Rachel Schneider on a training run at week 14 of her pregnancy
Courtesy photo
By Quinnly Raducha
University of New England
Rachel Schneider wasn’t always a runner, though it might seem that way looking at her impressive record of accomplishments. She finished third in the 5,000 meter in the 2020 Olympic Trials for track and field and competed in the preliminary round of that summer’s Olympic games in Tokyo. She’s held several records for long-distance running.
Schneider, 33, was born and raised in Sanford, the daughter of a doctor and nurse, Steven and Lynn Schneider. She said that before she started running, her parents got her involved in many other sports.
“I grew up playing soccer, basketball, swimming, which were the main three,” she said. Her running career began in seventh grade at St. Elizabeth Seton School in Rochester, NH, when she joined a track program because her three older siblings had run track in junior high. This gradually started her love for running.
After graduating from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Dover, NH, Schneider enrolled at Georgetown University, where she also competed. “I never had looked too far ahead, and it was probably around junior or senior year of high school, I realized I wanted to keep competing in college,” she said. At Georgetown she became a Big East Conference champion and school record holder and earned multiple All-American honors. When her senior year of college came around, she realized she wasn’t ready for her competitive running days to be over.
“I thought I would pursue it at an elite level,” she said.” So she did just that. After getting a graduate degree in human sciencesat Georgetown, she moved to Arizona, where she competed professionally for sponsor Under Armour until 2021, then switched sponsorship to the running shoemaker Hoka. In April 2021, she won the USATF (US Track & Field) road mile championship, finishing ahead of well-known runners Shannon Osika and Heather Kampf. She then competed in the 2020 US Olympic Trials for track and field in the 5,000 meter and came in third, which qualified her for the 2020 summer Olympics.
In 2023, Schneider and her husband Mike Smith welcomed their first child, Nova. “There is a lot of juggling with being a mom and a runner,” she said. “One of them is that running is no longer the number one priority, it’s taking care of my daughter, and all of her needs come above my needs as a professional runner, which is great, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
In the past year, Nova has traveled with Schneider to all her races. “I think she has been to 13 states, and has flown across the country, staying in a variety of hotels. It has been such a joy having her there and being able to share it with her,” Schneider said.
Not that it’s always been easy. “I nursed her for 13 months,” she said. “Right before I would go race, I would be nursing her and right after the race I would be nursing her. Also, silly things like the number of things you have to pack for these trips. Her stuff takes up two-thirds of my luggage now. Just a lot more to consider and prioritize.”
Schneider jokes that she is going to take her parents’ approach and introduce her daughter to many sports. “I want to make sure if she decides to become a runner it’s because she really wants to, and not because she feels pressure to. So, she will be signing up for soccer and all the other sports teams,” she said.
As of May 2021, Schneider had run many of the fastest times ever by an American woman. This includes the sixth fastest mile (4:20.91 in Monaco), the 13th fastest 5,000 meter (14:52.04 at Irvine, CA), and the tenth fastest 10,000 meter (31:09.79 at San Juan, CA). She also is currently a part of the Big Brother and Big Sisters organization in Flagstaff, AZ. She is in a little bit of a pause right now because she’s 30 weeks pregnant. Their second daughter is due in April, and she hopes to resume racing later in the year.
