diff --git a/coordinator/raft_server.go b/coordinator/raft_server.go
index a3d1fd7ec3c..d78e2f480ab 100644
--- a/coordinator/raft_server.go
+++ b/coordinator/raft_server.go
@@ -498,6 +498,14 @@ func (s *RaftServer) checkContinuousQueries() {
 
 			currentBoundary := runTime.Truncate(*duration)
 			lastRun := s.clusterConfig.LastContinuousQueryRunTime()
+			if lastRun.IsZero() && !query.GetIntoClause().Backfill {
+				// don't backfill for this continuous query, leave it for next
+				// iteration. Otherwise, we're going to run the continuous
+				// query from lastRun which is the beginning of time until
+				// now. This is equivalent to backfilling.
+				continue
+			}
+
 			lastBoundary := lastRun.Truncate(*duration)
 
 			if currentBoundary.After(lastRun) {
diff --git a/integration/continuous_queries_test.go b/integration/continuous_queries_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4224f97e462
--- /dev/null
+++ b/integration/continuous_queries_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+package integration
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"net/http"
+	"os"
+	"time"
+
+	. "github.com/influxdb/influxdb/integration/helpers"
+	. "launchpad.net/gocheck"
+)
+
+type ContinuousQueriesSuite struct {
+	serverProcesses []*Server
+}
+
+var _ = Suite(&ContinuousQueriesSuite{})
+
+func (self *ContinuousQueriesSuite) SetUpSuite(c *C) {
+	err := os.RemoveAll("/tmp/influxdb/test")
+	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
+	self.serverProcesses = []*Server{
+		NewServer("integration/test_rf_1.toml", c),
+		NewServer("integration/test_rf_2.toml", c),
+	}
+	client := self.serverProcesses[0].GetClient("", c)
+	c.Assert(client.CreateDatabase("test"), IsNil)
+	for _, s := range self.serverProcesses {
+		s.WaitForServerToSync()
+	}
+}
+
+func (self *ContinuousQueriesSuite) TearDownSuite(c *C) {
+	for _, s := range self.serverProcesses {
+		s.Stop()
+	}
+}
+
+func (self *ContinuousQueriesSuite) TestFirstBackfill(c *C) {
+	defer self.serverProcesses[0].RemoveAllContinuousQueries("test_cq", c)
+	client := self.serverProcesses[0].GetClient("", c)
+	c.Assert(client.CreateDatabase("test_no_backfill"), IsNil)
+
+	data := fmt.Sprintf(`[
+  {
+    "name": "cqbackfilltest",
+    "columns": ["time", "reqtime", "url"],
+    "points": [
+        [0, 8.0, "/login"],
+        [0, 3.0, "/list"],
+        [0, 4.0, "/register"],
+        [5, 9.0, "/login"],
+        [5, 4.0, "/list"],
+        [5, 5.0, "/register"]
+    ]
+  }
+  ]`)
+
+	resp := self.serverProcesses[0].Post("/db/test_no_backfill/series?u=root&p=root&time_precision=s", data, c)
+	c.Assert(resp.StatusCode, Equals, http.StatusOK)
+	// wait for the data to get written
+
+	for _, s := range self.serverProcesses {
+		s.WaitForServerToSync()
+	}
+
+	cq := "select count(reqtime), url from cqbackfilltest group by time(10s), url into cqbackfill_off.10s backfill(false)"
+	self.serverProcesses[0].QueryAsRoot("test_no_backfill", cq, false, c)
+
+	// wait for the continuous query to run
+	time.Sleep(5 * time.Second)
+
+	self.serverProcesses[0].RemoveAllContinuousQueries("test_no_backfill", c)
+
+	for _, s := range self.serverProcesses {
+		s.WaitForServerToSync()
+	}
+
+	// check backfill_off query results
+	body, _ := self.serverProcesses[0].GetErrorBody("test_no_backfill", "select * from cqbackfill_off.10s", "root", "root", false, c)
+	c.Assert(body, Matches, "Couldn't look up columns.*")
+}