Todd Braje spits out of the side of his mouth as he runs through downtown Arcata. As he weaves around cars and dodges walkers, he talks of 40-mile runs and 100-mile races as if they were things that everyone does. Most people know this Clark Kent by his office job as the anthropology professor who plays "Indiana Jones" clips on the first day of class. But when he trades in his necktie and button-downs, few know him as the breakout three-time national ultramarathon champion and two-time world ultramarathon championship competitor. Running around the Arcata Marsh, Braje talks about his transition from running 10-kilometer races in college to running 100-mile races today as if it were "normal," a word he throws around loosely. "I never had raw speed, but it seemed like the longer the distance, the better I did," says Braje.
Togo RPCV Todd Braje's shortest run is 9 miles
Todd Braje: His shortest run is 9 miles
By Derek Lactaoen
Online Editor
Published: Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Updated: Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Braje
Catherine Wong
Todd Braje talks to students in his Anth 359 class Monday afternoon.
Todd Braje spits out of the side of his mouth as he runs through downtown Arcata. As he weaves around cars and dodges walkers, he talks of 40-mile runs and 100-mile races as if they were things that everyone does.
Most people know this Clark Kent by his office job as the anthropology professor who plays "Indiana Jones" clips on the first day of class. But when he trades in his necktie and button-downs, few know him as the breakout three-time national ultramarathon champion and two-time world ultramarathon championship competitor.
Running around the Arcata Marsh, Braje talks about his transition from running 10-kilometer races in college to running 100-mile races today as if it were "normal," a word he throws around loosely.
"I never had raw speed, but it seemed like the longer the distance, the better I did," says Braje.
His metamorphosis from a collegiate runner for Beloit College in Wisconsin to an ultramarathon runner "made sense," he says. After he finished a stint with the Peace Corps in Tonga, he started training for marathons during graduate school at the University of Florida where he picked up running again after almost quitting.
"I've tried to quit running before, and it's hard to do," he says, shaking his head a little bit. "Running is part of my life. It makes me a more productive person... it makes me feel good."
In 2003 Braje moved to Eugene, Ore., for his PhD. There, he started training with Marla Runyan, the first legally blind Olympic athlete.
From Oregon, Braje came to Humboldt State University to teach archaeology classes. He specializes in coastal archaeology, specifically in the Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara, an "archaeologist's dream."
"It's a beautiful place to work," he says. "It's like southern California before 10 million people moved there."
While Braje's interests are split between two very different activities, he says his commitment to both is unquestioned.
"I feel like running really helps me focus on teaching," he says in a breathy voice, rounding the far corner of Redwood Bowl. On the straightaway below the stadium seating, Braje's modesty peaks.
"I just don't think many people know about me running," he says, wiping his face with a gloved hand. "I don't really advertise it."
College Professor Eric Grossman is one of Braje's competitors. He says that, like Braje, most of his students don't know that he's a runner.
Grossman teaches education classes at Emory and Henry College in Emory, Va. He raced Braje in the USA Track and Field 100-mile championship last year in Willoughby Hills, Ohio. Grossman had to pull out because of a hamstring injury, but he managed to run over half the race-- at times step-for-step with Braje. In his blog, he refers to Braje as a 100-kilometer specialist.
"He has a combination of traits I see in other great ultramarathoners," says Grossman. "He is intense and focused, yet able to roll with the circumstances."
Braje runs most of his races along the west coast, choosing to run his ultras in California and Oregon. But over the past few years, he has traveled as far away as Gibraltar (near Spain) to compete for world championships.
In 2010, Braje was selected to represent the U.S. in the world ultramarathon championship. The men's team placed second in that 100-kilometer race. However, he dropped out at mile 42, something he calls devastating, but part of the sport.
Mike Wardian was racing with Braje when he dropped. In the ultramarathon world, Wardian is something of a superhero. If Braje is the Superman, then Wardian is the Batman. The two have yet to compete head-to-head but have run with each other at Worlds.
"Out of all the guys on the team, he was the guy that I was thinking was going to have the best race," says Wardian.
He says the two times he dropped out of races were like getting his heart ripped out. However, he also says he understands that pushing the body past its limits can do serious damage.
While running, Braje mentions a friend who ran himself into kidney failure during a race and crossed the finish line in an ambulance.
"He was 7 miles from the finish line of a 100-mile race. He literally could have walked to the finish line and still done well," says Braje. The dangers of his sport show up in his facial expressions as he tells this story. "It's probably not very good for your body. There are some races that are very masochistic. Running 135 miles across Death Valley in July is not normal."
Despite Braje's performance at Worlds, Wardian says he looks forward to battling Braje in the future. "I enjoy running against the best people in the world and I consider Todd on that level."
Braje leaves on Friday for Texas where he will run the Rocky Raccoon 50-mile race. He says he will use this season opener race to see where on that world-class level his fitness is at in preparation for the 100-kilometer U.S. Championships in April.
At the end of this semester, Braje will transfer to San Diego State University where he can be on the faculty with his wife Sopagna Eap, a psychology professor who is now teaching at Pacific University. Eap is also an accomplished marathoner who ran in the 2008 Olympic Trials.
The two have lived apart for the past three years, and Braje is "over it."
"It's going to be a really, really good thing," he says with a smile. "According to her, kids are on the horizon... and she's the boss."
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Want to try one of Todd Braje's workouts?
Start with an easy 4-mile warm up.
Run one mile between 5'20" and 5'30".
Take one minute rest.
Repeat that seven times.
Run four more miles easy to cool down.
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Braje's personal 50-mile race record broken down:
Jed Smith 50-mile Ultra Classic in 2009
50 miles in 5 hours 30 minutes and 50 seconds.
Average pace: 6:30 per mile
