04:05.454)
Yeah, how to get control of your fingers again after running for so long.

Philip Sebastiani (04:14.492)
Yeah, I can imagine living in Austin area before and then now in the Glottal Whoopee Peak, hydration's probably really important out there, isn't it? So that's cool. All right, fourth question. Do you have any pre-race rituals or superstitions?

Rachel Moore (04:22.53)
Yes, always.

Rachel Moore (04:30.754)
I don't, not really. do, okay, so I will take a hot, if it's accessible, a hot shower before, I feel like the warmth just kind of loosens up my muscles. So instead of doing a warmup, sometimes just getting into some hot water kind of helps me loosen up. But sometimes that's like, we're camping out, floor erase, then that's not, so no, I don't think I do.

Philip Sebastiani (04:48.655)
out.

Philip Sebastiani (04:55.94)
All right. Yeah. Yeah. Hot shower sounds, sounds great before and after like all of these things, right? All right. Here's the last question to complete our athlete profile. What's your go-to post-race meal?

Rachel Moore (04:59.853)
Yeah.

Rachel Moore (05:08.728)
Hmm Anything Yeah, I Gosh, that's hard. I don't think I have a one specific thing. No, it's whatever whatever is available

Philip Sebastiani (05:12.526)
anything.

Philip Sebastiani (05:23.59)
So how about what do you eat after summit? What about that?

Rachel Moore (05:27.278)
I had a real hard time eating. I didn't have much of an appetite and then my tongue had a few blisters. think it was, yeah, maybe just too, I don't want to say I had too much salt because everything seemed to be functioning properly. yeah, that's what actually took longest to recover. I was with my sister and someone asked me how I doing. was like, I'm good. She goes, but your tongue. I said, yeah. Yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (05:29.82)
Okay.

Philip Sebastiani (05:53.276)
Right, the something that you wouldn't think is directly related to actually running, but you know, important just for human existence, right? Like betraying you kind of a way. Well, thanks for indulging me in that. I thought it'd just be a fun way to just kind of get to know each other a little bit and kind of think outside the box as we kind of dive in here to the meat and potatoes of things. And really I just want to start with your running origins. Like, where did you use straight? You started like on the road, natural progression. Like did you do...

Rachel Moore (05:59.693)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Thanks.

Philip Sebastiani (06:21.242)
any other endurance sports? Like how did you find your way in endurance and ultra running?

Rachel Moore (06:26.678)
Okay, yeah, so I didn't really run a lot throughout school. And then it wasn't until after college, well, in college, I had a friend, a soccer player who asked me to do rock and roll half marathon in San Antonio with her. So I started training with her. I did that. And afterwards, I thought I'm never gonna run this far again. But then I did another half. So I started on the road. And then it wasn't until 2022.

that I did my first trail race and it was also my first ultra. It was in Big Ben, which is kind of the area I grew up in out in West Texas. So that's where endurance started for me. I had done a couple of triathlons before that, but I really just loved the running.

Discipline in the triathlons the swim was never a strength for me bike was fine, but I always just loved when I could just run I was actually training for a Houston marathon with a couple of guys I had met I was in working in Garden City and My superintendent and then a school board member Scott Bicknell and Jason Flores Asked if I'd wanted to train with them and I'd never really ran with anyone. I always just ran by myself most of the time and

Working with the same kind of schedule, both, I mean, all three of us were involved in school. And so we would start our runs four, 4.30 in the morning. And we followed that Hanson method. so doing training with them, I got to see just the importance of being with other people. When you're training, both of them had other obligations. One of them had an injury and so he couldn't do the Houston Marathon and then the other.

fell off too and so I was just left with like, man, I'm this, I'm at really great fitness right now and feeling really strong. I don't know what to do though. So that's when I signed up for that Big Ben Ultra. And then I was very humbling, very, very humbling, cause I didn't understand at the time the importance of, guess, going a little bit slower and then also just how different trails are from road. And so.

Rachel Moore (08:48.206)
That's kind of when it started. And then the same year I did Cactus Rose 100. So 2022 is the year that it kind of kicked off for me and started.

Philip Sebastiani (09:00.304)
Yeah, I would say that's probably the biggest hurdle for a lot of people when they convert from road to trail is the energy output that it actually does require to run like say a nine minute pace, which, you know, a lot of road people, a nine minute pace is pretty pedestrian, you know, and, but on the trail that...

Rachel Moore (09:18.167)
Right.

Philip Sebastiani (09:21.756)
might feel like seven minute pace on the road, right? Depending on what you're running on. So that's really cool. I just want to, I'm just curious. Let's, keep fast forwarding a little bit. So you said you had a cactus rose in, was there so you said they do the a hundred or what did you do there?

Rachel Moore (09:23.968)
yeah.

Yes.

Rachel Moore (09:31.374)
Yeah.

I did, yeah, the 100 miler out at Cactus Rose. I had my sister and my dad out there accruing me and I did pretty well at that race. I had a friend named Mackenzie Terrell. She had done Leadville 100. I'd never met her in person, but I had heard amazing things about her. So I reached out and asked if she wouldn't mind pacing me. And we had talked one time over Zoom and she just kind of went over some, she gave me some tips on.

Philip Sebastiani (09:36.283)
Okay.

Rachel Moore (10:02.382)
doing 100 miles and kind of what to expect. And her family actually owned a house out there in Bandera. And so she was just a huge blessing to me, that race, and then helped me get from that mile 80 to 100. My watch had died. And so it was really frustrating kind of not knowing the progress I was making, what pace I was at, but having her there kind of just helped tremendously. And think I ended up finishing around 27 hours.

