about following her heart and why she decided to keep running, Runner’s World sat with the Hoka NAZ Elite athlete to talk about why she pivoted on her decision to retire from pro-running.
In October 2021, Bruce was diagnosed with a congenital heart condition called bicuspid aortic valve disease. In that same year, her mother had died after a long battle with breast cancer. Bruce had lost her father when she was teenager.
On the cusp of her forties, the possibility of growing her family, and probable heart surgery in the future, Bruce wrote a life update on her blog, in January 2022: “This is a sport I’ve given 15 years to so I’d like to give back and go out with a bang.” Her racing schedule was dubbed The Grit Finale, Two weeks before Stephanie Bruce announced her pregnancy announcement on March 31 pro runner decided she wasnt done yet.
2022 became Bruce’s year. At the Boston Marathon she came in 12th women at 2:28:02—her second fastest time. She won the USATF 10K Road Championships, breaking the Great Cow Harbor 10K course record at 31:52. She road PR’d at the NYC Mini 10K finishing 31:49. And she finished 13th place at the NYC Marathon with a time of 2:30:34.
My heart is still in it to get up every day and grind no matter what the result is running coach, Health & Injuries still pro runner decided she wasn’t done yet.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below Runner’s World about following her heart and why she decided to keep running.
Runner’s World: CA Notice at Collection Hoka event when Lauren was speaking with you. I wanted a Grit Finale shirt! All that is to say that, I’m so happy that you are back in it. Where is your head space now?
Stephanie Bruce: I would say 2022 was a really amazing year and as most people know, I announced I was going to retire. When I look back, I think I had so much that happened to me in 2021; my mom died and then I found out I had a congenital heart condition. I don’t know if I’d call it a midlife crisis, but I think I just hit a crossroads and I was really deeply evaluating my life and I’m like, should I still be running?
My running wasn’t going as well and I thought, Is that a sign that you’re near the end? And then, as 2022 happened, things were going so well, and I remember a lot of people saying, “Do you think you’re running well because you decided this is it?” And at first I was like, “Maybe.” And then I go, “But maybe I actually am not bad at running yet.”
But I think as an athlete, I’m very good at looking in the mirror and saying, “Is this it for me?” And I thought it was. And then 2022 showed me: You know what? My heart is still in it to get up every day and grind no matter what the result is.
So it’s really “the grind finale!” Or the grind parade or...something. We’ll work on renaming it. How did your mentality change with each race?
I’ve always been very mentally strong in the sense that whatever my result is that does not define me as a person. And it took me a few years to realize I want to make this Olympic team. And then, 2020 got really close, I missed it by 19 seconds and I was like, You know what? Five people were just better than you that day and it doesn’t mean that I’m any less of a runner. And I think once I realized that, it sort of took a weight off my shoulder to be like, just go into every race and say, “Get the most outta yourself today,” and if you can do that you’re going to have a great career. And so 2022 was no different. It was just like, hey, nobody really cares but you. I think in running we sometimes think everyone’s watching. Everyone loves you regardless, no matter what place, no matter what time you run. And so, once we realize that at every level, it’s a very freeing feeling to just be like, I’m just going to let it ride and see how this race goes and thoroughly enjoy the pressure in a good way and the opportunity of what can I do today.
When do you think was the turning point where you’re like, “You know what—maybe I actually am going to keep doing this?”
I think it started creeping in the fall because I was having such an amazing training block and I’m doing workouts like I’ve never done before and I’m 38 years old. And then I won the 10K champs at Cow Harbor and beat a lot of young women and I was like, I still got it
I love that. So, my partner is probably going to kill me for this—but he doesn’t really read my stuff anyway. When I told him that I’m going to speak with you I said, “She did this amazing thing like Tom Brady but unlike Tom Brady, she’s good at her job.” And then he’s like, “Don’t you think she’s maybe trying to show off or not retiring was the plan all along?”
Like, was it a marketing spin?
Well...sort of, but also, if you’re doing so well why not just cut it off there—have a strong finish?
Yeah, I love that question. That’s actually what coach Ben [Rosario], my coach of eight years before Alan Culpepper—he had to have a real hard talk with me. He’s like, “You said this was it.” Like, what is the point of “keep going?” And it was a real like, wow, he’s asking the hard questions. And I said, “I don’t necessarily if I have a good answer for you.” But then he looked back at things in my career and he kind of was like, “Well. Steph Bruce does things that don’t make sense.”
