Penn medical ethics and health policy professor Harsha Thirumurthy broke the American men’s 45-49 age group record for the 50-mile race at the 2025 USA Track & Field Championships.
On Nov. 8, Thirumurthy set the record at the 2025 USATF 50 Mile Road Championships at Tunnel Hill in southern Illinois. He finished in five hours, 38 minutes, and 27 seconds — averaging 6:46 per mile — to set a new American record for the distance in the 45-49 age group, breaking the previous record of 5:39.42.
Thirumurthy also serves as associate director of the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics and division chief of health policy. His research examines how economic and behavioral factors shape health outcomes, particularly in low and middle-income countries. Beyond his academic work, Thirumurthy has built a reputation in an entirely different arena: ultrarunning.
“I joined the track and cross-country teams at my high school as an extracurricular activity, and it turned out to be one of the best decisions I made,” Thirumurthy said in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian. “I have run about 30 marathons in my life with great performances. But last year, I began looking for a different kind of physical and mental challenge and ran my first ultramarathon last November.”
Despite an injury at the time, Thirumurthy’s time at Tunnel Hill’s 50-miler in November 2024 ended just seven minutes shy of the American record. Over the next year, he refined his training with several long runs, such as the gruelling 56-mile Comrades Marathon on the hills of South Africa in June.
“A typical week balanced volume and recovery,” Thirumurthy's running coach Jason Holroyd said to the DP. “Easy runs early in the week, mid-week speed workouts, and long runs on weekends at marathon or 50-mile pace. He loves racing and will race anything, so we had to focus the training to prioritise the record. Consistency is what made it possible.”
Thirumurthy's wife Emily Bobrow described the morning of the race in a conversation with the DP.
“[Thirumurthy] was nervous but focused,” Bobrow said. “We had everything planned out: exactly where I’d meet him on the course, what I’d hand him, which fluids and gels. When I saw him near the finish, I started yelling, ‘Go faster!’ … He’s an incredible planner, and executed flawlessly.”
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Back at Penn, Thirumurthy’s colleagues followed the race closely.
“We were thrilled for him,” Elizabeth Bair, a biostatistician who has worked with Thirumurthy for seven years in the Behavioural Economics and Global Health Insights Lab, said to the DP. “Usually, you watch the Olympics to see people do things like that, not a colleague … everywhere he goes, he runs. He uses running as a way to engage with the world.”
For Thirumurthy, the true challenge at Tunnel Hill was not physical, but mental.
“Can you shut down that voice in your head that has doubts?” he said. “Every time that little voice would speak up that I’m getting tired, I would replace it with messages that gave me confidence … I tried to visualise myself running really strong and crossing that finish line in a record-setting time.”
Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic as well as Thirumurthy’s friend and fellow ultrarunner, spoke to the DP about the mindset required for such a race.
“He’s a really special guy,” Thompson said. “Running a pace of 6:40 for 50 miles is incredibly hard, and I knew from his training that he was ready for it … there’s a certain kind of personality that goes into running; it’s often thoughtful, introspective people like [Thirumurthy].”
The two met at the start of the 2021 Chicago Marathon and discovered they ran nearly identical paces, often finishing races within seconds of each other. Thompson said he had “a good hunch” that Thirumurthy would break the record.
“The last 10 miles were exactly like that,” Thirumurthy said. “I was in pain, but also getting so much pleasure from being outside on this beautiful trail, doing this thing I love. I kept repeating to myself, ‘pain is progress, and progress is pleasure.’ That mantra was really powerful.”
Reflecting on the experience, Thirumurthy stated that the lessons he learned extend beyond the sport.
“I truly believe that the lessons that helped me succeed in a race like Tunnel Hill also helped me succeed in other realms of life,” he added. “We all face hardships. We all face setbacks, and how we deal with those challenges determines the outcomes that we can realise.”