I think I was the first female, so that was kind of exciting. My first 100 did pretty well. There's not a ton of people that go out to do that race, but it is very, very challenging, pretty technical.

Philip Sebastiani (10:47.066)
Yeah. Can you, can you remind me what time of year is that race? October. that's, I can just imagine the, the heat during that time. And then just the stories I've heard of the terrain out there. It's you have to really come up, come prepared or you're going to suffer the consequences. So that's cool. So let's first hundred miler. What kind of happened after that? What let's, let's keep, let's get to present day. Let's, let's keep going forward in time. Let me hear it.

Rachel Moore (10:50.348)
That is in October.

Rachel Moore (11:05.356)
Yeah,

Rachel Moore (11:11.95)
Okay, yeah, so I attempted another hundred out in the Fort Davis Mountains, Southwest 100, and I DNFed around, well, 79, so I know what that feels like. I had a district track meet the same, or like that next day, and just kinda had a lot, like just let my mind wander and started thinking about other things. 2023 was not a really strong year for me, and I haven't, I don't wanna, I mean,

Philip Sebastiani (11:28.124)
Hold

Rachel Moore (11:41.026)
I don't feel like I've done a ton of races. did do some this year actually was I did Texas Outlaws night series. And I remember that's where I first saw you was at this. I think it was the second one. So the first one was that fire fire trail. I did that one and I did it after I just paced one of my friends, Alyssa McClellan at this BPN 50 mile. I had the honor and privilege of pacing her for 25.

Philip Sebastiani (11:57.969)
Yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (12:04.348)
Mm-hmm.

Rachel Moore (12:10.358)
miles and then that next day or the same day I went out to do that fire trail and it was a 50k after the first loop I thought gosh like I'm probably gonna come DFL like I'm gonna be last but it's okay and then I ended up first at that race also I had my friend Tracy out there and again just a huge blessing having her there to kind of support me and be there for me on each loop and then the next one was Noches.

And that's where I saw you and you broke the course record. mean, I saw you take off and I was like, my gosh, he must be doing a shorter distance, but you ended up doing the 40-miler.

Philip Sebastiani (12:44.932)
Yeah. yeah. I must've just missed you. Cause I went back and looked at results. Yeah. And I was like, I must've, must've been done. Cause I did the 40 mile and then I had some friends who did shorter races. after that we kind of packed up and went cause we had quite a drive back the next morning. Cause so I'm in Amarillo, Texas or Canyon, Texas actually. So, so it's a bit ways away right from there, but yeah, it's kind of.

Rachel Moore (13:09.764)
yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (13:12.892)
just darn I just missed you because like you said you got first female at that right? that what you said? Yeah. And I guess you probably then broke the female course record for that too. Because I think you, I would assume right? Yeah. Yeah. Cause I believe it was something like 740 was the previous record and there was a slew of people around it and below it. So I assume like all kinds of records were broke. So that's cool.

Rachel Moore (13:16.564)
Yes, yeah, yeah.

Rachel Moore (13:22.318)
Yeah, I think so. Yeah.

Rachel Moore (13:35.63)
Yeah, it was like you I think I'd seen you say it was a lot cooler Yeah, right

Philip Sebastiani (13:40.188)
Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Like 85, right? Cause they, cause the year before I did the mayor, the marathon or two years, maybe two years before it, I did the, marathon and it was actually 27, like 29 miles, something like that. And it was like 102 at the start. Like, and I was just like, okay, so this is way better. Yeah. But it's beautiful course. And, just, yeah, just like at the edge of kind of Hill country. So I'm sure it's like gnarly, it's way more gnarlier things down there.

Rachel Moore (13:58.616)
Yeah, yeah.

Rachel Moore (14:09.282)
Yeah. Yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (14:10.458)
Okay, so Noche, so you said that was this year. So we're getting close, we're almost there to summit. What else brought you? What else got you there?

Rachel Moore (14:13.678)
Mm-hmm.

Yes. So I did, I mean, that was, I did a hundred mile in August in Oregon again with my friend Mackenzie. She's always throwing these, she throws these ideas at me of different races. Cause I feel like I'm still new to it and the community and she shares a lot of different races with me. And she had this idea to do Oregon Cascades 100 mile.

And so that Noches was kind of like our long training run. She was there with me that night to do it also as our long training run. Because it's hard to get those on your own. that was it before the backyard.

Philip Sebastiani (14:58.596)
Yeah. And actually, I spent my undergrad in the state of Oregon. So yeah, I'm familiar with sisters, Oregon and there it's beautiful like bend and central Oregon is just gorgeous. Like real just hidden gem. It feels like off this world. So any, any listeners who are on the fence of cascade, like you gotta, you gotta go run it. Right.

Rachel Moore (15:04.544)
Okay. Yes.

Rachel Moore (15:12.428)
It was.

Rachel Moore (15:18.264)
Yeah, it was beautiful. Definitely amazing.

Philip Sebastiani (15:21.852)
Yeah, okay, so that brings us then kind of to the Backyard Ultra and what made you, inspired you really to take on the challenge? Because it's a different format than everything. Do you want to kind of explain to everyone kind of what the format is?

Rachel Moore (15:37.57)
Sure. So it's a 4.167-ish mile loop that you do every hour on the hour until there's one person left standing. That's, yeah, just a bit.

