Stephanie Loleng on Running, Representation, and Sharing Diverse Stories

Steph Loleng ran the 2026 Tokyo Marathon this past March.

Stephanie (Steph) Loleng is the director of editorial content for New York Road Runners and a Road Runners Club of America–certified NYRR Group Training coach. A runner for nearly two decades, she reflects on her Asian American heritage and her running journey as part of our celebration of AANHPI Heritage Month. 

Tell us about your Asian American heritage and what it means to you.

My parents emigrated from the Philippines to the U.S. in the 1970s, during what was called a “brain drain” when Filipino professionals were leaving the country for opportunities abroad. They arrived in San Francisco with four kids and my dad’s parents and lived in a one-bedroom apartment in the Mission District. I was born a few years later. We moved around quite a bit before I was eight years old because my parents joined the military and were stationed in Texas and Colorado. We eventually made our way back to California when I was in the second grade.  

Growing up in California in the 1980s, I knew a lot of second-generation Asian Americans whose parents immigrated around the same time as mine. We didn’t really see ourselves represented in pop culture, and when we did, the characters were cringy stereotypes. I was lucky to have a diverse group of friends, so we all could relate to one another. I feel fortunate to have such a rich cultural background. I think it adds so much depth to my identity.

Tell us about the storytelling you do at NYRR, particularly how you share stories of runners from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. 

Being on the content team at NYRR, I have the opportunity to search out and share stories from the NYC running community throughout the year. It’s a dream job for me as a former journalist who reported on the Asian American community in San Francisco before moving to New York City in 2009. I think it’s important to tell diverse stories because representation matters. If someone doesn’t see themselves reflected in the content we produce, they may not feel welcome in the spaces we create.

How did your running journey begin, and where has it taken you? 

Steph's first marathon was in 2008 in San Francisco.

I ran my first marathon in San Francisco in 2008—the Nike Women’s Marathon—after a friend told me that his sister was looking for a training partner. She was training for the half, but I decided to do the full because I wanted a major goal to give me something to work toward while grieving my dad’s death. And before he died, I was experiencing severe anxiety and started exercising regularly to help support my mental health. Running helped me so much at that time. Training for that first marathon, I thought of my dad and how proud he’d be that I conquered the hills of the city where he immigrated to and where I was born.

What do you love most about running? What's most challenging?

Running helps keep me grounded. When I’m having a bad day, week, or month, if I’m running regularly, I feel much more at ease and less stressed or anxious. Running also helps me focus on work projects and my own writing projects. Running has taken me to places that I may not have visited if it weren’t for a race I wanted to run. I traveled to Inverness in Scotland for the Loch Ness Marathon and it was amazing. I recently traveled to Tokyo for the Tokyo Marathon and even though I lived in Japan to teach English many years ago, I’d never spent that much time in Tokyo. It’s such an amazing city. What stood out to me the most was seeing so many Asian runners on the course from countries throughout Asia (Cambodia, Vietnam, South Korea, the Philippines). 

In terms of what is most challenging, I think it's being consistent. If I don’t have a race on the calendar, I am less motivated to run regularly and I find that when I take too much time off, I lose fitness and feel less calm and focused.

What are your short-term and long-term goals as a runner?

Running has taken Steph to races around the world, including the 2017 Loch Ness Marathon.

In the short term, I’d like to get stronger and faster. I know that I have it in me as long as I’m consistent with my workouts. In the long term, I’d like to be able to run for as long as I can, no matter the pace or race!

What does representation in running mean to you and why does it matter?

For me, representation in running means that you see leaders in the community and the sport in general that have a similar cultural background as you. One thing I noticed when I started coaching was that Asian and Asian American women would come up to me after a workout and ask me questions about the workout or their training. I think they felt more comfortable talking to me one-on-one rather than in the larger group. Maybe because they thought I could relate to them in ways that other coaches from a different cultural background couldn’t.

What message would you like to share for AANHPI Heritage Month?

Regardless of whether you are of AANHPI heritage, I think it’s important to recognize that the Asian diaspora is very diverse. I worry that our cultures get lumped into one monolith and people don’t take the time to learn about the uniqueness of our backgrounds. I’m still learning about the different cultures myself that fall within the AANHPI umbrella, and I look forward to continuing to discover things I didn’t know before.

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