Man training to win Ohio’s Backyard Ultra

LUCASVILLE, Ohio — In distance running, Jeff Anzo, 24, said there’s more to it than just toughing it out. 

What You Need To Know

• A marathon is a distance of 26.2 miles
• The last decades have seen a surge in popularity for events that are much longer
• The sport of ultrarunning is any footrace longer than the traditional marathon
• There’s a race coming up right here in the Buckeye State called Ohio’s Backyard Ultra

“The farther you go, it’s so much more than just getting your legs to move,” said Anzo. “If you’re going on a long run, you need to be making sure that your body has the right fuels, food and hydration-wise to make sure you can go those distances.”

Although he loves running now, it wasn’t love at first sight for him. Anzo only started running three years ago. 

He said he struggled with depression and found it difficult to spend time alone. He said he found healing one mile at a time.

Jeff Anzo (Courtesy: Winding Trails Photography)

“I was really scared of spending time in my own head with my own thoughts,” said Anzo. “Now, being able to run for 48 hours by myself while enduring physical pain and having all these insecurities rise up, and me being able to just keep taking steps with whatever, with whatever comes up really has just allowed me to, like, find a new place of self-love.”

Running is a space where Anzo said he can safely express emotions and have conversations with God. 

“I can go out in the woods and like collapse to my knees in the mud and like, grip my hair in frustration and be emotional, especially being a man,” said Anzo. “Like just, that’s something I’ve struggled with growing up, is allowing myself to express those emotions. So, running was a form of expression that healed my own depression in a sense.” 

One mile quickly turned into hundreds. Anzo is what’s called an ultra-runner, someone who runs distances longer than a marathon. The sport is niche but is gaining popularity. There are several thousand ultraraces worldwide. According to UltraRunning Magazine, there are more than 2,000 ultraraces in North America and the average runner is about 42 years old.

“For me, it brings that question of, well, why can I, so why can’t you?” Anzo said. 

Anzo’s training for Ohio’s Backyard Ultra, a race held in Lucasville, Ohio Saturday, March 19. He’s run the race every year since it debuted in 2019.

The concept is simple. Participants run a 4.167 mile loop every hour on the hour. It’s a “last person standing” race, meaning the event ends only when there’s one runner left running. 

“It’s a beautifully wild event that does attract rare breed,” said Anzo. “You run 12 hours during the day in the hills. And then at night, you hop onto pavement for 12 hours, and you just keep flipping back and forth until there’s one person left.”

It’s taken him three years to get to this point, but Anzo has the mindset that he will be the last person standing. 

Jeff Anzo (Courtesy: Winding Trails Photography)

“For the first time, actually believe it’s something I can do,” said Anzo. “We will be finishing either on the trails because we haven’t been able to make it back and our body can’t move, or we’re going to be finishing as the last person in that, in that realm.”

Ohio’s Backyard Ultra is hosted by the nonprofit Southeastern Ohio Trail Runners (SEOTR), which puts on seven events throughout the year. Michael Owen is director of Southeastern Ohio Trail Runners and the race director for Ohio’s Backyard Ultra. 

“You have to have a little bit of masochism in your brain to kind of be willing to kind of put that self infliction, you know, pain on yourself,” said Owen. “But I think that’s what people are looking for. They’re looking to see what their limits are, and then go beyond them,” he added. “It’s not just physical capabilities and so you really do have to tap into the mental side of it. You have to contend with nature, you have to contend with the terrain, but also the community aspect is so crucial, and I think that’s what people kind of hold on to.”

The winner of this event gets to attend Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra World Championship, a staple event for the sport as it’s the original backyard ultra, invented by Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell of Bell Buckle, Tennessee. 

“We pride ourselves in having some of the best results in the world,” said Owen. “Of all the backyard ultras we’ve got, it’s incredible. I don’t know really what to credit it to fully, but we have some of the best results of all the backyard ultras. Last year, our winner went 229 miles.”

Last year’s Ohio’s Backyard Ultra winner was Harvey Lewis, who is from Cincinnati. Nobody makes participants run those distances; participants voluntarily push their bodies to untapped limits. 

“It gets harder and harder. As you get into sleep deprivation, you start encountering, you know, nutritional needs. [It] gets, you know, more and more important as you get into a second day or even a third day sometimes,” said Owen.  

It’s a race against others, but also a race against yourself. You don’t have to run hundreds of miles to participate. If 10 miles if your goal, then that’s a win for yourself. Anzo said he’s running for all the times he’s cut corners and lacked in discipline. He said it’s never too late to rebuild that foundation. 

“I have this mentality, might be intense, but like I’m willing to die on that trail, in that aspect of like, if I were to go out running 200 miles, that would be the happiest form I could go out and you know, like to me, that’s love,” said Anzo. “And that’s why it’s so beautiful and why I love pushing myself so hard because you don’t always get opportunities to really put yourself in a chamber that exposes all of your insecurities and says, how far are you willing to go? How much are you willing to take?” 

This year, Anzo’s been training harder than ever. He said his grandpa recently passed away from a sudden heart attack and his mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. He has a lot on his plate, but said running brings him joy and peace. 

“Last year, I ran 960 miles. In January and February alone this year, I’ve already put in over 400, which is over half, like just about half of last year’s mileage,” said Anzo. “This race is beyond me, in the aspect of it’s, it is about how hard I can push myself, but it’s also there’s so many other people fighting every day, out in the world. And there’s so much people are enduring on a regular basis. This is for everybody in that aspect.”

No matter what happens at Ohio’s Backyard Ultra, Anzo said running has been a key to freedom for him. Freedom from his own insecurities, freedom from self-doubt and freedom from excuses. He no longer stands in his own way and his perspective on life has changed. 

“Little minute things that normally would stress you out, or become really massive, in your mind, become just nothing,” said Anzo. “Rather than responses out of radical energy and emotion and anger, running allows me to respond with peace and out of a place of calmness, because I just, I don’t know, I think it just does put my whole life into perspective.”

He’s prepared for the challenge of a lifetime, but he knows he doesn’t just have the skill, but also pure will.

“It’s time baby,” said Anzo. “I’m going to put my whole body, mind and soul into this and I’m not going to leave anything on the table.”

You can get updates from Ohio’s Backyard Ultra on Southeastern Ohio Trail Runner’s (SEOTR) Facebook page.