Like, in 2010 I thought I could be one of the best American female marathoners and I had no business thinking that. I hadn’t run that fast in the half marathon or in the 10K. But I said, “You want to move to Flagstaff? There’s a coach who’s giving me a chance.” And then, eight months later I ran the sixth best time in the marathon in that four-year cycle. And then that group wasn’t working out anymore. I said, “I think I’m going to work with my husband for a year and figure stuff out.” That didn’t make sense. I had the best year of my career.
Then I was like, I think I want to have a family before the next Olympics. So I had a baby and I was like, this is perfect planning. And then, six months into my postpartum, I got pregnant accidentally with my second son. So all that stuff didn’t make sense, and now I’m running the best I can and I have two beautiful boys. And so, I’ve always had a plan and then when it doesn’t make sense I just go a different course. It just felt really natural for me to do that.
Thinking of a pie chart and then what you have gone through last year and all these big decisions, how much of that pie chart is mom, athlete, wife, business entrepreneur?
I have to believe the mom is the biggest piece of the pie, but the professional athlete is pretty close and I think probably because of Hoka. Since the beginning, they supported me through two children, never cutting me, sponsoring me the whole time. There’s no way I could have kept doing this without that. And I think that’s huge, that is different in the industry. And I don’t want to say I was the first person, but none of my competitors have 7- or 8-year-olds. I feel like I kind of kickstarted women realizing we don’t have to wait until our career is over. We don’t have to choose can I be a mom and a professional athlete. Like Chelsea Sodaro (winner of the 2022 Ironman Kona World Championship) . She has an 18-month-old and she was like, “I have the support, I can do this.”
I think that chart is always evolving and it changes throughout the year. If I have big race coming up, it’s like professional athlete mode and Ben, my husband, is like, “Okay, I’m taking over for the kids and running the house.” And then, as soon as it’s over, my professional athlete slice gets really small. I take a break and it’s full on mom mode. So, I think I’ve been able to have it go fluid throughout my life. It’s not always easy but it’s worked.
Where is your head space now Rocket X 2, which you wore at the USATF Championships and New York City Marathon.
We had the Rocket X in the 2020 Tested: Brooks Hyperion and Hyperion GTS and I feel like that was the tipping point of when the industry really changed into we have super shoes now. We have foam, we have stack height, we have carbon plates, and Hoka was just trying to get their model right. And luckily, we gave so much feedback of like, this is what we need. Everything that they’ve always put out, I’m kind of like an out-of-the-box gal, meaning you gave me the shoe, I usually run in it at once and I’m good to go. And so that’ what happened for Boston. I was actually the first pro athlete to be in the shoe and race in it.
So, all the hopes and dreams of Hoka were on me, no pressure. And I only did one workout on the shoe and then I ran 26.2 miles. I ran 2:28:02. I was 12th and had one of the best marathons in my career. And I think that said enough for the shoe. I walked away, nothing wrong with my feet. Four days after the Boston Marathon my legs were recovered, which is insane. Insane. That recovery component I think is what we should be talking about the most. It is allowing people to come back after really hard sessions and come back after races and be ready to train again. That, I think, is going to change the landscape of the industry.
Tested: Brooks Hyperion and Hyperion GTS?
The energy return. I’m running workouts in my late thirties that I never ran before five years ago. And I don’t know, the only way I can say is that’s not me, that’s the shoe. Sure I’m a better athlete, but the shoe makes me a better athlete. You’re not losing energy as the workout goes on and as the race goes on you’re becoming more efficient. And the workout used to be like, I’m doing 15 times a mile by mile 11—my legs are just dead now. Now, in the Rocket X 2, I’m chomping at the bit like, let’s go, this last-mile repeat. And that’s how I felt at Boston. I was coming over Heartbreak Hill, we had four miles to go, and I think I was in maybe 15th place and I just said, “You just gotta send it and give it everything you got.” And I was able to pass three women and run my fastest splits the last four miles.
What would you say to athletes who maybe have that big decision like you had; they’re kind of on the brink and they’re not sure which direction to go?
I mean cliché as it sounds, coach Ben and I actually have a book coming out next week and it’s called Follow Your Heart (out now). And that’s honestly what I would say: follow your heart. A lot of times you know what’s best for you, but you’re waiting for permission, you’re waiting for advice. Women need to stop asking what to do. We just need to do it like Frozen, let it go. Do the next right thing without asking for permission and just go with whatever seems right at the moment and it will work out.
Amanda is a test editor at Runner’s World who has run the Boston Marathon every year since 2013; she's a former professional baker with a master’s in gastronomy and she carb-loads on snickerdoodles.
