Brad Kearns

Brad Kearns was born on February 4, 1965, in Los Angeles, California. He began his athletic journey in endurance sports at Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California, running cross country and track from 1980 to 1982. During this period, he became a finalist at the National Junior Olympics Track & Field Championships 1500 meters at age 16, achieving a national ranking of 12th in his age division. He set a school record of 15:24 on the Pierce College cross country course in 1981, and in track and field, he set a Los Angeles City Cee Division record in the 1600 meters in 1981 with a time of 4:26.05. He continued his academic pursuits at UC Santa Barbara, graduating with a B.A., cum laude, in business/economics in 1985. His running career at UCSB was impacted by injuries, leading him to transition into triathlon. In his first year of collegiate cycling, he became the California Collegiate Cycling Association state champion in the Novice B division for the 10-mile time trial.

After a brief period in accounting, Kearns pursued a professional triathlon career, competing on the international circuit from 1986 to 1995. During this time, he secured 31 victories worldwide, including two USA national championships. A notable achievement was his year-end #3 world ranking in 1991, a year in which he had 15 first-place finishes and 33 top-5 finishes in major races. In 1991, he won the ITU World Cup/Pan American Championship event in Ixtapa, Mexico, by a record margin of five minutes. He also placed 5th at the long course championships in Nice, France (1988), 6th at the Olympic distance world championship in Kelowna, B.C. (1988), and 5th at the ITU Olympic distance world championships in Muskoka, Ontario (1992). In 1993, he won the DCA Atlanta sprint distance triathlon, earning $11,750 in a 51-minute race.

Following his professional triathlon career, Kearns expanded into publishing and coaching. He has authored several books, including _Breakthrough Triathlon Training_ (2005), _How Lance Does It_ (2006), and _How Tiger Does It_. Since 2008, he has collaborated with Mark Sisson on the Primal Blueprint series, co-authoring _Primal Endurance_ (2016), _The Keto Reset Diet_ (2017), _Keto For Life_ (2020), and _Two Meals A Day_ (2021). _The Keto Reset Diet_ became a New York Times bestseller in October 2017. Kearns also founded and directed Running School, a children’s fitness program, and hosts the B.rad Podcast, focusing on health, fitness, and peak performance. In his later athletic career, he has achieved significant success in masters track and field, with a top-3 world ranking in the high jump for age 55-59 in 2020, 2022, and 2024, and setting a Guinness World Record for the fastest single hole of golf (503-yard par 5 in 1 minute, 38.75 seconds) in 2018.