Philip Sebastiani (15:51.798)
So did that just kind of intrigue you, that format?

Rachel Moore (15:54.602)
It did. Yeah, it did. Yeah, I was skeptical about how it would feel to stop and go and not sure how my body would would respond to that. And that was the only thing I wasn't sure about. But I feel like there's always so many uncertainties we have before any race we go into. I had actually been at this summit backyard ultra the year before, but I always there was always some conflict with my schedule. I was coaching basketball and we always

had a tournament that fell on that weekend. my goodness. And so,

Rachel Moore (16:33.614)
Rachel Moore (16:37.282)
They, this year there's been a lot of changes and I was just grateful for an open weekend and it was the same weekend that this race fell on. So, and I just wanted to see what my body is capable of doing, how far I could go.

Philip Sebastiani (16:55.088)
Yeah, so were you expecting a number like 170? Did you go in with any kind of goal in mind or it really was until you couldn't run anymore?

Rachel Moore (17:08.11)
I don't even want to say I couldn't run anymore. I definitely think I could have kept going. think anyone would say that. Megan also, who won, I'm sure she could have kept going too. Her and I both, I feel like, could have quite several more hours. Yeah, so I didn't really have a number. I feel like I had a lot of confidence, kind of, and faith that I could go pretty far.

I wasn't sure how far, wasn't sure, I was, if I could make it past 100, I would be happy, because that's the furthest I'd ever done. And that would also be a PR for doing it in 24 hours. So once I got there, I was pretty stoked. So wow, I just, that was my first 100 in 24 hours, and I was still feeling good. And then, yeah, just one loop at a time.

Philip Sebastiani (17:47.002)
Yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (17:58.63)
So did you ever reach out to anyone for advice or guidance? it sounded like as you started, it seems like you're a student of the sport. You reach out, you ask for help. Did you go to anyone for inspiration or advice?

Rachel Moore (18:13.87)
I didn't, not really. thought about it. thought, so the guys who both, who were the two last year that finished, Shelby and Greg Falls, they both ran at bigs this year. And so I got to see them last year run the race and it was super inspiring just seeing them go for 50, I want to say it was 58, 59 hours, something like that. And then they both were representing the United States this year at the Worlds.

Big backyard, big. And so I thought about reaching out to Bo. I know that I didn't though. I just watched some YouTube videos and tried to educate myself. I watched some videos on Phil Gore. He had a good one. Yeah, it was good. And I saw this little

Philip Sebastiani (18:53.167)
You

Philip Sebastiani (18:57.158)
Yeah.

I was just going to mention that one. His is really good.

Rachel Moore (19:06.828)
binder that I think his wife had there and how she had all these different columns of things to keep in check, your mood, are you eating, sleeping, she would just all the checklists. I didn't and I didn't really change shoes a whole lot. I wore two pair, that was it.

Philip Sebastiani (19:16.294)
Did you do the shoe organizer?

Philip Sebastiani (19:24.628)
Yeah, because I remember if we're talking about the same documentary, he organized all his things in like a shoe organizer, like the plastic see-through ones. Yeah. Yes.

Rachel Moore (19:33.486)
Yes, yes. Okay, so I did have one of those. I didn't put my shoes in it, but I did put, and I felt like it was helpful to have a lot of snacks and things in there, because I would forget what I had packed, but when it's in your view and eyesight, you remember it. So I'd sit there and kind of look and be like, yeah, that sounds good right now. I'll grab one of those. So I did use a shoe organizer, but it was mostly just for food. And yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (20:00.026)
Yeah, that's still good. Cause I think in these events, you know, I've only ever done one and didn't go nearly as far as you. And I think as if you can save as much and mental energy as possible and put it into the actual yard, it, it enables you to go further. So it's just one strategy you can use.

Rachel Moore (20:17.076)
Absolutely. Yes. That is a good strategy. Yes. Yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (20:22.916)
So you kind of, we kind of talked about this before, but going into the race, what really did your preparation look like besides that no chain run? Like, did you do practice yards? Did you do anything like that or it's long runs?

Rachel Moore (20:37.626)
I didn't, I thought about it. where I was living with my sister before I moved here and there is a county park not far from her house. had a past two and there was a five mile loop on, it was all trail. And before I moved, I would go out there and I would do sometimes three or four every hour. So I do those five miles in about an hour and then do it again. And on the weekends I would do maybe three to four hours.

So it wasn't anything super long. I mean, it only 15 to 20 miles maybe. But then just consistency throughout the week, is most, it was mostly just easy runs. There would be a few kind of speed workouts or tempo workouts where I just try and get the legs to turn over a little quicker. But that was it.

Philip Sebastiani (21:28.356)
Yeah, I like that because it's, think some people do more harm if they're doing like six, seven hour train runs all the time. And really three hours is all we need as to get adaptations and kind of save it all for racing. Cause really that's what I cap a lot of mine. Why not too? So that's really great. Let's talk about nutrition and hydration during the race. Kind of it's, know,

You're slowing down a lot, so there's time to, like you said, snack real foods. Was there anything that was like your go-to? Anything that was like, that does not sound good ever? Kind of walk us through that.

Rachel Moore (22:05.902)
Yeah, so I wasn't, I didn't have much of an appetite and I also didn't want to force anything. One thing I learned and I'm continuing to learn is how important it is to listen to our bodies. And I know a lot of people say you need to get two, three, 400 calories a loop. And I believe there is science behind that and it works for some people. But I, if I tend to force something and my body doesn't want it, I just like, I don't want to throw up.

