Runners I Know: Stefani Penn

The everyday approach of an 11-time marathoner.

Welcome to the first installment of Runners I Know, an interview series where I chat with Running, Probably subscribers about the role running plays in their life. 

When I conceived of a Q+A series, the first person I wanted to talk to was Dr. Stefani Penn because we approach running from almost completely different perspectives. A road runner through and through, Stef doesn’t stretch, cross train, or take rest days. What she does is run. Every day. 

It’s been that way since she first discovered the sport back in high school and her goal was to get from one end of the street to another. Eleven marathons later, Stef runs for the Boston Athletic Association team while doing air quality management and health benefit analysis for an environmental consulting firm. 

The first time I saw Stef, she was halfway through the Boston Marathon, which was fitting since she’s run the race five times. That turned out to be a memorable race in more ways than one. 

I’ll let her tell it ...

“2016, it was sneaky hot that year,” she says. “I was trying to break three hours, as I always am. We spent the rest of the afternoon drinking champagne and then I got on a flight to Ghana that night. I hosted a workshop Wednesday through Friday. I woke up Friday and could not walk. I was supposed to be standing on a stage presenting. It hurt too much to stand and it hurt too much to sit, so I was propped up sideways on a chair, pretending like none of this was happening. They put me in a wheelchair at the hotel and gave me wine and muscle relaxers.” 

Stef wound up in a hospital where they determined she had sprained her sacroiliac joint. She was able to walk under her own power the next day and was running again by the time she returned to the States the next Tuesday. That’s been her approach since the beginning, steady and consistent.  

“When I started running, it was such an a-ha moment to me that you could try at something that wasn’t mental or intellectual,” she says. “It was a whole new outlet to get the best from myself.”  

Stef continued running in college where she met her husband, Brian Harvey. Also a BAA team member, Brian is a two-time qualifier for the United States Olympic Trials and represented the U.S. in the Great Edinburgh Cross Country meet. 

In our wide-ranging conversation about her running journey, we talked about juggling training schedules during the pandemic around work and childcare, her lifelong quest to break three hours, and how in the world she’s able to run every day without getting hurt. Spoiler alert: She doesn’t know either. 

(Portions of this interview have been lightly edited for clarity and length.) 

Stef cranking out a PR effort at the Hartford Marathon.

Let’s start with the big question: Why do you run? 

I was thinking about this on my run today. It feels to me like the most obvious connection I have to myself. I’ve been running for 21 years now, and throughout everything, I run. When I was pregnant, I ran and it made me feel like, ‘Oh, I’m myself.’ When I go on business trips overseas and everything feels upside down and jetlagged, I still go for a run because it’s my connection to who I am. It’s been the same through the pandemic. 

How did you get started running?

I started cross country my freshman year of high school. I was not an athletic kid at all. I was always very into school, but I had the sense toward the end of middle school that it wouldn’t be enough. My goal when I started was to run from one telephone pole to the next. That feeling of trying hard and then doing it, and then trying hard again, and making those little improvements is just addicting. 

Was there any thought of running in your life at that point?

No, we had an assembly in eight grade where clubs and teams from high school came to talk to us. I thought I would like to be an athlete, but I definitely can’t do any ball sports. The girl who came from cross country, she looks like we could be friends. So, yeah, let’s do it.

Who were the biggest influences on your running? 

Back in high school, we had a female cross country and track coach. Coach Lori Poe, she had run at Ohio State University. I had never known anyone who ran in college and had success at that level. It was clear that her running was important to her. She set the path that this was possible, that having a relationship with running in the long-term was a reasonable thing to do. 

Since then, it’s been my friends. My closest friendships are with friends I meet through running. Everyone is amazing and has their own strengths I try to emulate. It’s a rich community. 

So, you ran track in high school, as well? 

Yes. Even now, I love getting on the track. I know that for some people the idea of running in circles for 400 meters is off putting. But I love the consistency of it and the fact that you always have this idea of where you are, and how you’re doing, compared to what you would like to do. 

Where was high school? 

I grew up in a suburb of Pittsburgh and went to Carnegie-Mellon and ran there. It’s a Division III school. It was just like, I love running, I like this team, and love being around people all the time. So, it was a great scene for me. I was never great at it, always just sort of made my way through. After college when I decided to try out the marathon, I thought, this I can handle. 

