Rachel Belmont - A woman who Runs and stuff

Tell me who you are.

I’m a 24 year old nursing student, Ultramarathon Runner, Philanthropist, World Traveler, and of course, skydiver :)

 

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Oh My Goodness

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What do you do for work?  

I’m enrolled in a full time accelerated post bacc Accelerated Bachelors of Nursing program at Rutgers University. So basically, a fast track program for students who already have a bachelors, but want to become a nurse. I’m taking all the core nursing classes over a 14 month time-span-it’s pretty crazy, haha!

 

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Oh Hey 

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How did you become interested in skydiving? 

I did my first tandem at The Ranch back in 2015 when I was 18….after my first jump, I already knew I wanted to make this a hobby. It was really just a matter of time and funds to figure out when.

 

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Look at you go 

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When did you start? 

I completed the A License in a week program at Skydive Spaceland Houston over the fall in 2018. Overall I really enjoyed doing things at an accelerated speed and kinda just getting thrown in there! Not to mention I met so many cool people...totally planning a trip back there in the near future.

Thick or Thin?

Thick!! If we’re talking smoothies :P

 

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So Thick 

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What is your most memorable moment as a skydiver?

I had a pretty scary experience on my 2nd jump-after having a bit of a panic attack mid air. I landed off-WAY off, but safely. I was a bit shaken up the rest of the day and called a few friends saying I wanted to quit...until I had my first stand up landing the day after :)

 

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you are doing just fine

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What is your favorite part of the skydiver life? 

The uniqueness of the community, as well as how tight-knit and supportive most people are. It was truly beautiful to experience this while promoting a recent fundraiser I did for Liquid Sky-so many people and wonderful friends of mine came together to support this, which was amazing!

 

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She likes people 

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What is your least favorite part of the lifestyle?

A lot of people trying to rush you into buying gear/progressing too fast/etc. I love skydiving, but it’s not my priority right now. School and training come first for me.

Tell us about a day in your life

SUPER BUSY, haha. I eat, sleep, study, train, repeat. School wise, a typical week consists of having on site clinical Monday-Wednesday (Obstetrics, Med Surg, and Pediatrics) then I have 4 classes on Zoom between Thursday-Friday...and still have to find the time to study. This is all in addition to running between 100-120 miles a week-yes, really.

 

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Looks like this photo sums it up 

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Tell me about your shenanigans at boogies.

I’m not into the party scene and haven’t really been to any boogies, but I did ride a mechanical bull at one. I guess that counts!

 

Do you prefer your men in speedos or booty shorts?

Booty shorts all the way! 

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 Reminds me of Hatz

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Do You travel often?

Loads! I’ve been to over 20 countries (some of my favs including Egypt, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Italy, Iceland, Thailand, and the Philippines), and am currently working on a goal of mine to complete a marathon on every continent, having done 4/7 so far. One of the most unique races I’ve run was the Petra Desert Marathon, set in a LITERAL desert in the Middle East. I have so many funny, crazy stories from this trip and met some of my greatest friends there as well-a few I visited in Switzerland months after, and others I met up with in Manhattan this past year. 

 

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did you get a good look at the toe 

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Chocolate?

Oh yes please…...

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 He knows all about it 

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I heard you were running 100 miles to raise money for masks. Tell me about that.