And I definitely don't want to feel like heavy or weighted down or just like there's a lot of stuff sloshing to my stomach. I didn't. And there would be loops where I wouldn't really have anything. Candy was kind of my go to. But there were some loops where I come in just really hungry. And I had probably packed way more. I did pack way more food than I needed, but I wasn't sure what I was going to need or want. Avocado was kind of my go to. I think I had probably two whole avocados, one.

loop I came in, my sister, she smashed it up for me, Michelle, and put some salt on that. Someone also, I don't know who, think my other sister, my sister's out there helping me, someone had Panda Express and I looked at it and I thought, hey, who's this? This looks kind of good. And so I ate some of the noodles from there and some of the chicken, I think it was teriyaki chicken, and that was pretty good. But that was probably the only real, like,

Philip Sebastiani (23:16.444)
You

Rachel Moore (23:31.338)
Whole food I ate. I mean there was a lot of fruit. I did eat quite a bit of fruit and then just lifesavers were a lifesaver. And then yeah, just some candies and hydration. I every loop would drink that 500 milliliter bottle I was carrying in most the first couple loops. It was water and every loop after that was some usually element or something. And then there was

several loops where again, I just wanted just straight water. And then those loops, I didn't want to eat anything either. And I would come in and I would tell them, hey, I don't know food right now. My body doesn't feel like eating. I don't want to eat because it also sometimes takes energy to break down that food. then I was like, I'm just going to lay down and just kind of let my body rest until I'm ready to eat again. So I wasn't real strict on, every loop I have to get this many calories or eat this much food. was just kind of listening to my body and what it felt like it needed.

Philip Sebastiani (24:30.246)
That is just great advice, I think for anyone who wants to do one of these backyard ultras or longer ultras is tuning into your body. Yeah, that's very important. Just a little follow up. What's your favorite flavor of LM &T?

Rachel Moore (24:45.12)
The watermelon, watermelon salt. Yes.

Philip Sebastiani (24:47.208)
Yes. I am team watermelon salt too. Whenever I order it, it's like, okay, watermelon salt, orange, sometimes grapefruit, but yeah, that's a great product. Not sponsored by LM &T, but great, great product. I use it during races too all the time. great. So how many, do you how many people were on the line at the start? Rough estimate.

Rachel Moore (24:55.767)
Yeah.

Rachel Moore (25:00.835)
Awesome. Yeah. Good.

Rachel Moore (25:10.542)
When I looked at Ultra Sign Up, it said there were 58 people that had signed up. I'm not sure if all of them started. I know sometimes there's people who do not start. But I want to say there is around 50 plus, yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (25:23.9)
Okay. Yeah, cause I saw a picture as I was trying to learn more about you and the race. They had a tag system or something for each runner or they were on like a board and if you pulled it off, you were out. How did that system work?

Rachel Moore (25:37.942)
Yeah. Yes. Okay, so the loop was actually a little over two miles. And so we did that loop twice. It was on the trail. And then at night, so after 12 hours, you switch to, was, first half is on the road and, I'm sorry, the trail. And then the second half is on the road through those 12 hours in the night. But when you come around the first time, you get this slap bracelet.

to let so that you know. And that was a huge help too for us. Like you said, the toll that it takes on you. Sometimes I wouldn't know like, have I done this loop yet? Or is this my first time, second time? But you do that twice. So then you would get the 4.167. That was the slap bracelet. And then they had us write our name on an ornament that they put up on this board. And so whenever you dropped out or stopped, you would take your ornament and then that was kind of like your prize at the end.

Philip Sebastiani (26:09.786)
You

Rachel Moore (26:36.066)
was that ornament. I picked a star. I had a star. Yeah. Yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (26:36.54)
What, which ornament did you pick? What was it? Star. awesome. Okay, yeah, that's a really cool, unique way to track that. think it's, that might be a common backyard altar thing. think I've seen, we have some documentaries, there's some similar thing, names on a board or.

so you can see who's in that visual of it. And I like how, so you said trail loop during the day, road during night. I think that's similar to bigs, isn't it? Yeah, that's what they do.

Rachel Moore (26:55.938)
Yeah.

Rachel Moore (27:03.15)
Yes. Yeah, so this is a sanction race. know, I think last year was that it was a silver ticket race and that's how Greg Falls got into Big's was that he was the last person standing. He got that silver ticket and then Greg, I'm sorry, Bo Shelby who assisted him, I think it was 15 or 19 hours, I'm not too sure, but he was the alternate on that list and I know a couple of guys

weren't able to make it. I think one was due to injury. And so that's why Bo got moved up. I think they let him know just a week before maybe and invited him out there. And he went out there and did great. Both of them did, I mean, everyone did amazing out there. So.

Philip Sebastiani (27:41.851)
Wow.

Philip Sebastiani (27:48.506)
Yeah, yeah, I was definitely following along and very little work was getting done at work. I was following during that time period. And I believe this was a team championship year. that right? Do know? It wasn't individual year. Yeah, team. So everyone, everyone was important on the, on the start line for each country. Yeah. So.

Rachel Moore (27:51.884)
Yeah. Right. Absolutely.

Rachel Moore (28:01.207)
Yes.

Rachel Moore (28:07.672)
Yeah. Yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (28:11.404)
So we're back kind of to the start line. We're going and was there a certain point during the race where you noticed more people drop out, pack it in? there like, it after the first full day? Was it hour 30? Like what did you kind of notice around you happening?

