Brad was born in Rochester, NY but was raised in Charlotte, NC and started running in fourth grade after he was introduced to the “Pacer Test” (which you may know better as a beep test). Brad kept running the entire gym class as all off his classmates tired and quit. He decided that he could be good at the sport so went out for track in Junior High, and continued at East Lincoln High School where he was the 3200 State Champion in track and Runner-up in Cross Country.
After graduation in 2006, he enrolled at Lenore Rhyne University in Hickory, NC. While at the D2 school, Brad earned All-Conference and All-Region honors in Cross Country and graduated with a degree in Elementary Education. His first job was as a pre-school teacher in Charlotte. It didn’t pay enough so Brad took a part time job at a running store and found his passion, which became his career.
His running after college was plagued with one injury after another, while training to run marathons. For rehabilitation, Brad started running on the trails. After a few months, he was running two or three hours at a time, which was 120-130 miles per week. So, in 2015, he ran his first ultra, Weymouth Woods 100K in Southern Pines, NC. He did quite well, finishing second in a time of 9:00:50.
In 2016, he and his wife, Taisha, decided that they “needed a change of scenery” and moved to Pittsburgh where he dominated the ultra scene while working at Fleet Feet running store along side legend, Malcolm East. Then in 2019, they moved back to Charlotte where Brad works at the Charlotte Running Company.
His resume has 12 ultras on it, of which he won five. The most interesting fact about Brad is that he ran so hard in winning the 2017 Pine Creek Challenge 100 Miler in a national ranking time of 14:16, that his kidneys shut down and spent two weeks in the hospital and another six weeks on kidney dialysis.
Two weeks ago, Brad finished fifth at the Ultra Race of Champions in Skylark, VA with a time of 10:06.
Next up for Mr. Popple is the Speed Project on September 4th. The Speed Project is a 340 mile non-stop relay race from the Santa Monica Pier to the infamous “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign on the Strip in Vegas. Teams of six runners from all over the world compete in this race where you can run any route that you choose and there is no set distance or order that runners from each team have to adhere to. Brad has promised me a recap of the event, which I will share on here.
Then in December, The 100 Mile USTAF Trail Championships take place in Needville, TX. Brad has qualified for this race and hopes to represent the US in the World Trail Championships later in 2022.
Brad currently runs for Diadora and loves learning about the history of the sport of running. Hopefully he can make some history this fall and winter. Good luck, Brad!
N of 1 Running 