00:00 Ever tried running backwards?
00:02 What about running a mile backwards in five and a half minutes?
00:06 This man has.
00:08 That five minutes and thirty seconds backwards mile.
00:10 A lot of times people think maybe I ran the film in reverse.
00:14 I'm like no, I'm actually like literally running backwards.
00:17 Meet Aaron Yoder, one of the world's fastest backwards runners,
00:21 with that mile being about twice as fast as the average forwards runner.
00:25 And that's just one in a long list of backwards running accolades.
00:29 I had held three Guinness World Records, seven world titles,
00:34 ten American titles, and certainly more records to come.
00:38 Backwards running is certainly a niche sport,
00:43 just because it's so weird to think about.
00:46 Is it actually a thing?
00:48 I mean when I was in Germany doing my first world championships,
00:51 there's about a hundred athletes and probably a hundred spectators out there watching.
00:56 But even if the sport is obscure, Aaron loves going out to run
00:59 and always strives to grow as an athlete.
01:02 We're currently at Coronado Heights, right outside of Linsborg, Kansas.
01:06 And this is a great place that I use for doing my long runs.
01:10 I would say on a given day I run two to three miles backwards.
01:15 I try not to look behind because just like forward running,
01:19 if you are turning around and looking behind you, then that slows you down.
01:22 I simply make sure that the road is clear, then I just go after it.
01:27 I really have to trust myself and kind of run by faith.
01:30 You have to have a lot of belief that you're good. God's got you.
01:34 As far as the mechanics of backwards running, I'm lifting my feet up.
01:40 Another thing that I use as a cue is kicking a soccer ball.
01:43 So I'll bring that leg out in front, and then I'm lifting my foot up,
01:47 and I'm placing it back on the ground, making sure my foot is directly underneath my hips.
01:52 I'm trying to make sure as I make ground contact that my toe is up,
01:56 so I get a nice springboard.
01:58 There's a temptation to doing kind of a back pedal,
02:01 where you're bent over and you're kind of reaching back.
02:03 But when you're staying nice and tall, your balance is going to be enhanced.
02:07 Very similar to forward running, you don't want to be reaching back behind,
02:11 but simply lifting and pushing, maintaining good posture.
02:14 Don't want my head up in the sky or be looking straight down.
02:17 I'm basically just gazing about 20 meters in front, so I keep good neutral spine position.
02:23 Trying to keep my upper body nice and loose, driving my elbow backwards,
02:27 keeping my hands to the side, and really just staying nice and tall.
02:30 When I'm training for a distance run, I'm not lifting my feet up as much,
02:35 so I'm not activating the hip flexor and the quadricep quite as much as I would
02:40 if I was running at the track.
02:42 We're here at Bethany College track.
02:44 This is where I coach. This is where I train.
02:47 This is where all the magic happens.
02:49 Some of the big things that change with backwards running is the start.
02:53 Forward sprinters would start in a four-point stance.
02:57 Their lead leg and their strong leg is out in front,
03:00 and then they would be up in this position.
03:02 With backwards running, you can't really use blocks,
03:05 so I start in a two-point position, and whichever is your stronger leg,
03:10 for me it's my right, is in the back.
03:12 I make sure I'm up on the forefoot, the heels are up,
03:16 and then when I start, I try to swing my torso backwards.
03:19 That's what's in my mind when I'm trying to go as fast as humanly possible.
03:23 With that in mind, we decided to see just how fast Aaron can run.
03:27 I felt that.
03:31 Does it look fast?
03:35 It looks fast.
03:36 I need coaching, you know.
03:37 It looked fast.
03:38 I'm chasing the dragon.
03:40 Now I'm starting to run tense because I'm trying too hard.
03:43 Pushing himself to the limit, Aaron hit 12 miles per hour at a sprint,
03:48 which is a five-minute mile pace.
03:50 But as fast as Aaron now is, his retro running pursuits began with a setback.
03:55 When I was halfway through college, I banged my knee up,
03:58 had torn my meniscus, so I went in for surgery.
04:01 I started having some real issues, like just a lot of pain,
04:04 slowing down in my training, so I went back to running.
04:07 I went back to the doctor and said, "You got pretty bad arthritis.
04:11 I would recommend you never run again."
04:14 I remember that day I was at Coronado Heights,
04:16 just really trying to figure out how I can just get away from everything.
04:19 I remember on that particular day, it was almost as if God was saying,
04:22 "Just turn it around."
04:23 And so I went and ran four miles backwards with no pain.
04:27 The new dream became, "I'm going to train for six weeks and see where it takes me."