Rachel Moore (28:30.894)
I think it was around the 100K mark when it was getting night. I remember just hearing a lot of people say, you know, this is it. This is my last one. Everyone goes in kind of with a different goal and it was neat getting to hear what some of their goals were. Cause not everybody's goal is to win and to be the last person standing. But sometimes it's just to get a certain amount of miles or to PR this new distance. And I was really neat. There was one girl, her name's Christine.

who did, she finished that whole hundred, I think there was five still standing whenever we reached that hundred mile, the 24 hour mark. And one of them was Christine and she, the first, the first she ever ran is a marathon. And so she over quadrupled, they're pretty much quadrupled, yeah, her PR. And so that was really exciting. And another girl who was there, Casey.

Last year she had done this backyard and got into 50, and this year she over more than doubled that. So that is really neat just to be there and hear these amazing stories of people who had just gone so much further than they thought. yeah, so I think it was before that, though, that a big number kind of dropped.

Philip Sebastiani (29:50.192)
Yeah, from what I also surmised from kind of researching the race and the results is that it was a great year for even women competitors, which I personally like to see. Like, when did you, and what was her name? Who won? Caitlin? Megan. So when did you all, was it kind of you two from a certain point working together and kind of moving through and?

Rachel Moore (30:09.28)
Megan. Megan, Megan Smith. Yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (30:19.814)
taking out all the guys, what, how would you kind of, how would you describe that kind of moment in the race where more people are dropping and just the empowerment of it's like two women out here?

Rachel Moore (30:21.624)
Hahaha

Rachel Moore (30:32.524)
Yeah, so was actually three with the women that were the final. Yeah, no, that's okay. it was Megan, Casey and myself. We were the final three. It had gotten really hot day two. And I mean, I say really hot, but when you're running and it's pretty exposed and Megan knew, I loved how honest and just open she was about everything. And Megan knew like, hey, Casey probably

Philip Sebastiani (30:35.112)
okay, sorry.

Rachel Moore (31:02.388)
She didn't say that, but there's one or two runners when there were four left. One of them was Megan's friend, Brian, but she said, these two probably aren't going to stay much longer. kind of ran. They were always in a group and I kind of, my pace was a little bit faster. And there were loops where I would, I tried to run with Megan and I did. There were several loops where I was with her and we got to talk and.

It was awesome getting to hear just how accomplished she is in ultra running and all the things she's done. She also, know Christine gave her a lot of credit for helping her reach that hundred mile mark. But again, listening to the body and tuning into the body, my body didn't really like slowing down. Although maybe that is something I would need to work on if I do another one.

So I was always coming in a little before her and it stayed that way pretty much throughout the whole race. There were loops where we would stick together. But it was girls pretty much just from mile, sorry, looped think is like 28 to the end.

Philip Sebastiani (32:12.412)
Yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (32:18.578)
wow. That's, that's substantial, you know, amount of time. And for reasons like that, it's like why I call it a last person standing. I just think it's, it's such a unique kind of genre of ultra running where speed doesn't matter. Gender doesn't matter really, you know, like you mentioned earlier, all those people who are able to go further than they've ever gone before it lended itself to the format. mean, going 14 minute pace.

Rachel Moore (32:20.556)
on the inter-faculty, yeah.

Rachel Moore (32:25.742)
Yeah.

Rachel Moore (32:35.342)
Great. Yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (32:48.284)
It's really hard to just like run 14 minute pace. mean, you can walk, give the muscles break. And I think it's, it's, it's really unique and just awesome about the backyard ultra format. People can, can really find their limit, push it and all those great things. well that did spark another question in my head really just about then more specifically the role of your crew.

Rachel Moore (33:01.134)
Yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (33:17.082)
So you said you had your sisters there and so plural, how many are we talking?

Rachel Moore (33:22.424)
So I have three. One just had a baby recently, and so she couldn't make it. But I had two other sisters, one older, one younger. And then my friend Tracy. And I wasn't really sure. I didn't have a schedule, like, hey, you're working these hours, and you're working these hours, or anything like that. And I told them, was like, hey, if you can make it out here, that's awesome. You have obligations, because my older sister, she's married and has two little girls.

Philip Sebastiani (33:23.996)
Three, okay.

Philip Sebastiani (33:39.461)
Yeah.

Rachel Moore (33:50.434)
Then that's my sister Sharon. And then my sister Michelle, she oftentimes is working two jobs, late hours. She does a lot and she lived a little further away. And Tracy also, I mean, she's married, has kids. She actually just had a grandbaby a couple of days or the day after it finished. And so I knew like, just whatever, I told them whatever you can do and be out here, that'd be awesome. And then Tracy was there from the setup.

to the very end in the pickup. My sisters, Sharon and Michelle, were there a majority of the time. Michelle didn't show up until the second day and she showed up at 10 a.m. But it gave me such motivation and encouragement to keep going. It's like, can't stop till my sister gets here. And then when she gets here, I can't stop. She just showed up. So having crew out there and the support is really, I feel like what helped me get as far as I did.

I don't think if they weren't there, I don't think I would have been able to go as far. So I do think that was a huge, huge staple in doing well.

Philip Sebastiani (35:01.924)
Yes, shout out to the crew. are definitely like unsung heroes sometimes in these things and they're always maybe the closest people to you, the people who understand you the most and they give you power like when these events. Like for me personally, it's always my wife crewing me and it's just special and it's changed the dynamic of our own relationship when she sees me at these.

