354. Catching Up with Steph Bruce, HOKA NAZ Elite Athlete

"I have this insatiable need to find out how good I can be. I just want to see how fast I can run and what I can accomplish. If I can make an Olympic team, if I can win the New York City Marathon. And just daring to try is what fills me with so much purpose in my daily life. Anytime I have an obstacle, I'm like yeah, but nothing else fires me up more than clawing my way back to fitness."

Steph Bruce returns to the Ali on the Run Show today! Steph is a professional runner for HOKA NAZ Elite in Flagstaff, AZ, and today, we're catching up to hear how Steph's running has been going in the past year. Steph talks about the disappointment of finishing sixth at last year's U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, and about how she grieved that outcome. She talks about resiliency, and about "writing her own running obituary" after tough races. And she talks about recovering and returning to the sport she'll always love. Steph offers an update on her recent plantar fasciitis injury, which forced her to drop out of The Marathon Project in December (spoiler: she's back to running 90-mile weeks!), and talks about her plans for the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials this summer, where she'll be racing the 10K. Plus, she talks about being a role model in the sport, about what the pandemic has been like as a mom of two young boys (Riley and Hudson), and about why she thinks people follow professional runners.

SPONSOR: AJC Peachtree Road Race — Register for this year's race today at ajc.com/peachtree.

What you'll get on this episode:

• How was your run today, Steph? (2:55)
• Running as a team sport vs. individual pursuit (6:45)
• What it was like re-living the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials through A Time and A Place, and what the aftermath of that race was like (8:35)
• Reflecting on the earliest days of the pandemic (20:00)
• On the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials, and Steph's love for the 10K (25:20)
• Competing at the Sunset Tour 10K and the Marathon Project in 2020, and the Plantar Fasciitis injury that came next (31:15)
• On being a role model in this sport (37:45)
• Steph talks about writing her own "running obituary" (41:30)
• Steph shares her ultimate running dreams and goals, and what's next (47:00)
• Why do people follow professional runners? (53:40)
• An update on how Steph's mom — who was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer last year — is doing (1:00:10)
• What does GRIT mean to Steph right now? (1:03:15)

What we mention on this episode:

Steph Bruce on Episode 104 of the Ali on the Run Show

Steph & Ben Bruce on Episode 206 of the Ali on the Run Show

A Time and A Place

Follow Steph:

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• Twitter @steph_rothstein
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