Breaking the Record at Big's Backyard Ultra with Harvey Lewis

Wild Ideas Worth Living

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4.7 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Harvey Lewis is an elite ultra runner and Guinness World Record holder for most laps completed at Big’s Backyard Ultra, a race where athletes run a 4.167-mile loop every hour until only one remains. Known for his endurance, strategy, and mental resilience, Lewis has become a defining figure in the world of ultra distance running.

Transcript

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0:00.0	It took me five years to break five hours in a marathon. And then I went down to 319 at age 22. And then in my
0:11.4	mid-20s, I went backwards and went to like a four-hour marathon. And so the common denominator is that I didn't like do running only to perform, like, to win,
0:25.9	but I actually really enjoyed just the experience of movement.
0:30.3	The runners high, I still get that.
0:36.3	Harvey Lewis is a high school teacher and elite ultra runner.
0:40.6	He's a legend in the running community.
0:43.4	Harvey's known for winning some of the world's most brutal ultra-marathons,
0:47.6	racing for days at a time with little food and almost no sleep.
0:52.9	Over his 20-year ultra career, Harvey has never stopped pushing himself.
0:57.5	He loves looking for new ways to improve, whether that means commuting by foot to get in his
1:02.4	training miles or working out in a sauna to mimic the hot, dry environment of Death Valley.
1:09.1	What really sets Harvey apart, though, is his sense of joy and his positive mindset.
1:14.6	These qualities have helped him through plenty of tough moments on the trail.
1:19.4	I'm Shelby Stanger, and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living, an REI Co-op Studios production, presented
1:25.8	by Capital One and the REI Co-Op MasterCard.
1:31.5	Harvey Lewis, welcome to Wild Ideas Worth Living.
1:35.4	You have a record for some of the most wild ideas around.
1:40.1	I'm happy to be here, and I love Wild Ideas.
1:43.9	I know. So where are you right now? Because you're,
1:46.3	you're in like a tie and a dresser. I have a couple of different modes and one of my modes is
1:53.1	my teaching mode. So I'm at my school here in Cincinnati downtown. And I teach juniors and seniors,
2:00.0	American government and financial literacy.
	...

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