Chad,
Please tell me that you aren't putting your starter on a running motor. Please don't do that. It's a good way to wind up with a trip to the emergency room.

As for the motor running backwards. As I said in my earlier posts, this is caused because the engine is flooded. The best thing to do is shut down the motor and restart it. It will only take a try or two before enough fuel has burned up to let the motor run normally.