Rachel Tunningley Is Chasing After A Dream. Can She Reach It?

AUSTIN, Texas—When Rachel Tunningley was expecting her first child about five years ago, she reached a point where something had to give.

She couldn’t do two things at once.

“I’m a good runner,” she told Austin Fit Magazine recently. “But I could not run pregnant.”

So, she decided to take a break.

This was 2022. Rachel was not far off from her first major road race win in 2018 at the Cap10K. Neither was she far removed from her 2 hour and 33 marathon in Houston in 2019.

Her husband, Rory Tunningley, a two-time U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier and former University of Texas runner, was performing at a high level, too, competing at the semi-professional level for Skechers. So, when the pair had their first child, it was Rachel who decided to put a hold on her budding running career. A few years later, when they got pregnant again, she decided to go all-in on motherhood.

“My heart wasn’t committed to running at the time,” she said. “For me, if I’m really going to train for more than a few miles, I want to be all-in. I don’t want to be half in it.”

The script has now flipped.

With two young children, Rachel is ready to take her career to the next level, with the Austin Distance Project facilitating her jump back into relevancy, while Rory, who’s on the sidelines, is encouraging—and training—her on. “I think her 2:33 was the tip of the iceberg,” he says.

Rachel’s first major road race back was the Spurs International Half Marathon in January, with the 32-year-old finishing eighth overall in 1:17:08. It was a promising re-start to a career that still may have a lot of legs.

“I have so much pent-up potential,” she said. “I have felt like I could do so much with this for so long and couldn’t do it for various reasons. I want to prove it to myself that I can do it.”

The big pie-in-the-sky dream? Running for Venezuela, her father’s home country, at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

This Austin Runner’s Origin Story

Rachel has always shown a high aptitude for running.

Take her high school career. She qualified for multiple Texas State Championships like it was a chore and easily became one of the Austin area’s best runners.

Next up was the NCAA Division I. Rachel signed with the University of Colorado, considered then (and still today) as one of the NCAA’s top distance running programs. She ran under the legendary coach Mark Wetmore.

Her first year went about as good as you could imagine, with the 18-year-old competing for the Buffaloes at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2011. One of her teammates at the time, Emma Coburn, eventually turned into a World champion and Olympic medalist in the steeplechase.

But all that’s good isn’t always gold. Deep beneath the surface were other issues she needed to face. High-level runners can sometimes mask problems with success.

“I had a pretty bad eating disorder even before college,” she said, “so it kind of just got worse there.”

What happens often is injury, a fate that hit Rachel more than once. She left Colorado and headed off to The University of Tulsa, where things got better—but not really. “We had a very good team,” she said of the NCAA qualifiers in cross country, where she was their top finisher at nationals in 2015. “But I didn’t necessarily get along with the coaching and the training staff.”

All that promise was still just that. A glimpse of success. Was it realized? “I know I had a lot of potential,” she said.

Building A Life In Central Texas

Life is what comes for high-performing runners after college. Rachel was set on building a career, a social life, and enjoying her casual running era. “I’m done running fast,” she said.

But then a thought crossed her mind.

Could we give road racing a try? She joined Rogue Running under Steve Sisson. “I didn’t know anybody anymore and I just wanted a group of people to run with,” she said.

Rachel was convinced to run the Cap10K in 2018, which she then won. Next came a half marathon about a month later, and there she ran an hour and 12 minutes—an elite time. “I got more excited,” she said.

The only remaining bucket on the list was the marathon. Then she aced that too, finishing 10th in the women’s section in Houston in 2:33:52.

But next came heartache. “I probably came back running a little too soon and got hurt. Then, a lot of life things happened at that point.”

A bad relationship. A decision to leave the running community. Worst of all? Injury.

She still needed to heal from her other struggles, too.

“It was a hard period of time,” Rachel said. “Kind of lonely.”

Rachel and Rory Tunningley holding their first born, Riley.

A Budding Family

Things changed when Rachel met Rory. A relationship bloomed, a marriage came. Then pregnancy. Boom. Just like that.

Rory was firing on the roads. He reached the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in 2020.

Rachel raised the kids. She was OK with that. “I would just be working too much and would want to be home with the kids.”

There were starts and stops. Miles here and there.

But Rachel wasn’t truly back.

“The last time she was really training,” Rory said, “was about a year after Riley (their first child), and she trained consistently for about six months. But then we got pregnant again.”

Striking While the Iron Is Hot

Life can pass you quick. That’s what Rachel has realized.

She’s 32 now. It probably feels like she was 26 just a day ago running that 2:33 in the marathon.

All this promise? It’s now or never.

“Really, I just think that if I don’t do it now, I’m never going to,” she said. “Age is a thing. I am getting older.”

What success takes at this age is perspective and focus. Even better? A healthy relationship with food, she says. “It’s night and day there,” she said.

She’s already scaled back her work hours. Rory, who manages a specialty run store in North Austin, is taking the lead at home.

Another new wrinkle, meanwhile, is the Austin Distance Project, a new team sprouting up from the mind of Dave Ames, 44, who’s new into town. He’s known Rory and Rachel for a long time, first meeting Rory as a Territory manager for Skechers Performance back in 2017.

They’re all located in Round Rock. “Right now, a lot of it is just getting the team put together and finding the right people,” Ames said.

Rachel is No. 1 on the project list.

“Her work ethic is insane,” he added.

Rachel Tunningley Is Chasing After a Dream

Rachel’s dad, Frank, is from Maracaibo, Venezuela. As a young kid, she was a bit embarrassed to speak Spanish, so she didn’t.

Time went by and she didn’t learn it fully.

But now that she has kids, that thought has changed. She’s proud of her family’s culture, “and everything they had to go through,” Rachel said. Her kids are in a Spanish immersion daycare. She’s trying to learn Spanish on the side.

Now she wants to represent her father’s country on the global stage.

First up on the to-do list for Rachel is acquiring her Venezuelan passport. She says that objective should be met by flying to the embassy in Mexico City in a few months. From there, she’s planning to head to Venezuela to receive her identification.

Harder still is qualifying for the marathon. In 2024, there were spots for only 80 women on the line in Paris. The marathon standard back then was 2:26:50.

Rachel will have to no doubt improve on that 2:33. She may even need a universality clause to run for Venezuela.

She’s back to running 60 mile weeks. Cross-training. Dotting her t’s and crossing her i’s. “I know she can do it,” Rory says. Her top 10 finish at the Spurs International Half Marathon was a taste. Next up is a return to the Cap10K in April.

But, hey, one step at a time.

 “To compete for them on the big stage,” she said of running for Venezuela. “I can’t think of anything better. That’s been my dream for forever. I think it’s actually attainable.”

What To Know:

The Austin Distance Project is a new high-level performance group based in Central Texas. Dave Ames, a long-time coach formerly based in New York and California, leads coaching efforts. Rory Tunningley, a two-time U.S. Olympic marathon qualifier is the group’s assistant while Rachel Tunningley handles operations. You can find more information on their Instagram page.