"Spirit of the Marathon" movie

I don't think that the single mom truly ever thought she couldn't run a marathon. I think that's why the marathon is so appealling to the masses. A large percentage of the people that enter a marathon with a goal of finishing succeed. I've seen, read, or have been giving first hand accounts of people with the goal of finishing the race succeed. Most people succeed afterall if you get tired you can always walk.

I remember before P. Diddy ran the marathon my uncle was singing him praises for attempting the feat. I may have remarked that it wouldn't be a big deal for P. Diddy to finish the marathon. My uncle is one of the best amateur golfers in the St. Louis area. He doesn't run. He had knee replacement surgery at the age of 35 and recently had them redone. He is also argumentative like the rest of us on this board and took exception to my comment. My argument was that P. Diddy was fairly young and in good health already and should have no problem finishing a marathon. I continued to say that if my uncle attempted a marathon with 2 artificial knees it would be very noteworthy.

If you are young and overweight as the single mother was at one time you owe it to yourself to exercise and lose weight. If you want to solidify your new found health by completing a marathon I think that is fantastic. I love that they embrace the sport, but it's not very noteworthy.

smd wrote:

wejo wrote:

documentaries are very hard to keep interesting all the time as you can't just make stuff up

You can if you're Michael Moore!

Meaning what, exactly?

Link: Documented sources for every word in Moore's last three films...

The theater in Addison, Illinois was only about 1/4 full. But this movie was on in a lot of theaters around Chicago at the same time, and it was eight degrees below zero last night.

I thought it was nice that Chicago was presented in such a positive way (both the city and the marathon), given the bad press that the race has had the last few months.

People were really rooting for Njenga.

I would have liked to know more about Deena's training loops that were shown. Mammoth Lakes, CA must be a great place to train.

WOLFIE BABY, HOW ABOUT THE PACK!!!!!

A little over rated, eh wolfie??

Apparently he didn't qualify. No great surprise, given that the movie said "and Ryan and [can't remember wife's name] eventually ran Boston together." not "qualified for Boston," as I'd imagine one would write if the opportunity were there. As best as I can tell, his 06 race results (according to marathonguide.com) are: [no marathons in 05]3:38 Austin3:39 Boston3:41 ChicagoKind of disappointing, given that to a large degree he seemed to get it. Perhaps not all that surprising given his discussion of somehow getting a bib, which overlapped somewhat but not entirely with wanting to qualify for the race. Question: for those of you who, like me, find or found the Boston qualifying time a difficult challenge, did you have those extra :59 in the back of your head? When I needed to meet the 3:10 time, I was always thinking of it as under 3:10, not 3:10:59. I wasn't thinking that I had those extra :02 / mile or so as a cushion if I needed it. I eventually did run 3:09, and I was busting my a** with a huge negative split especially over the last 10k[out in 1:37:55; back in 1:31:41, 41:49 last 10k], but in my mind the number had to be specifically < 3:10, not < 3:10:59.M

gatorxc wrote:

solid movie. they did a good job of tyring to hit all the different marathoner "types." they had everyone from the elites to those just trying to finish. i think many of the people on letsrun are in the same boat as the guy who got injured. he wasn't elite by any means but 3:10 pace takes some discipline. it would have been cool to see him qualify for boston during the featured race. for some reason i dont think he ran boston because he qualified. i got the impression he ran boston some other way. anyways, it was a good movie. i recommend going to see the encore presentation sometime in february.

Apparently he didn't qualify. No great surprise, given that the movie said "and Ryan and [can't remember wife's name] eventually ran Boston together." not "qualified for Boston," as I'd imagine one would write if the opportunity were there. As best as I can tell, his 06 race results (according to marathonguide.com) are: [no marathons in 05]3:38 Austin3:39 Boston3:41 ChicagoKind of disappointing, given that to a large degree he seemed to get it. Perhaps not all that surprising given his discussion of somehow getting a bib, which overlapped somewhat but not entirely with wanting to qualify for the race. Question: for those of you who, like me, find or found the Boston qualifying time a difficult challenge, did you have those extra :59 in the back of your head? When I needed to meet the 3:10 time, I was always thinking of it as under 3:10, not 3:10:59. I wasn't thinking that I had those extra :02 / mile or so as a cushion if I needed it. I eventually did run 3:09, and I was busting my a** with a huge negative split especially over the last 10k[out in 1:37:55; back in 1:31:41, 41:49 last 10k], but in my mind the number had to be specifically < 3:10, not < 3:10:59.M

gatorxc wrote:

solid movie. they did a good job of tyring to hit all the different marathoner "types." they had everyone from the elites to those just trying to finish. i think many of the people on letsrun are in the same boat as the guy who got injured. he wasn't elite by any means but 3:10 pace takes some discipline. it would have been cool to see him qualify for boston during the featured race. for some reason i dont think he ran boston because he qualified. i got the impression he ran boston some other way. anyways, it was a good movie. i recommend going to see the encore presentation sometime in february.

You've mistaken me for a Green Bay fan. The 2007 Packers were the 2006 Bears. Gaudy record, sucky team.

I still haven't heard any acknowledgment of my being right about the 2006 Bears, and right again about the 2007 Bears. Of the latter I said before the season that they'd be lucky to go 8-8. But that entire thread (titled "Chicago should go ALL THE WAY" or some such), to which many interesting and thoughtful replies had been posted by many different posters over the course of more than a year, (along with the usual detritus and personal abuse, of course) was deleted by the ham-fisted Letsrun mods.

