[4] In 2018, Lake covered the United States on foot, starting in Rhode Island and ending in Oregon.

[5] A largely fringe figure known only within the world of ultrarunning, Cantrell gained worldwide recognition following a 2014 documentary called The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young.

Trail Runner magazine called him an "evil genius," "The Leonardo da Vinci of pain," "A master of sadomasochistic craft.

"[7] In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he organized the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee (#GVRAT), which started on May 1 and ended four months later.

The distance of each loop is equal to 100 divided by 24, so that a competitor runs 100 miles for a full day of competition.

In 2020, Lake held the first Big Dog's Backyard Satellite Team Championship, where 25 countries competed against one another remotely from their respective homelands.

“This,” said Lake, “is the first time the runners defeated me.”[17] Phil Gore, from Western Australia, broke the Belgians' record in the Dead Cow Gully 2023 event with 102 laps.

Later that same year, Harvey Lewis set the bar even higher with 108 laps in the Backyard Individual World Championship.

[20][21][22] Lake has appeared in several documentaries, including the 2014 The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young[23][24] and 2017's Where Dreams Go To Die.

[25][26] In 2021, Lake appeared on episode 27 of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, where he was interviewed by Mary Carillo.