Ocean City native Maddie Brady training for brutal Moab 240-mile race
MIAMI — Maddie Brady plans to run the Moab 240 in October. The 241.8-mile ultramarathon through Utah’s canyons, desert and mountains has a maximum time limit of 112 hours.
That’s equivalent to more than nine marathons in about four and a half days.
Brady, who has run for herself and in races on different continents, has only done a paltry 81 miles in one go. She was supposed to run 100 miles in that ultramarathon, but she failed.
The failure wasn’t a deterrent. That was motivation.
The Ocean City native and 2015 Ocean City High School graduate said anything worth doing in her life has taken multiple tries and overcoming failure to get there. Brady believes anyone can do anything in this life regardless of background, past limited beliefs or their past perception of self.
Now living in Miami, Brady got her start in running at OCHS, where she also swam for the Red Raiders.
“I think running was the first thing that I felt like I excelled at,” she said. “I made friends in the sport and I just really always loved to run.”
She admits she was never the first-place finisher, but it was a passion, one that reignited after some time in college and fighting eating disorders and addiction.
“Running at some points became for a year or two something almost negative in my life and then I completely redefined my relationship with running after a bit of a break,” she said.
Brady had moved to New York to work around 2022 and that passion kicked back in and she started making friends through running clubs in the city. She had also started her podcast (@thegetrealshow on Instagram) and the first guest was Ocean City’s David Millar, who talked about doing a 100-mile race.
She wasn’t at his level, but thought that if someone she knew from home — not just some famous distant athlete — could do that race, so could she.
Brady befriended a trail runner and began trail running north of New York City. Her friend, Meg O’Connell, told her she was doing the Rim to Rim to Rim 48-mile run at the Grand Canyon that involved about 12,000 feet of elevation. Brady decided she would do it too, with Meg, Finn O’Connell, Millar and a small group.
“On that specific day, I remember my entire brain just being altered because I had never done anything like that,” she said. “I’d never even seen a place like that, obviously, being from Ocean City and mostly the East Coast.
“Once I did that, it really opened my eyes to, ‘Wow, you can really just set these huge goals and accomplish them.’”
Brady went on to complete an Iron Man competition and did a bike race from Jacksonville, Fla., to Key West, a 534-mile ride, after just starting biking the year before. She had a crew from back home in support — Connor Brady and Stephanie Hauck.
“That really showed me in a very small instance you can go from not ever biking to biking the entire state of Florida,” she said. “You just set your mind to it and practice.”
Brady has been doing other distance running as well, completing the Berlin Marathon in Germany and the New York City Marathon, as well as running in London, Portugal, Dubai and Kyoto and Tokyo, Japan.
She remembered being speechless and inspired after watching a movie called “The King of Moab,” about someone else who had overcome addiction and had run only for about five years before winning the Moab 240.
“I like to do things that scare me, that seem way too big for what I could accomplish today, but not too big for something I could accomplish in X months’ time. You really have to go all-in on the goal.”
In January, she put her name into a lottery for the Utah ultramarathon, thinking she wouldn’t get in this year, but perhaps the next. She was 54th on the wait list, but by April she was down to 12. A couple days later, she got the email she was entered in the October 2026 race.
In May, she signed up for a 100-mile ultramarathon in Florida. She made it to mile 81 after 15.5 hours and then passed out from rhabdo (rhabdomyolysis). It was about 92 degrees, 60 percent humidity, she recalled.
Rhabdo is a serious muscle condition when the body isn’t hydrated or fueled enough so muscle tissue begins to break down and can cause kidney failure.
“That was a learning experience,” she said.
“I’ve had people say, ‘How do you expect to finish 240 miles when you couldn’t even finish 100?’ I don’t really look at things from that perspective.
“I think everything in my life that has been worthwhile getting has take multiple times to get there,” she continued. “Every time something negative happens or I get told no, or there’s a ‘mess’ along the way, you can learn from it and use it as fuel to push you that much further, make you that much more hungry and ambitious to reach that goal. And it makes it 10 times better when you actually get there.”
The Moab 240, which is scheduled from Oct. 9-14, has 33,000 feet of elevation gain along the route. She will have 112 hours to finish, with brief rest periods along the way (such as a number of 20-minute or 50-minute naps). That is part of the strategy, to figure out what will work best for her body.
“I’m not setting a time for myself. If I could get in at 111 hours and 59 minutes, I’ll be very happy,” she said.
In the meantime, people can follow her progress training. Because Florida isn’t exactly a hilly place, she’ll be running trails in mountain ranges every single weekend in different parts of the country and beyond, including Georgia, Washington, Montana, Oregon and in Vancouver and Moab. (Follow her training on Instagram @maddiebrady.)
Brady is setting up a support team for her Moab 240 race. She also has support from her employer, InterEx Group, where she works in tech recruitment. “They have always encouraged me to go for massive goals and back me with everything, which allows me to make it all possible,” she said.
When Brady does big runs, she likes to find a cause or a charity to support. “When you have a platform like this, it’s good to use it for a message,” she explained.
Brady is dedicating the Moab 240 run to bringing attention to Ocean City’s Bill Lombard, who is looking for a kidney. She is hoping to bring visibility to his cause. (If you can help, call and reference Bill Lombard to Allison Ford at Jefferson Hospital at 215-456-4569. Email allison.Ford@Jefferson.edu for more information.)
The Moab 240 is classified as one of the hardest ultramarathons in the world.
“I actually like ultra because there’s a certain point that your mind has to do the rest,” Brady said. “You can only prepare your body to a certain degree. … For the actual race, you have to run your fitness base, about 30 percent, and then the rest of it is really just problem-solving and your mind.”
– STORY by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
