This Guy Runs the World's Fastest Backward Mile

[Wendy] Ever tried running backwards?

What about running a mile backwards

in five and a half minutes?

This man has.

That five minutes and 30 second backwards mile

Go! A lot of times people think

maybe I ran the film in reverse.

I'm like, no, I'm actually like literally running backwards.

[Wendy] Meet Aaron Yoder,

one of the world's fastest backwards runners

with that mile being about twice as fast

as the average forwards runner,

and that's just one in a long list

of backwards running accolades.

I had held three Guinness World Records,

seven world titles, 10 American titles,

and certainly more records to come.

[upbeat music]

Backwards running is certainly a niche sport

just because it's so weird to think about.

Is it actually a thing?

I mean, when I was in Germany

doing my first World Championships,

there's about 100 athletes

and probably 100 spectators out there watching.

[Wendy] But even if the sport is obscure,

Aaron loves going out to run

and always strives to grow as an athlete.

We're currently at Coronado Heights

right outside of Lindsborg, Kansas,

and this is a great place that I use for doing my long runs.

I would say on a given day,

I run two to three miles backwards.

I try not to look behind

because just like forward running,

if you are turning around and looking behind you,

then that slows you down.

I simply make sure that the road is clear,

then I just go after it.

I really have to trust myself and kind of run by faith.

You have to have a lot of belief that you're good.

God's got you.

As far as the mechanics of backwards running,

I'm lifting my feet up.

Another thing that I use as a cue is kicking a soccer ball.

So I'll bring that leg out in front,

and then I'm lifting my foot up

and I'm placing it back on the ground,

making sure my foot is directly underneath my hips.

And I'm trying to make sure as I make ground contact

that my toe is up so I get a nice springboard.

There's a temptation to doing kind of a back pedal

where you're bent over and you're kinda reaching back,

but when you're staying nice and tall,

your balance is gonna be enhanced.

Very similar to forward running,

you don't want to be reaching back behind,

but simply lifting and pushing, maintaining good posture.

Don't want my head up in the sky

or be looking straight down.

I'm basically just gazing about 20 meters in front.

So I keep good neutral spine position,

trying to keep my upper body nice and loose,

driving my elbow backwards, keeping my hands to the side,

and really just staying nice and tall.

When I'm training for a distance run,

I'm not lifting my feet up as much,

so I'm not activating the hip flexor

and the quadricep quite as much

as I would if I was running at the track.

We're here at Bethany College Track.

This is where I coach.

This is where I train.

This is where all the magic happens.

Some of the big things that change

with backwards running is the start.

Forward sprinters would start in a four point stance.

Their lead leg and their strong leg is out in front,

and then they would be up in this position.

With backwards running, you can't really use blocks.

So I start in a two point position,

and whichever is your stronger leg,

for me, it's my right, is in the back.

I make sure I'm up on the forefoot, the heels are up,

and then when I start, I try to swing my torso backwards,

but that's what's in my mind when I'm trying

to go as fast as humanly possible.

[Wendy] With that in mind,

we decided to see just how fast Aaron can run.

[gun pops] [upbeat music]

I felt that.

Does it look fast?

It looks fast. I need coaching, you know.

It looked fast.

I'm chasing the dragon.

Now I'm starting to run tense

'cause I'm like trying too hard,

[Wendy] Pushing himself to the limit,

Aaron hit 12 miles per hour at a sprint,

which is a five minute mile pace,

but as fast as Aaron now is,

his retro running pursuits began with a setback.

When I was halfway through college,

I banged my knee up, had torn my meniscus.

I went in for surgery, started having some real issues

like just a lot of pain,

you know, slowing down in my training.

So I went back to the doctor and said,

You know, you got pretty bad arthritis.

Like I would recommend you never run again.

Remember that day, I was at Coronado Heights,

just really trying to figure out

how I can just get away from everything.

And I remember on that particular day,

it is almost as if God was saying, Just turn it around.

And so I went and ran four miles backwards with no pain.

The new dream became I'm gonna train for six weeks

and see where it takes me.