But no, ain't no GB fan. Sorry for your misplaced derision.

Where were the marathoners? wrote:

We got to see an older fellow who admirably keeps chugging, 2 females who are likely one and done and the elites.

Who are the mainstays of marathons, of races? The year round runners, of course, mostly males, 20 to 49 who train to beat the clock and the most we saw of them was someone going to the bone doctor.

Agreed. They missed the most interesting (to me anyway) segment,the non-elites that are training hard to run their fastest time possible, not just to finish.

A better assortment would have been; 2 elites, 2 Gallowalkers (one newbie, one veteran) and 2 competitive non-elites, with a male & female in each category. Then the movie would have had something for everyone.

(And I suppose to be PC they would need the appropriate mix of races & sexual orientation. Just kidding!)

Sorry, but I was quite disappointed with the film. There have been enough stories about first time and recreational marathoners - even in the rare coverage of actual marathons. And in the PBS special of a few months ago. The movie's billing seemed to suggest more elite coverage would be given. There was WAY too much coverage of the recreational runners, and their training, and very little of the elites' training program. I feel the movie denigrated the integrity of the marathon. Imagine a movie about football, baseball, basketball, or tennis, in which the majority of the movie focused on sand lot games. It's the same.

Sorry, but I was quite disappointed with the film. There have been enough stories about first time and recreational marathoners - even in the rare coverage of actual marathons. And in the PBS special of a few months ago. The movie's billing seemed to suggest more elite coverage would be given. There was WAY too much coverage of the recreational runners, and their training, and very little of the elites' training program. I feel the movie denigrated the integrity of the marathon. Imagine a movie about football, baseball, basketball, or tennis, in which the majority of the movie focused on sand lot games. It's the same.

I was going to say that I thought they did a good job with this film, until several of you reminded me about The Penguin. Somebody has to take that guy out. I also agree that Dick Beardsley's line about "it will change your life" is incredibly stupid, but he is Dick B. so we will cut him some slack.

I personally liked the blending of the elite and the joe/jill jogger stories. The filmmakers did an excellent job of making a movie that could appeal to runners and non-runners alike.

Anybody else think the 3:11 guy trashed his knee when he tried to run 5:00 pace on the treadmill?

I think it sucked.

It was no better than any runner profile coverage I've seen broadcast during a marathon. Where was the passion? A couple of "cute" one-liners and anecdotes but for the most part nothing more exciting than videos shown at a charity fundraising or local amateur video montage. Five years in the making? Visionary? Can someone travel to Prague to compose the appropriate music to accompany me on my 20-mile run on Sunday? I'm training for Boston afterall...

...now listen to me compain about them.

As much as I liked it, I too think they had a big "gap" in types of runners... How about the thpusands and thousands of serious non-super talented runners between 3:00 and 4:00 ? ? That would have really hit home with a ton of us here.

I really enjoyed the film. I thought the mix of athletes was good. Two elites, one solid runner (who unfortunately got injured), one older repeat marathoner, and two first time runners. The stories were interesting and they had nice interviews with former elite athletes.

I have more respect for the slow marathoner, that many on LetsRun like to criticize, than I used to. I think some runners forget how foreign the idea of running on a regular basis is to most of the US population. The runners in the movie and the 4 and 5 hour runners I know have gained a lot from the marathon experience. In terms of speed, their accomplishments aren't that impressive, but the feeling of accomplishment that the mid to back of the pack runners get can't be a bad thing.

It wasn't a perfect movie, but too many of us like to focus on the negatives in everything. For me, the movie had a lot more positives than negatives. I strongly recommend it

Saw the movie in Ann Arbor to a packed theater (one of two in A2 showing it). I thought it was a good movie. My favorite two scenes were the long, extended shot of the start at Chicago, and the Kenyan throwing rocks at the hippo in the deleted scenes. I kept laughing because he kept saying "It's too dangerous, we need to go." But then he would keep going closer. I'm sure in the back of his head he was thinking, "Well, I know I can at least outrun the camera guy and the producer..."

I was half expecting a round of boos or hisses from the audience when The Penguin came on. (Does anyone else consistently think of Burgess Meredith whenever you refer to The Penguin? "Soooo Batmannnn...")

I was thinking that it would have been nice to see someone in the "competitive everyday-man" category but forgot about the guy who got injured. Interesting how different the movie might have been if he ran. Anyone who can't sympathize with him in the scene where he visits the doctor hasn't really gotten hurt in their training at all.

The middle of the movie got a little slow, but things picked up a lot during the race.

I know a lot of folks have said that they wanted less of the "slower" runners and more of the elites. It might have been interesting to go into the first-timers' lives a little deeper- really show how dedicated they were to it, how much it really affected their lives. I don't think the slower, first-timers really get much respect, and maybe another approach was needed to demonstrate that to a typical Letsrun poster? Not sure how to do that, though, or if it would be effective.

Great movie- I'd love to see a behind the scenes of the current crop of '08 Olympic Marathoners. That would be a pretty sweet documentary!

I really enjoyed the movie for what it signified...running and competition. We all can laugh and nod our heads in amusement regarding runner speak and our compulsive behaviors whether a first time marathoner or a 20 timer. Though as a competitive marathoner, I would have liked to have seen one or two people documented who run under 3:10. There are interesting stories there as well!

...the freaking penguin in the nuts the next time I see his pansy ass for ruining a perfectly good movie!

I hate to complain but what is ‘compain’?