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Photos by Sam Chandler.
Owen Bradley, a 36-year-old Mountain Brook resident, is making waves in the national ultrarunning community.
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Photos by Sam Chandler.
Frequently seen along the streets of Mountain Brook, Owen Bradley runs 80 to 100 miles per week in preparation for his ultramarathon events. “He’s very committed to things,” said his wife, Laura Bradley. “So when he commits to running, he’s committed to it.”
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Photo courtesy of Owen Bradley.
Owen Bradley is not your average runner.
He can’t be, not with the type of energy-zapping, mind-numbing races he so frequently endures.
Rather, Bradley is an ultrarunner: the distinct brand of distance running enthusiast who motors through 26.2 miles, peers at his watch and joyously proceeds to replicate that pedestrian feat one, two and even three times over.
But to clarify, Bradley is not your average ultrarunner, either.
He can’t be, not with the lofty marks he’s chasing so voraciously.
The 36-year-old Mountain Brook resident is an elite talent who, during the course of the past eight years, has logged thousands of miles on his way to racking up 30 race victories.
“Owen is the preeminent ultrarunner in the South right now,” said friend and training partner Blake Trotter. “If he lived out West in Colorado or California, somewhere that had a lot of elevation, and he had the ability to run a lot of vertical feet and descent on a weekly basis, he would be competing for some of the big ultra races around the country.”
Even training at lower altitude, Bradley has managed to piece together top finishes at some of the most prestigious ultramarathons in the U.S. Among his most impressive performances are top-25 tallies at the 2010 JFK 50 Miler in Maryland and the 2013 Leadville 100 in Colorado — a grueling 100-mile race popularized in author Christopher McDougall’s novel “Born to Run.”
Racing in less prominent — though still highly competitive — races at the local, regional and national level, Bradley has recorded triumphs at distances ranging from 25 to 100 kilometers (15 to 62 miles).
But to highlight the final product paints only a portion of the picture.
Make no mistake: The key to Bradley’s extensive success won’t be found perusing an online race leaderboard.
Instead, it’s his indefatigable work ethic that sets him apart from the competition.
The Grind
Before the sun’s rays begin to appear, Bradley is up and awake, preparing to embark on his daily amble.
After lacing up his shoes and downing 32 ounces of water, he saunters down his perilously steep driveway to begin his morning ritual: a 90-minute run up, down and around Mountain Brook.
Gliding along the community’s streets and trails, Bradley — bearded since 2009 and almost always shirtless — passes the miles at a steady clip. His daily presence during the early commute is a common sight for residents.
“A lot of people around the community don’t know his name,” Trotter said. “But they’ve seen that bearded running guy who runs shirtless all the time.”
Upon returning from his morning session, which concludes with an ascent up his mountain-like driveway, Bradley blends together a protein shake and takes in another 32 ounces of water.
Then it’s off to work at Synovus Bank.
Each day includes careful nutrition choices and a trip to the gym to become healthier and stronger.
By the time Bradley finally returns home from an evening workout and eats a “sensible” meal — typically between 8 and 9 p.m. — with his wife, Laura Bradley, he’s already beginning to prep for another day of work and training.
Like the rhythmic ticking of a metronome, the cycle repeats itself Monday through Friday.
“It’s a grind; that’s what’s so impressive about it,” Trotter said. “He’s like a robot, and he’s just able to grind all the time.”
Bradley isn’t resting on the weekends, either.
Between a pair of back-to-back long runs on Saturday and Sunday, he’ll log a minimum of 35 miles, though the total typically exceeds that amount. On an average week, he runs between 80 and 100 miles.
“He’s very committed to things,” Laura Bradley said. “So when he commits to running, he’s committed to it.”
The Beginning
Believe it or not, running more than 4,000 miles a year hasn’t always been Bradley’s favorite activity. In fact, he once viewed the sport through the same lens as many monotony-detesting youth athletes.
A former prep soccer standout at Hoover High School who earned a spot in Alabama’s Olympic Development Program, Bradley ran only at his coaches’ direction for conditioning or disciplinary purposes.
“Initially, I would associate running somewhat with having a negative connotation, you know, a punishment,” he said.
That all changed in his early 20s.
Bradley started running with a group of coworkers in 2003 while working full time at a branch of SouthTrust Bank and attending graduate school at the University of Alabama.
What began as a casual 2- to 3-mile jog after work gradually grew into a way of life.
Running a flurry of local road races throughout his time in Tuscaloosa, Bradley entered his first half-marathon — the 2007 Mercedes Half — when he moved back to Birmingham after graduation.
Two years later in March 2009, he made his ultramarathon debut at the Oak Mountain 50K.
“I’m pretty competitive, and I had some friends who had done this distance in racing,” Bradley said. “I was like, ‘Well if they can do this, I can do it.’ I may not be a superstar at it, but just give it a shot.”
Having never raced farther than the half-marathon distance, he willed himself through his initial endeavor.
Despite missing the start by 30 minutes, drinking from a duct tape-tainted water bottle and enduring a series of late-race cramps, Bradley battled to a 15th-place finish.
He was hooked.
By the end of the year, he finished four more ultramarathons, including a 40- and 50-miler. At the Tashka Trail 50K, held in Coker, he collected his first career victory.
“There’s not a lot of pressure on the trails as far as pace and time; it’s more about finishing,” Bradley said. “So I thought the laid-back atmosphere would be a good move for me. It turned out well.”
The Triumph
There’s no doubt about that.
Since his introductory race, Bradley has made a name for himself among the region’s long distance community.
He holds personal bests of 2:36:59 in the marathon (5:59 pace), 3:30:08 in the 50K (6:46 pace) and 6:26:20 in the 50 mile (7:44 pace). He has established himself as a front-of-the-pack runner at nearly every race he enters.
“I’m not an Olympic Trials-type speed person, so it’s just finding your niche in which you can be successful and just challenging yourself with a distance that you know you cannot go all out for,” Bradley said. “You’re going to feel great; you’re going to feel terrible, but it’s kind of what … attracts me to the event. It’s dealing with adversity on the fly and knowing that you can do more than your body thinks you can do.”
For help with that particular aspect, he consults the work of Tim Noakes, a renowned South African exercise physiologist. According to Noakes’ central governor theory, the mind, not the body, is the primary factor limiting human performance.
“Until you learn how to control, adapt, turn that off, you’re not going to recognize your full potential,” Bradley said.
His ability to implement that concept was on full display in July 2014.
Persevering through challenging terrain in the Vermont 100 Miler, he mentally and physically locked in over the course of 16-plus hours. Maintaining a clip of 9:39 per mile, he surged to a runner-up finish in the race he labels the highlight of his career — so far.
Equipped with sponsorships from FITS socks, überlube, the Trak Shak and XMR Sports, Bradley has a full racing calendar scheduled for the remainder of 2016. Plus, he serves as race director for the Autumn Equinox Ultra, a roughly 32-mile ultramarathon held every September at Oak Mountain State Park.
Meanwhile, he’ll be pounding out mile after mile in training, relentlessly chipping away at the body of work set in front of him.
“It’s simplistic, and to me, in a world where people strive for connectivity, it’s a great release and great way to distance yourself from the hustle and bustle,” Bradley said.
