"Spirit of the Marathon" movie

Just got back. It was really great, and they announced that there will be another screening - Feb. 21, I think. Overall, the stories of the six runners are interesting, and the payoff of the 2005 Chicago Marathon is really good. The only criticism is that the digital projection in our theater was not quite bright enough....hope everyone else sees it more clearly.

I just got back. I was pleased. I would like to have seen a few more tantalizing snippets from those 70s and 80s Bostons, New Yorks, etc., but that's not what the movie was about, so cest la vie. It was interesting to contrast the spartan world of Kenya with the manicured lawns and big houses of the yuppie couple. Overall, good photography and editing. I enjoyed it.

The theater I went to was sold out and talking to some people who had driven up from Boston, basically because my theater was the last one to sell out it sounds like it did pretty well. I think thats great news for running in general. Also I noticed that the great majority of the people there were the jogger type and early on they reacted mostly to the non elite stories but that the whole place cheered when Deena finished and there was an audible sigh of disappointment when it said Njenga had finished second again the next year. Hopefully this movie helps bring more fans to the elite side of things. Perhaps is is an outline to the sort of things we can do to bring people to or back to being fans of the elite side of the sport.

Thought it was very good. Went online and purchased two tickets for one of my athletes and her friend who are both running Austin next month, first for both. They both loved it. Mentioned it to another athlete of mine in PA, she is an experienced marathoner, she too loved it.

Great Movie. I will see it again Feb. I thought having the regular runners would interrupt the movie, But they were actually pretty good. The guys who hurts his knee seemed to be a cool guy. The Kenyan was so afraid of the lake with the hippos.

Saw a preview on DVD a few weeks ago and thought it was good. I like the way the tempo of the film built, just like training for a marathon, early on everything is slow and easy then the next thing you know the race is right around the corner and you're worried about whether or not you did enough training, what the weather's going to be, etc.

You could almost feel the pre-race tension and butterflies, from the elites down to the midpackers.

Music was excellent too. I'll watch it again.

Best $10 I've spent in years.

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.

My theater in NY only had 40 people in it (Queens) but the other ones in the city (3) were sold out.

I thought the movie was pretty good. It was perhaps a bit slow at times in the middle (documentaries are very hard to keep interesting all the time as you can't just make stuff up) but the footage from the actual race was excellent and everything came together nicely at the end.

The music was tremendous and the guy who put the film together did a great job with the Chicago race. With the music and the aerials shots he showed the majesty and power of a big city marathon. But I could watch people run with good music all day (ie Gebrselassie in Endurance)

I've always said the marathon is the ultimate reality show and this film showed it. Take the film's music, just a few profiles on a few runners, and you could do the same thing on a lesser scale with every big city marathon in the US on live TV. There is a ton of drama in marathon running at the elite and non elite level. This film showed that. Wish a network would try it once again on TV for a major marathon.

My girlfriend who doesn't run really liked it which was good. I thought she might be bored to death. We both thought the old guy Jerry helped keep things interesting.

Great movie! I was pleasantly suprised. Nice to get some inspiration in January.

How awesome was that! I did not expect to feel the butterflies while watching them prepare for the marathon. Okay, Deena did make me cry when she finished the marathon. Man, she is amazing. I can only aspire to be more like her. (at least I went to Boston....now it's New York). This type of movie makes me want to sign up for the next marathon.

How awesome was that! I did not expect to feel the butterflies while watching them prepare for the marathon. Okay, Deena did make me cry when she finished the marathon. Man, she is amazing. I can only aspire to be more like her. (at least I went to Boston....now it's New York). This type of movie makes me want to sign up for the next marathon.

I loved all the stories of the elites mixed in. Everyone laughed at the story of the first female marathoner and the set up of the history of the marathon was spectacular. The theater in Lancaster, PA was packed. They also did an excellent job of portraying life in Kenya, and it is relevant today. They run to and from school, to the market. Thieves rob the rich, and will kill.

An upset was seeing many of the joggers walk in points of the race. When I ran Harrisburg, I thought it unacceptable to do so and say I completed it.

The coolest scene in the movie was everyone walking away from the finish in Chicago space blankets.

I thought it was great. I was worried about the also rans messing it up but they gave them just enough exposure. I liked how they dedicated the training part of the film to the average people but used the race footage to focus on the elites. Something for everyone.

I saw it in Stratford, CT, probably 100+ people in the theatre. People actually clapped a few times throughout the movie and it got alot of applause at the end. When we got out my GF had to go to the bathroom so I was standing there as everyone walked past...just about every group walking out was talking about how great it was, or how awesome Deena is, etc. Seemed like people really enjoyed it.

Despite featuring "John the Penguin" Bingham, it was actually quite good. I thought that the way they depicted the race by switching between the joggers and the elites really gave a sense of how great the front pack at this level of event really is.

It was somewhat surprised that it was sold out here (Lubbock), but I saw it. I liked it. The music was really good along with the cinematography. The best scene was the aerial view of the race start, how it panned the crowd. I still think there should have been more emphasis on the elites though. They interviewed Bill Rodgers, Frank Shorter, Dick Beardsley, Paula Radcliffe, etc., but there was not that much info about them in the movie other than "Olympian" or whatever under their name. There was some about Joan Benoit Samuelson and Kathrine Switzer, but other than that it seems like there could have been more. It was cool how they told the individual stories of the different runners and how they are all connected through that race.

It was very well received and viewed in Asheville, NC. Very motivational. More than likely the Feb date will be sold out.

Just got back. It was sold out in Medford, OR (150+ capacity). It was a good movie. It kind of reminded me of going to the YMCA and watching the movie they made of the 1976 Olympic Trials marathon. There was that kind of comitatus spirit in the theater.

Many of you may scoff at the underwater treamill, but how cool was that to see Dena running on that thing?

That was pretty cool to see that Sell was a rabbit back in 2005 and now he's an Olympian.

it needed more of the deleted scenes from africa, and less of everything else