When someone has completed the fabled Boston Marathon in just a few ticks past three hours, good health is probably the last thing on that runner’s mind.
After all, why would Stephanie Savastano even think of possible trouble lurking just ahead after traversing 26.2 miles of Beantown’s highways and byways in such brilliant fashion?
The 46-year-old Perkasie resident’s official time of 3:09 in the 2025 classic race left her feeling strong and optimistic that an even faster clocking was in the cards for 2026.
But when the calendar changed, so did Savastano’s good fortunes.
In some of her February and March training runs, something didn’t feel right on her right side.
Her power leg was getting the correct signal from upstairs but was starting to develop a mind of its own. And that’s not a good thing.
She checked in with all sorts of doctors, including a neurologist. They told her she could run Boston but not to try for a PR. She went along with that advice and finished in a credible 3:16.
It was anything but easy.
“My gait was off and I couldn’t tell what was going on with my right leg,” she explained in a telephone interview. “It would kick my other leg. I didn’t have a good pushoff, my knee wasn’t driving. It was very odd.”
Some of it might have had something to do with a disc issue in her neck.
“I’ve had a tremor in my upper body and neck for eight years that I’ve seen neurologists about,” she said. “They weren’t sure exactly if it was dystonic tremor or essential tremor. The only thing (to treat it) was medication that I really didn’t want to be on, that could affect my running.
“So since the upper body tremors didn’t really bother me, except if I was lifting weights, I didn’t think about it too much. But I did go to my neurologist when my leg started shaking. He told me to not try to PR at Boston. Because when I was going down hills, I couldn’t control where my leg was landing.”
Stephanie enjoys training runs alongside her 12-year-old daughter, Meadow, who rides her bike. Leading up to Boston in late April, even that activity seemed to come into question.
“I almost fell when I was running alongside my daughter in the Be Kind 5K (Bucks 5K Series),” she said. “I was looking at her and I almost tripped over my own foot. I didn’t know what was going on.”
Forget the normal physical challenge of Boston. Just getting through this marathon without frequently stopping proved quite a test.
“At Boston, I started out feeling OK,” she said. “And then my leg, it was buckling, I couldn’t tell where it was landing. I kept stopping and starting again. So I knew something wasn’t right.
It was puzzling after things went so well in 2025.
“When I finished Boston last year, I told my husband (Don Bradley) I have a faster marathon in me,” she said. “I felt so good at the end of that race, I was so excited for the next year. Obviously that didn’t happen. Everything about my running felt very awkward. As a runner you just go. It was like I had never run before. I couldn’t control where my leg was landing.”
She’s been put on certain types of medication and it might take some time to see if they are effective.
“I’m on that medication now and my running has improved,” Savastano said. “I feel more normal but it takes a lot out of me. It’s very draining compared to like last year. My balance was off when I would run. I would be on my right foot way more than my left foot. I was on it too much but it wasn’t doing anything. That’s starting to correct itself and that’s something I’m very happy about. I’m happy I’m getting somewhere.”
There are visible signs of improvement. She managed to hit the podium at last month’s Revolutionary Run with a third-place, 19:39 finish in the 5K, which is pretty darn good for any 46-year-old.
“I’ve had to alter my training,” she conceded. “For the Revolutionary Run, I had not run any 5Ks since April. I didn’t train the way I usually do for that. I just signed up on a whim.
“(With Meadow), I noticed I could do sprints. I could sprint for like 30 seconds and stop. That felt normal. I just couldn’t do longer speedwork. Starting and stopping and going through curves, it didn’t feel like I had control of my leg.”
So she ran the race almost on feel. Didn’t look at her watch. Didn’t warm up, felt it would take something out of her.
She’s entered in the Rehoboth, Delaware Marathon in December but taking a wait-and-see approach.
Safe to say this is one of the biggest health challenges of her running life.
“I don’t feel the same but hopefully it will come back,” she said. “I’ve had many instances in my life where I’ve had to pivot. Or change something where at first you’re thinking, ‘Oh my god, how am I going to deal with this?’
“This is one of those things. At first I was very upset, very irritated, very annoyed. But after a while, it was ‘OK, this is what I can and can’t do right now.’ I just changed things up so it didn’t feel as bad to me.”
Savastano, a native of Honesdale (near Lake Wallenpaupack), said incredible family support is getting her through these trying times.
“My husband backs me up 100 percent all the time, especially with running, he knows how important it is to me,” she said. “He knows how upsetting anything like this can be to me. He’s very patient.
“And my daughter doesn’t judge me. She always thinks I’m going to come in first. Even when I think I didn’t do well, she says, ‘yes, you did.’ She thinks I’m going to do well. They’re very much on my side.”
The future? It’s one step at a time.
“I’m still in a ‘I don’t know’ phase,” she said. “I’m scheduled to go in (for a checkup/consultation) sometime in October. I’m feeling a little better.”
Regardless of the outcome, she’s determined to continue her pursuit on the road to fitness.
“It doesn’t matter how fast I go,” she said. “I’m going to keep on running.”
>Race calendar
Saturday, Aug. 26
26th annual Ivyland 5K, 8:30 a.m., Ivyland. Contact www.ivyland5k.org
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