It was crazy how it all happened, actually. I’ve already run a couple of 100 mile ultramarathons, and planned on doing another one this summer (the Habanero 100 Miler in Texas)-until COVID happened and everything switched to being virtual. I had this idea to run a virtual 100 mile race around my neighborhood instead, being that a few other friends of mine were doing the same. But as a nursing student during a difficult time, I really wanted to find a way to contribute or fundraise as well instead of simply running circles around my house. Then I saw everything Liquid Sky was doing on social media-creating and distributing masks to healthcare workers throughout the nation, and truly admired them for it. I had this insane idea to run my own 100 miler, in under 24 hours (which I’ve done before but on road), and do so while fundraising $$$$ to purchase masks from Liquid Sky, which I would distribute to healthcare workers throughout the nation, BUT here’s the twist: do it all on a treadmill, while live streaming myself from my own living room. I had a friend suggest I switch to the “dreadmill” (yeah you read that right) being that everyone was still pretty much in quarantine mode (this was back in April). It’s pretty wild actually, because I 1) HATE treadmills 2) Literally ordered one off of Amazon 3 weeks before the event and 3) Have run on a treadmill very few times in my life. But, I successfully ran 100 continuous miles in under a day, raising over $6000 total with the help of my good friend Michael Lenner, who biked 100 miles the same day and raised over $1,000 on his own which he contributed to my cause. I was honestly pretty shocked at how much traction this picked up, after fundraising over $1,000 within the first 24 hours of announcing, as well having not only my nursing program, but NJ 12 and even Fox News promote this. I’ll say it a million times, but I’m SO thankful for the dear friends, supporters and people in my life who backed me from day 1 on this. Between my family cooking me food and making sure my laptop was recording all day, to my friends calling and texting me all night-including friends over at Skydive Dubai zooming me during the last mile, I will never forget this. And to Liquid Sky, thank you as well for allowing me to represent you guys. Love you all.

 

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Hey, Is that a Cookie?

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What's next for you and your adventures?

I’m currently attempting to become the youngest woman to ever complete the Mt. Everest Ultramarathon-the highest race on Earth, in May of 2021. After reading about this race on Red Bull’s website and being fascinated by Vivian Lee’s finish as the first American woman in 2019, I knew I had to take this on. More so, after experiencing a rough start to 2020, recently exiting a toxic relationship, and starting a challenging nursing program, I needed to set a goal SO big that it would literally transform my entire mindset...changing my life completely at that-standards UP, always ;) This race is a 3 week trip, taking a bit over 2 weeks to acclimatize and starting at Base Camp, which sits at an altitude of 17,000 feet. It’s a 60km race that ends at Namche Bazaar which is around 11,000 feet, however you have to remember that you’re starting where there is 50% less oxygen compared to sea level, so it takes most people a bit over a day to finish (you also aren’t allowed to run on the mountain at night). To train, I intend on keeping a solid base of mileage, getting in more trail training, and of course, lots of altitude training. I’ve been talking back and forth with my friends over at Hypoxico, a high altitude training facility based in NY that sells altitude generators and home units. I’m looking to finance one soon, actually. This way I’ll be able to simulate running and sleeping at higher altitudes.

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You got this 

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Where would you like to see yourself in 10 years?

Working as a travel and/or psych nurse, probably living on the West Coast somewhere like Colorado or Oregon. Having completed a marathon on every continent, the 4 Deserts Challenge (4 ultramarathons in challenging climates including Namibia, the Gobi Desert, Antarctica and the Atacama Desert in Chile), having become one of the youngest females to finish Badwater 135 (considered the world’s toughest footrace, through Death Valley) which I am crewing next summer and in the process of building my resume to compete in-it’s highly selective, having qualified for the Team USA 24 Hour Running Team, published a book entitled “Fear No Distance” I’d like to start on after school-inspired by a blog I initially started this past year, and hopefully have a lot more skydives under my belt ;)

 

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Endless possibilities

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What was your favorite boogie and why?

I can’t say since I haven’t really been to a proper one, but I’d love to check out some of the ones abroad for sure! 

Sweet or sour?

Love both! Buttttt I have a HUGE sweet tooth!

 

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So Sweet 

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Never mind a boogie, what's the craziest thing you've ever just done?...

I didn’t mention this back in the travel section, but in February of 2019 I traveled to Tunisia to run the Carthage Marathon...I wanted to cross Africa off my 7 continents list, and heard about this super low-key, off the grid race that sparked my interest. Well, it definitely didn’t get off to the best start. I booked a super cheap R/T flight with an airline called Level, that apparently does or does not? Exist because they NEVER SHOWED UP. I ended up booking a last minute direct flight with Turkish Airlines the next day, from a different airport, getting there a day late and winning the marathon (there were like 3 female entrants). If the adventure couldn’t get more exciting, my 2 friends and I grabbed dinner after the race before hopping right onto an overnight train to a sketchy bus station which drove us to the edge of the Sahara the next morning...where we met our Bedouin guides and camped out in the literal middle of nowhere, sipping tea and stargazing all night. I swear you can’t make this up!!