Rachel Moore (35:07.732)
Wow.

Rachel Moore (35:20.322)
Yeah. Yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (35:28.324)
in these low moments or in these high moments. So that's really cool. have real shout out, shout out to all the crews out there. They make, they make this possible. I'm curious of your kind of procedure in between yards. Cause I think personally that's just as important as the actual running. So let's say you're yard 30 just got, got in, know, so you're pretty tired. What, did, what did that look like in between?

Rachel Moore (35:30.936)
Yeah.

Yes, absolutely.

Rachel Moore (35:59.128)
So at your 30, I was coming in and that's when I was needing more help. The first few loops, was just, you I can fend for myself and, but I would come, I would say I had this beach chair. My dad helped me, cause I asked him, used also like asking for help is one thing that I've been working on. But I asked my dad if he had a cot cause I know he's got stuff.

He had one, but he goes, why don't you just use this beach chair? thought, okay, this is perfect. It's a little bit lighter. So I'd come and I would sit on that. That was always my go-to. It was real low to the ground. And then I would just kind of, again, like tune into the body. What does my body need? Am I thirsty, hungry? Do I need it like caffeine? What do I need? Which I'd never really took any caffeine until the second day. Yeah. Which I was surprised too, because usually I'll have caffeine gels or.

Philip Sebastiani (36:23.932)
You

Philip Sebastiani (36:40.559)
Wow.

Rachel Moore (36:48.526)
things like that, but I didn't. And I always felt like I never really felt tired. But I would come in and then I would just kind of tell them what I needed. Most of the time it was just water or some kind of fluids. Sometimes I would put a scoop of that G1M Sport. I had got that and what would get a scoop of that? So it was some carbs with some sodium and electrolytes. But I changed shoes.

Philip Sebastiani (37:06.78)
Mm-hmm.

Rachel Moore (37:18.287)
once and socks. It was pretty pretty dusty out there but yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (37:23.558)
That'd affect your breathing at all, and then hailing dust, or coughing at any point, or...

Rachel Moore (37:28.69)
No, it didn't really. know someone I was running with told me that they had asthma as a kid and had never felt like or had gotten over that. then out there, they're like, I feel like I have an asthma attack. no, that's not good. Do you have an inhaler? Like, you okay? And he had mentioned that he felt like it was the dust and the dirt out there. But I didn't I didn't feel like it was an issue for me.

Philip Sebastiani (37:57.04)
All right, so really here as we continue, I wanna get to really, we're getting towards some kind of limit or some kind of closure, know, the end of the race. So is there a moment where something unexpected happened and from there it was this moment of working through it to keep pushing forward? Where did those come into play?

Rachel Moore (38:24.506)
I don't feel like there were a lot of those. I don't feel like I had a lot of struggles. mean, a big part of it for me, told somebody, someone asked me, are your tips? thought, I don't know, it's different for everybody when it comes to like the nutrition and things like that. But the desire to be out there and the want to be out there kind of makes you look past and kind of not even, I don't know, the...

struggles of being out there are kind of un-phase you. There was a moment where it got really hot, but never did I want to stop and never did I feel like this is too much and I can't keep going. I never felt that. At night it would get kind of cold and whenever I would finish a loop just sitting down I would get cold. So I put on my jacket and then I'd get to the line to start the next loop and I would have my jacket on but as soon as we started maybe.

100 yards, I would take my jacket off and tie it around my waist because I would be warm again and sweating. But then I'd come in and I'd get cold. And I think that's what kind of got me towards the end was just getting really, really cold and then hot again and cold and hot, cold and hot. And I think I ended up with a fever, I'm pretty sure. And so it wasn't anything other than that. mean, yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (39:48.188)
wow, yeah, says hour 41 puts you middle of the night. Is that right? Midnight. When I...

Rachel Moore (39:53.666)
Yeah, I think it was around midnight or 1 a.m. I'm not too sure. I honestly, a lot of it kind of afterwards, I couldn't even remember what days and what loops and I mean, and it wasn't even that, I don't want to say it wasn't that long, but when you hear like Harvey Lewis and Megan who go 87 hours or 105, it's mind boggling. I'm like, wow, you know, that's so many times.

Philip Sebastiani (40:20.284)
Well, I think a debut like this is just so, it speaks to so much potential. so, so I hope you're going to do another one in the future. Is that, is that, are those your kind of your, your, your goals somewhere down the line?

Rachel Moore (40:26.286)
Thank you.

Rachel Moore (40:32.204)
Yes, absolutely, I would love to. I know Backlands is coming up and I was like, man, if I didn't live far away.

Philip Sebastiani (40:37.532)
Yeah, it's a ways away. Yes.

Rachel Moore (40:42.784)
Yeah, and then, no, there's a bunch of people going out there and I'm excited for them. But no, I definitely loved this format and I'm just grateful that I got to go out there and did well.

Philip Sebastiani (40:56.826)
Yeah, yeah, it's so impressive. Again, congratulations on that run and it kind of sounds similar into you've gotten to some kind of flow state and it's kind of like time just disappears, right? Like I've been there before and I definitely understand what that is and it's a really powerful feeling to be in that kind of state. So how's recovery going?

Rachel Moore (41:08.163)
Listen.

Rachel Moore (41:13.089)
Yes.

Rachel Moore (41:18.872)
Yeah. Yeah.

