Finding Your Limits: Lessons From Lazarus Lake and the Backyard Ultra
Some years ago, I watched The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young.
If you’ve seen it, you know—it’s not just a race. It’s a battle of body, mind, and willpower where most never even finish a single loop. I didn’t act on it then, but something in me woke up. The thought lingered: What am I really capable of?
Fast forward to last month when I met Lazarus Lake, the man behind that race—and many others designed to push people past what they thought was possible. Laz doesn’t just build courses; he builds experiences that test the limits of human endurance. And I thought that was incredible.
But this past weekend? I got to live it.
Crewing at the Backyard Ultra
I spent the weekend at Little Dog’s Backyard Ultra, hosted at Lazarus Lake’s home in Tennessee. I was there to crew for a runner named Justin.
When I first met Justin, he said something that stopped me in my tracks:
“I plan to run 100 miles in 24 hours.”
Not “I’m going to try.” Not “I hope I can.”
He planned to. He spoke it like a fact.
And he did.
He ran through the night—loop after loop—4.167 miles at a time, every hour on the hour, for 24 straight hours. I didn’t run a single step, but I was there each time he came in: handing him food, water, setting alarms for his five-minute naps, and sometimes offering a vomit bag.
While he was out on the course, I sat by the fire with other crew members and runners, listening to stories of 100-milers and hallucinations, and learning about Laz’s other races:
Race for the Ages, where you must be at least 40 years old and get your age in hours to run as many 1-mile loops as you can.
Vol State 500K, where runners park their car in Georgia, get bused to Missouri, and have ten days to make their way back—on foot.
HOTS (Heart of the South), where you don’t even know where you’ll start until you get there.
Two weekends from now, the world’s best endurance athletes will gather on that same property for the Backyard Ultra World Championship. Sitting there by the fire, talking with Laz and hearing stories from some of the toughest runners on earth, I realized I was sitting on hallowed ground.
The Power of Mindset
Justin’s words kept echoing in my mind:
“I plan to run 100 miles in 24 hours.”
Not “try.” Plan.
That one word made all the difference.
So many people tell me, “I’ll try to get back into shape.”
Or, “I’ll try to come to the gym three times a week.”
But trying and deciding are two very different things.
Whatever the mind believes, the body achieves.
Justin believed he could do it—and his body followed.
We are all capable of so much more than we think we are. The limits we feel are often not physical—they’re mental.
Why This Matters (Even If You’ll Never Run an Ultra)
You don’t need to run 100 miles to test your limits. For you, the challenge might be:
Showing up to the gym three days a week and sticking with it.
Walking your first 5K.
Lifting weights again after years away.
The scale doesn’t matter. What matters is that you start.
As Laz says:
“How do you know how far you can go if you don’t fail?”
The Backyard Ultra is built around that question. Everyone but one runner eventually reaches their limit—but that’s the point. It’s not about winning. It’s about discovering what’s possible when you stop telling yourself what you can’t do.
Living More Intensely
Laz believes ultra running is about living more intensely—squeezing the most out of life.
And I think that’s something we can all learn from.
When you challenge yourself, you build confidence. When you push through, you build belief.
You don’t have to run a Backyard Ultra to live more fully.
You just have to start your own loop.
Because your limit isn’t where you think it is.
It’s waiting to be discovered.
Ready to find your starting line?
At Blitz45 Madison, we help busy adults over 40 get stronger, stay active, and discover what they’re truly capable of—one workout at a time.
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