 

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Supper jelly 

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Favorite Movie?

Shawshank Redemption or Kill Bill

 

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What was the name of that little town again?

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I heard you like to run, like a lot, tell me about that 

Yes, yes I do! I was actually a competitive cross country and track athlete back in high school, and committed to run for the University of Florida. However, I experienced a freak accident in 2014, in a gym class during my senior year of high school, tearing both my ACL and Meniscus-sparking me to have 2 more additional surgeries (one later in 2014, another in 2016), almost quit running, and medically withdraw from my dream school during my 1st semester to take a year off. It’s a pretty long story I could honestly write a book about-but that’s for another day ;) My marathon journey started in 2015 when I ran the NYC Marathon with a charity called Team for Kids, shortly after experiencing an extended period of rock bottom that past year. After crossing the finish line in Central Park, I knew this was only the beginning. Since then I’ve run lots of marathons including Boston, 4 NYC’s, and ones all over the world. I also volunteer with a charity called Achilles International, where I guide athletes with visual and physical impairments. Distance-wise….I eventually came to learn that my TRUE calling was ultrarunning. There is something almost cathartic and zen-like about running 100 miles. The body and mind respond so differently compared to anything else I have put either through. You come to realize that some of your most painful moments will usually be followed by some of your most victorious. When I ran the 2019 Keys 100 miler (a 100 mile foot race from Key Largo to Key West over a day) I experienced some of the most brutal physical pain. While battling a 107 degree heat index, nasty sunburn, trench foot, heatstroke, and hallucinations, I wanted to quit every minute…..but was I going to? Absolutely not. I may have collapsed in a medical tent afterwards, but I finished my first hundo at 22!  Later in 2019, I ran a 24 hour foot-race around a 1 mile circle in Sussex County, NJ (basically you run as many miles as possible within 24 hours) running 106 and winning, despite walking the last 2.5 hours and dealing with 20 degree weather. I’ll actually be returning to this course next weekend, October 3-4 (yes, finally a real race again not on a treadmill) with a goal to run over 110 miles, as I’m in way better shape this year-and coming off an excellent training cycle, running 640+ miles over the last 6 weeks. I have a lot of crazy goals this next year (especially my Everest race) but another big project of mine will be in January of 2022. I’d like to run the Skydive Ultramarathon at Spaceland-Clewiston (the only race in the world that starts with a skydive) but become the first person to hit their 100th jump followed by running 100 miles. I’m hoping to gather up a bunch of running and skydiver friends of mine to crew or run alongside me-it’ll be fun for sure.

 

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Pool or Beach?

Beachhhhh

 

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Merica

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Do you have any advice for a new skydiver?...

I’m still a total beginner myself with only 57 jumps, but I guess I would say to take your time, don’t rush, and try to find some solid mentors if you can :)

Do you have any advice for anyone looking to progress in this sport?  

Still progressing myself, but I would say to be patient and don’t always be so hard on yourself-good things come with time.

 

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Truth

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Do you have any advice for someone trying to run Marathons?

Loads! But we’ll be here for hours, lol. I will say that absolutely ANYONE can do this :) A lot of it comes down to consistency and mental stamina, really. Also, gradually building up to higher mileage and giving your body periods of down time throughout training cycles is key!

 

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Just Breathe 

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If you were a drink what would you be and why?

I don’t drink that often, but if I do my go to is a spicy pineapple margarita, sweet with a kick!

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The question is how spicy

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Do you prefer the number 37 or 51?

37???

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 Of course you do 

Moist cake or hot pretzels 

Pretzelsssssss

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 Now we know all your dirty little secrets 

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