The marathon is such a tough distance. What made you think that? 

When I was out in Seattle (at the University of Washington for graduate school), Brian and I were dating. He gave me some workouts to train for the Boston Marathon in 2011, and I trained hard. That was the year with the beautiful weather and the tailwind and I ran well (3:17). He was already on the Boston Athletic Association team and his friends were congratulating me. I was like, ‘Oh, I can do that. I can make this my thing.’ 

Is the marathon your distance? 

I don’t think it is, it’s just the one I have the most unfinished business with. 

Oh, interesting. What does that mean?

I’ve been trying to break three hours in the marathon for seven years now. It has yet to shake out in my favor. 

What’s your PR?

3:03

Uuuuugghhh

I know. I’ve run 3:03, 3:05, 3:06, 3:07. I think I’ve run 3:07 four times. 

What’s your mindset toward racing? 

Most of my mental energy and effort is preparing for different things to go wrong in a race and how I’m going to deal with them to have it turn out positively. Inevitably in every race you have a moment where you say, ‘I can’t do this. Why am I here? I don’t want to do this.’ Being prepared for those things to happen and having your brain generate automatic responses is really important. 

How competitive are you? 

This is kind of funny. I am only competitive with myself. Other people in races, I am not usually terribly concerned about people beating me or not, unless I have some personal beef. (laughs) Whenever I race, I’m in such a mindset where when someone passes me, I say, ‘Oh, she must have worked really hard in training. Good job, her.’ 

That’s a very healthy attitude. 

Yes, but sometimes not very helpful when I’m trying to place well. 

How often do you run? 

I run every day. 

When do you take a rest day? 

About every three months. I’m the worst. My coach is like, I can tell you to run today or not, but I know you’re going to run anyway. 

How do you do that without breaking down physically? 

I don’t know! (laughs) I don’t do any preparation or physical therapy or cross training of any sort. 

That’s incredible. What’s your weekly mileage? 

Currently it’s like 50-60 (miles), but when I actually have time and it’s not a pandemic, it’s more like 70-80. 

Do you do any kind of stretching ... you’re not a stretcher are you? 

No, I wish. I leave myself 15 minutes before I have to start working on weekdays to jump in the shower and then go sit down at my desk. So it’s particularly terrible. 

Do you run the same time every day? 

Brian and I have been trading our running times during the pandemic. The first person has to finish by 7 a.m. The next person can run 7:15-8:15 and then the workday starts at 8:30. When we don’t have childcare, one of us is on with our daughter and the other one works. So we rotate the early slot. The benefit of the early slot is you can start as early as you want. But you have to get your tail out of bed before 6 a.m.

How detailed are your training plans? 

My weekly schedule has two or three workouts. One is usually hills or strides. One is usually on the track. One is kind of a tempo or progression within the long run. The other days are whatever fits. 

What kind of advice would you give for people who are just getting into running in terms of sustaining it? 

I think a good way to figure out your day to day choices of how much are you going to run each day, is just thinking about what you want your long term relationship with running to be in the future. If something’s not feeling right, then take it easy for a few days rather than throw yourself at it. There’s no measuring stick. There’s no one taking stock of what you're doing every day. You're always better off being consistent. 

Stef lapping Brian on the track.

Being married to another runner, what’s that dynamic like? 

It’s really easy. Our scenario, he and I are on such different levels. He is so talented, so hard working, such a long list of accomplishments. The key is he respects my time and my running goals just as much as his own. It works because he knows that it’s a non-negotiable part of my day, and I know it’s a non-negotiable part of his day. We give each other the space to fit it in. The only tricky part is we have to negotiate our running times on the weekend. 

Do you ever run together? 

A lot, actually. Everyone’s favorite fact about Brian is that he runs his easy runs actually very easy. He’s one of my favorite people to do workouts with because I can ask him to run 6:40 pace for 10 miles, and he’ll do it the whole time and talk to me so I don’t have to respond. It distracts me from my pain. 

What’s your idea of a perfect running day? 

Let’s say it’s the Boston Marathon. The BAA treats its athletes like superstars. At the starting line, so many of my friends would be there. I’d take the opportunity to have Brian pace me to a sub 3-hour marathon. That would be the best, because it’s Boston and it’s so magical. Then we’d get together and have brunch and end the day with a lot of beers with friends.