Rachel Moore (41:25.774)
It's going well. did the next day was kind of rough, I know that sometimes the worst thing is just to lay around and not do anything. So I got up and I went and walked like three to four miles just to move and kind of get the blood flowing and it felt good. And then the second day I went and ran with my sister. I was staying with her because she didn't live far from where the race was being held. So it all kind of lined up really, really well for me. We hit the track that morning, did about

three or four miles and then that evening again and how I did this. I did a 5K with like an eight minute pace. So I felt good. I felt real strong. couldn't do much more after that though. I kind of was like, okay, my legs are feeling a little tired. Then I did a long run, a semi long run Saturday. So everything's feeling good. Yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (42:15.148)
Wow, that's great. That's great to see. So, do you do fair bit of strength training? I would just imagine you do just the resiliency and being able to pick things back up four days later. know? Yeah.

Rachel Moore (42:29.76)
Yeah, yeah. there's a little bit not, I didn't ever go too heavy. I feel like I probably look stronger than I am, but I do incorporate some strength training. A lot of it is body weight or lightweight with dumbbells. and so that was one thing I went straight to was just doing some squats and some lunges, just body weight, trying to fill. Yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (42:52.508)
Yeah, yeah, strength training is so important for endurance events in general. So what kind of then is next race-wise? Like have you thought about what you wanna do in 2025 at all?

Rachel Moore (43:11.022)
I have someone, I'm very much, I sign up for races last minute. I will have one under my radar, like even this race, this Summit Backyard, I didn't sign up till a couple weeks before just cause life is constantly changing and I never know what it's gonna look like. So I'll have a race that I'm eyeing and kind of again on my radar but I don't sign up for it until right before. There's a few things I'm looking at.

I am signed up for a race. Stephanie Leake and I think Regina are doing rabid raccoon and they got me into it. I think they're trying to get more women to go out there and run the race. It's in Pennsylvania. Yes, it's in Pennsylvania and it falls on a spring break. so Stephanie, she's also a teacher.

Philip Sebastiani (43:52.764)
Where is that race? Rabid raccoon?

Rachel Moore (44:05.39)
up in the Dallas area. And so she asked me, she reached out, she goes, hey, when's your spring break? Maybe we can, you can do this with me. And she's trying to, right now she's working on doing a hundred miler in all 50 states, which I thought was pretty cool. She's not quite a bit out. She's been doing a lot of running and it's been pretty awesome to follow her. And I was so grateful that she reached out and gave me this code to kind of help cover the cost for that race. And so I'm looking forward to that in March, but that's the only thing I have right now.

Philip Sebastiani (44:35.78)
Yeah, that's cool. It's really exciting. And that's a whole nother element of when you travel for these long things, like really travel. Cause I feel there's more like the higher stakes you're more invested because you've put more money into getting there. And it can, think it really pulls better performances out of you. So that's excited. We'll have to keep tabs on that. So you said spring break, rabid raccoon in Pennsylvania. Wow. That's a place. Yeah.

Rachel Moore (44:49.752)
Right, yeah.

Rachel Moore (44:54.286)
Yes.

See you

Rachel Moore (45:00.152)
Yes.

Yeah, thanks. What about you after your huge 24 hour?

Philip Sebastiani (45:06.457)
Yeah, it's, I'm still just in reflection mode thinking about what to do next. I have some ideas for next year, probably shorter ultras is where I'll lean towards, just get a little faster at those things. And really just, I won't know about Team USA till May. So it's like, it's like waiting for so long.

Rachel Moore (45:33.368)
wow. Yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (45:35.772)
but I'll keep myself busy. I'm in an off season right now and things are going well. feel antsy, know, you know what it's like to, when you don't have that stimulus running through your body and how antsy things can get and wanting to move. But yeah, I'm just excited to see how the rest of this year goes and starting next year. Do you have any advice for anyone doing last man standing, last person standing? No.

Rachel Moore (45:46.008)
Right.

Rachel Moore (46:02.648)
Yeah, so I would say just be patient, listen to your body, and then have fun. Go out there just to have fun. And that's think that's it. That'd be my advice. Be patient, have fun, listen to your body.

Philip Sebastiani (46:15.6)
Yeah, it's...

Philip Sebastiani (46:21.4)
Yeah, and I think you can really surprise yourself just by doing those three things like you did a few weeks ago. As we're wrapping things up here, where can people find you on social media and things?

Rachel Moore (46:36.266)
Okay, I have Instagram. My handle is more of Rachel J. So more, my last name is M-O-O-R-E, Rachel, R-E-C-H-E-L, J. And then Facebook, Rachel Moore. I think that's pretty much it.

Philip Sebastiani (46:55.804)
Yeah, yeah, that's cool. So you can find her on those socials. So outside of running, what do you do? I think we talked earlier before the podcast that you're a teacher, servant leadership profession there, always giving.

Rachel Moore (47:05.89)
Yes. Yeah.

Thank you. Yeah, you too. That's one thing. So of course I'm biased because I'm a teacher. some of the most amazing people I meet, there was a lady again, Kathy, she was a she's a assistant principal in Marvel Falls. And I got to run several loops with her. It was her, her daughter and her husband out there. And it's like, it's just me. I mean, Harvey Lewis, he's a teacher, Megan Eckert, she's a teacher, you also working on.

