From a broken neck to the record book.

Not a natural athlete.

Harvey Lewis III was born on April 13, 1976 in Wheeling, West Virginia, and grew up in Berea, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. By his own account he was an unhealthy kid — fast food culture, meals heavy on meat, heartburn, "layers of fat around my stomach."

But something was picking at him. He explored the Pennsylvania woods as a boy, saw black bears, loved his cat, his dog, his fish — and kept eating McDonald's without connecting the two.

“I loved animals, my cat, my dog, my fish. But I didn't think anything and would just grab something from McDonald's. Something was picking at me.”

— Harvey Lewis, Great Vegan Athletes

His mother's stroke changed everything.

When Lewis was 19, his mother — a nurse, 54 years old — suffered a stroke. No family history. The experience shook him into rethinking everything about food and health.

By 1996 the transformation was underway: he went vegetarian, and that same year — at age 20 — he ran his first ultramarathon, the FANS 24-Hour in Minnesota, covering 81.3 miles. He went fully vegan in 2016 and hasn't wavered since. He calls it "the single most important ingredient to my longevity in the sport."

“When I was 19 my mother had a stroke. She was 54 years old, a nurse, and we had no family history. The nutrition was a big element that we could have done differently.”

— Harvey Lewis, Great Vegan Athletes

A broken neck, rebuilt in titanium.

Around 2004, Lewis suffered a broken neck. Neurosurgeons rebuilt his C4 and C5 vertebrae with titanium implants. Rather than ending his career, the injury catalyzed it — he came back faster than before.

“I was fortunate to survive, and after that event I actually have become so much faster. I try to encourage people not to put mental limitations on their abilities because you never know what you can do.”

— Harvey Lewis, WVXU, July 2014

He promised his students. Then he kept running.

Lewis has taught at the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine since 2006 — financial literacy and American government. Around 2013, after screening a climate change film in his government class, he made his students a promise: he would stop driving to work.

Every school day since, he has run roughly three miles from East Walnut Hills to SCPA — up Mount Adams for a sunrise view of Eden Park, down the riverside trail, through downtown's cobblestone alleyways, past Washington Park. His backpack is famously the size of a mini-fridge. On mornings when his students are on the bus route, he races the bus.

He calls each student "a sequoia — with so much potential in front of you."

“That's a great opportunity to show them the benefits of: I'm 47, and … I'm racing a bus? What the hell is going on here?”

— Harvey Lewis, iRunFar, May 2024

Gandhi's Salt March. Selma. Chasing Democracy 250.

In 2008, Lewis earned a grant to retrace Mahatma Gandhi's 1930 Salt March — 241 miles from Ahmedabad to the coastal city of Dandi, India. In 2009, he ran Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Selma to Montgomery march.

Afterward he met 99-year-old civil rights icon Amelia Boynton Robinson, who told him: "I believe God kept me alive 99 years so I can share my story with young people." Ever the teacher.

In summer 2026, celebrating America's 250th anniversary, he carried this witness forward on the roads with Chasing Democracy 250 — a 250-mile journey from Liberty State Park under the Statue of Liberty to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. Running alongside educators and veterans over five days, he ran to illuminate the stories of marginalized communities whose struggles forged the nation.

“I wanted to celebrate America’s 250th birthday by running 250 miles and highlighting the diverse communities whose struggles and triumphs have built America. I’m running to go beyond the textbook.”

— Harvey Lewis, Chasing Democracy 250, 2026

2,190 miles with his dad in the crew van.

In 2018, Lewis ran the full Appalachian Trail — Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mount Katahdin, Maine — in 49 days and 14 hours, averaging over 42 miles per day, one of the ten fastest completions ever at the time. His crew chief: his father, Harvey Lewis Jr., then 78, from whom he had been estranged early in life.

The journey became the award-winning documentary Like Harvey Like Son. Five days after finishing the trail, Lewis started the Badwater 135.

Last man standing. Fifteen Badwaters.

Lewis has won Badwater 135 twice: 2014 (23:52) and 2021 (25:50:23), the second at age 45 after coming from an hour behind at mile 90. In 2024, after finishing the race, he turned around and ran all the way back across Death Valley to complete the legendary 270-mile "Badwater Double." In 2026 at age 50, he logged his 15th career Badwater finish.

At Big's Backyard Ultra he set the backyard world record twice: 85 laps (354 miles) in 2021 — running the final yards with a broken hand — and 108 laps (450 miles) in 2023. In 2025, he pushed further still to 111 laps (462.51 miles). And in August 2026, he completed 47 yards (195.8 miles) at Germany's Last Soul Ultra.

After the 2023 win, he slept in a tent, drove home to Cincinnati, and was back in his classroom Friday morning. Less than 48 hours after finishing 450 miles, he ran to school. He had to go teach.

“There are powers that exist to push us beyond what seems reasonable.”

— Harvey Lewis, iRunFar, November 2023

Charlie, the Flying Pig, and 101 countries.

Lewis lives in East Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, with a rescued dog named Charlie — who runs long distances with him and eats vegan too. He has run every Flying Pig Marathon since the race began in 1999, and has been to 101 countries across seven continents. He counts centenarian vegan runner Mike Fremont among his friends and running partners.

His pre-run breakfast: granola with almond milk, chia seeds, and dragon fruit. His race fuel: squeezable chia pouches, miso soup, coconut water, beans and rice, bean burritos — "as long as it's vegan, I'm happy to have it."