12. Stephanie Howe: PhD, coach, ultra champion

Stephanie and I sat down while she was in Boston for the marathon, just after we shared a run around the Charles River. Stephanie grew up in Minnesota, and raced Nordic Skiing and Cross Country at Northern Michigan University. She fell in love with running on the trails after college in Bozeman Montana, where she was studying Exercise Physiology at Montana State University before she moved further West to Oregon to pursue a doctoral program at the University of Oregon studying Human Physiology and ultimately earning her PhD in Nutrition and Exercise Science. Stephanie is the 2014 Western States champion, Course Record holder at the Lake Sonoma 50 Miler and has many other professional career highlights both academically and athletically. Stephanie is passionate about nourishing the body through physical movement and real food. She also makes incredible pizza (trust me!) and loves cooking for and eating with friends. We talked a lot about this some of the other components of running that fuel her passion for the sport, and what she’s seen change over the years in the trail running scene. Stephanie runs her own coaching and nutrition business, and also runs at the professional level for North Face, Clif Bar, Nathan, Squirrels Nut Butter, Julbo, Kahtoola, Drymax and InsideTracker! Enjoy!