So I remember thinking it's like

this is just a good type of exercise for me.

And I started looking.

It's like there's world championships,

there's world records, and I'm like,

am I actually gonna step up and make an attempt?

Then on the first attempt, I broke the record.

Ah! Now.

Maybe not a lot of people understand like,

why would you wanna put yourself through that pain?

Somebody who's going through a challenge in life,

a student or an athlete,

they could maybe look at my perspective.

I know I'm at my best when I've put myself

through some sort of challenge each day.

I think people should try running backwards

because it's just a different overall perspective.

In American culture, we're goal-oriented,

and we're forward-driven.

So it allows you to think about how far I've come

rather than how far I need to continue to go.

[upbeat music]

This is my office.

As a coach here and teacher at Bethany,

have a lot of things that really proud of

in terms of what we've done as a team.

I have pictures of some teams

that have qualified for Nationals.

I definitely love [claps] backwards running,

love being a world record holder,

but to me what's more important

is being able to teach and coach.

This time in their life is very important,

and I'm grateful to have the opportunity

to hopefully inspire,

but certainly I get a lot of inspiration

from working with everyone that I do.

[Wendy] And with his enthusiasm for coaching,

Aaron volunteered to teach me to run backwards

as fast as he can.

Ready to run backwards, Wendy?

It'll be my first time.

Okay, Wendy, you're on.

Let's see what you got just from scratch.

Can I look behind me,

or should I keep looking straight?

Maybe I would try to stay, you know, looking this way.

All right. [Wendy laughs]

You got some really good things

that you're doing with posture,

but you started with the same leg

and same arm out in front.

You know we're not Mario characters

running around like this, doing, doing.

We run with a cross connection.

Your right leg's out in front,

so then your left hand needs to be here.

So then when you start going,

your arms are switching,

and then just start going backwards a little bit.

There we go.

Hey, you can do it, you can do it.

So let's try it again.

Go.

There we go, there we go, there we go.

That's pretty good, that's pretty good, that's pretty good.

There we go, good, good. [Wendy laughs]

I'm bending this knee in the front

because I'm still gonna push off a little bit here.

You don't wanna be already straight.

That way you get a little bit of push off both legs.

Go,

Look at that, look at that.

Just keep on doing it, just keep on doing it.

I got it, I got it, I got it, ah!

Whew, yeah, I could do this.

See. I looked behind me. [laughs]

Yeah, that's all right.

There's a sandbag.

It's like there's this...

[both laugh]

Well, I think I'm a professional.

Let's race.

Let's go. On your mark, get set, go.

Well, it's close.

So close! That's close.

That is so close. So close.

That might need to need

to go to the cameras. We need a photo finish here.

That might hundredths of a second.

I was right behind you. Good job, you.

[hands clap] So you beat me

by a little bit.

Couple feet, maybe. Game of inches,

game of yards. That's right.

What if I run forward against you backwards?

I like that, yeah. On your mark,

get set, go.

[both laugh]

Well, I'm really trying.

[laughs] That one was actually a photo finish.

But if I actually lean backwards,

I don't know if I wanna do that.

There's no catching yourself.

All right, you're a clearly very fast backwards runner

because you are kind of at speed

with my fastest forward running.

I think you did a great job

and definitely presented a good challenge.

Maybe next time, I'll be able to get you

with the forward running.

Thank you so much, coach.

As much as he wins, winning is never the end goal for Aaron

who has dedicated himself to backwards running

as a true self-fulfilling passion.

I love running backwards.

Someone had mentioned at one point,

Well, you're just such a natural athlete.

You wouldn't even be good at backwards running

if it wasn't for that.

The thing is, I'm not a natural backwards runner

because it's not natural.

We're not designed to do that,

but it does feel natural to me.

I certainly see backwards running growing.

You know, if it becomes an Olympic sport,

then maybe the NCAA picks up something like that,

and then you have schools

that could give people opportunities

that maybe they're not a good forward runner,

but they're a great backwards runner.

So who would be the coach for that?

It would be me.