Philip Sebastiani (47:19.036)
you

Philip Sebastiani (47:36.9)
Yeah, Courtney DeWalter was a teacher. Zach Bitter was a teacher. It's like a thing,

Rachel Moore (47:41.096)
Right, she was also, it's so cool. Yeah, Sally McRae, think her and her husband were both teachers. So it's definitely, I think a calling and it's not for the faint of heart, but it's a very rewarding profession. so that's, yeah, what I do outside of running is just, yeah, work with the kids like you. Yeah, it's awesome. You also teach.

Philip Sebastiani (48:04.944)
Yeah, what grades have you taught? If you don't mind sharing.

Rachel Moore (48:08.704)
Yeah, so I have taught second grade all the way up through eighth grade. Yeah, and then coached at the high school level for a little bit. I'm yeah, I think I'll be taking on the track season this year is what I've been told by my athletic director. And so I'm looking forward to that track season starting. So that's kind of why I put running not on hold, but I also tend to.

Philip Sebastiani (48:14.469)
Wow.

Rachel Moore (48:34.454)
not sign up for races because sometimes, you know, track meet will fall on that same weekend or, you know, tournaments or something. So yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (48:40.956)
So you said, just to remind me, you said you were in the Austin area and now you're in West Texas, is that right? okay, so that's quite the move yourself. We'll probably be there if you don't mind sharing.

Rachel Moore (48:47.31)
Yes, that's correct. Yeah.

Rachel Moore (48:54.092)
Yeah, so this is where I grew up. I'm back in my hometown where I went to school. I moved here, I think, when I was in fourth grade, graduated from here. It's a small, small, small town. We have kindergarten through 12th grade all in one small school building. The class sizes are pretty ridiculously small, but in an awesome way because you get to know the kids so much better, which I told them today.

Philip Sebastiani (49:09.884)
wow.

Rachel Moore (49:19.022)
Because they asked me about Thanksgiving break and said, was your break? What did you do? And I got to share with them a little bit and I said, yeah, I get to interview on a podcast for it. And they're like, what? They said, you better shout us out. And they told me, shout me out by name. Well, I won't say all y'all's names, but no. So it's really cool being in a small community where everyone knows everyone. it's a huge, I mean, it's just a small tight knit community, but they're like family too. And so.

Philip Sebastiani (49:28.732)
Thank

Philip Sebastiani (49:34.714)
You

I'll roll it.

Rachel Moore (49:48.51)
yeah, I haven't been here, gosh, in quite a few years, but I'm excited to be back here. yeah, my dad lives out here. My sisters are all in the Austin area or outside San Antonio, but dad lives here. So came back home to just kind of be closer to him and back home where, I grew up. So.

Philip Sebastiani (49:58.616)
Yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (50:10.138)
Yeah, that's great. And I still don't understand how I'm also in West Texas and you're in West Texas when I'm clearly in like the panhandle of Texas. So I mean, I wasn't here when they named all that. So I just let it be what it is. Yeah, I think it's really cool. Run, teach and coach. Cause I feel like coaching is also.

Rachel Moore (50:14.946)
Yeah. Yeah.

Rachel Moore (50:20.354)
Yeah.

Rachel Moore (50:25.454)
I mean.

Philip Sebastiani (50:33.464)
such as sort of selfless thing that you can do and you can really mold these kids. I know some of the people I looked up to in my years growing up were some of my coaches. So that's really cool to see that you get to be that for people too.

Rachel Moore (50:36.206)
Thank

Rachel Moore (50:48.626)
Thank you. And you also, I mean you coach UIL and academics and that's another job in itself.

Philip Sebastiani (50:54.658)
Yeah, it'll actually be my first year doing it, so we'll see how that goes. Yeah, I actually went to school, studied music, and then I was like, well, maybe I can, yeah, I was an orchestra teacher for a few years, but then I decided to switch to special education and I love it. It's, yeah, it's a very fulfilling, fulfilling thing.

Rachel Moore (50:58.602)
Okay, that's awesome.

Rachel Moore (51:13.902)
That's me.

Rachel Moore (51:19.34)
Yeah, well your kids are gonna do awesome. They're gonna, they have the best music memory. It's a music memory, right? Okay, that's awesome.

Philip Sebastiani (51:25.466)
Yeah, Music Memory. So I think they're, they get a list of songs, kind of have, we're going to learn what they sound like and then have to write out what we hear. Well, the composer and title. So, so really cool.

Rachel Moore (51:35.128)
That's so cool. Yeah, that's me. Yeah, you do a lot for those kids.

Philip Sebastiani (51:40.443)
Yeah.

Philip Sebastiani (51:44.154)
Yeah, thank you again for coming on. I think pretty much touched everything that I wanted to ask you. Do you have any other shout outs you wanna give to anyone who might be listening?

Rachel Moore (51:56.686)
I don't know. Again, just thanks to my crew, my family, they really helped just, you know, encourage and support me being out there. So, also Tucker who put on the race, he, met him the year prior, his wife and their kids out there. And so thank you for having me. good luck to everyone at, at back land this weekend and also I think Brazos. So they, they graces this weekend.

Philip Sebastiani (52:24.462)
Yeah, there's definitely a few more opportunities in Texas to get some of those fast 100 mile times in and that's great. Well, thanks again, Rachel, for coming on. Be sure to go ahead and follow Rachel on social media and on Strava, all those great things and follow her journey as she continues to push her limits. And yes, thank you.

Rachel Moore (52:48.6)
Thank you. Thank you so much, Philip. I appreciate you. Thank you.

Philip Sebastiani (52:53.242)
Yeah, you too.