04:32 I remember thinking, "This is just a good type of exercise for me."
04:36 And I started looking, and it's like, "There's world championships.
04:39 There's world records."
04:40 I'm like, "Am I actually going to step up and make an attempt?"
04:43 Then on the first attempt, I broke the record.
04:45 [Aaron screams]
04:47 Maybe not a lot of people understand, like,
04:49 why would you want to put yourself through that pain?
04:51 Somebody who's going through a challenge in life, a student or an athlete,
04:55 they could maybe look at my perspective.
04:58 I know I'm at my best when I've put myself through some sort of challenge each day.
05:03 I think people should try running backwards because it's just a different overall perspective.
05:08 In American culture, we're goal-oriented and we're forward-driven,
05:12 so it allows you to think about how far I've come rather than how far I need to continue to go.
05:17 This is my office.
05:23 As a coach here and teacher at Bethany,
05:26 I have a lot of things that I'm really proud of in terms of what we've done as a team.
05:31 I have pictures of some teams that have qualified for nationals.
05:34 I definitely love backwards running, love being a world record holder,
05:38 but to me, what's more important is being able to teach and coach.
05:42 This time in their life is very important,
05:45 and I'm grateful to have the opportunity to hopefully inspire,
05:48 but certainly I get a lot of inspiration from working with everyone that I do.
05:53 And with his enthusiasm for coaching, Aaron volunteered to teach me to run backwards as fast as he can.
05:59 Ready to run backwards, Wendy?
06:01 That'll be my first time.
06:03 Okay, Wendy, you're on. Let's see what you got just from scratch.
06:06 Can I look behind me or should I keep looking straight?
06:08 You can maybe-- I would try to stay looking this way.
06:11 All right. You got some really good things that you're doing with posture,
06:17 but you started with the same leg and same arm out in front.
06:20 You know, we're not Mario characters running around like this.
06:23 Doing, doing. We run with a cross connection.
06:26 Your right leg's out in front, so then your left hand needs to be here.
06:29 So then when you start going, your arms are switching,
06:32 and then just start going backwards a little bit.
06:35 There we go. Hey, you can do it. You can do it.
06:38 So let's try it again.
06:40 There we go. There we go. There we go. That's pretty good. That's pretty good.
06:43 That's pretty good. There we go. Good. Good.
06:45 I'm bending this knee in the front because I'm still going to push off a little bit here.
06:49 You don't want to be already straight. That way you get a little bit of push off both legs.
06:53 Cool.
06:56 Look at that. Look at that. Just keep on doing it. Just keep on doing it.
07:00 I got it. I got it. I got it. Ah!
07:03 Yeah, I can do this. See? I look behind me.
07:06 Yeah, that's all right. There's a sandbag.
07:10 It's like there's a--
07:12 Well, I think I'm a professional. Let's race.
07:16 Let's go.
07:18 On your mark, get set, go.
07:21 [panting]
07:25 Boy, that's close. So close. That's close. That is so close.
07:28 That might need to go to the cameras. We need a photo finish here.
07:31 That might be hundreds of a second. I was right behind you.
07:34 So you beat me by a little bit. A couple feet, maybe.
07:38 A game of inches, a game of yards. That's right.
07:40 What if I run forward against you backwards? I like that. Yeah.
07:43 On your mark, get set, go.
07:47 [panting]
07:50 [laughter]
07:52 I'm really trying.
07:54 That one was actually a photo finish.
07:56 But if I actually lean backwards, I don't know if I want to do that.
07:59 There's no catching yourself. All right.
08:01 You're clearly a very fast backwards runner
08:03 because you are kind of at speed with my fastest forward running.
08:06 I think you did a great job and definitely presented a good challenge.
08:10 Maybe next time I'll be able to get you with the forward running.
08:13 Thank you so much, coach.
08:15 As much as he wins, winning is never the end goal for Aaron,
08:18 who has dedicated himself to backwards running as a true self-fulfilling passion.
08:23 I love running backwards.
08:24 Someone had mentioned at one point, well, you're just such a natural athlete,
08:28 you wouldn't even be good at backwards running if it wasn't for that.
08:30 The thing is, I'm not a natural backwards runner because it's not natural.
08:34 We're not designed to do that, but it does feel natural to me.
08:38 I certainly see backwards running growing.
08:40 If it becomes an Olympic sport, then maybe the NCAA picks up something like that
08:44 and then you have schools that can give people opportunities
08:47 that maybe they're not a good forward runner, but they're a great backwards runner.
08:50 Who would be the coach for that? It would be me.
08:53 (upbeat music)
08:55 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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