Spirit of the Marathon

This week my fiancee Gina and I went to the special showing of the running documentary Spirit of the Marathon. This movie follows six runners, two elites and four mid to back of the packers, through their training for the 2005 Chicago Marathon. The two elites are Deena Kastor and Daniel Njenga. Two of the runners are attempting their first marathon. Another two are repeat marathoners, one of which is trying to qualify for Boston and the other one someone who did not start running until he was in his sixties.

The athlete I most liked hearing was Lori O'Connor, one of the first time marathoners. This is probably since she is a graduate student and likes to run alone, so I can identify with her. I really enjoyed her comments about how her friends would ask her if she was going to win.

The movie shows several parts of the Chicago marathon course. In one part you are in the front seat of the one of the lead cars motoring through the course just right ahead of the runners. There are several other clips of the four amateur runners training throughout the city and along the waterfront. Chicago is flat!

The movie culminates with the running of the marathon. The beginning of the marathon is one of the most impressive shots of the movie. The camera starts focused on the starting line and then moves upward and pans back through the pack. Even after showing what seems like an infinite sea of runners coating the road, the shot (unfortunately) ends before the back of the pack. It really shows the enormity of how popular the marathon has become and how it is possible that such a disaster could have occurred at this last year's Chicago Marathon.

A lot of time is spent on the elite runners and after hearing so much about them through the course of their training, you want to stand up and cheer as they approach the finish line. If you don't know the results, don't look it up, it's fun to be surprised. They do show the other runners throughout the race. It's amazing they were able to keep track of everyone in the gigantic field. It is very emotional to watch the other runner's finish. Any marathoner has felt their pain, elation and satisfaction and one look on their faces brings all of those feelings right back.

There are a few awkward moments. Some of the runners say some weird lines that should have been edited out. And then there is a voice over from one of the first time runners talking about an injury while the movie shows Deena Kastor recovering from an injury that had not been mentioned up to that point. But these are minor and do not disrupt the flow of the movie.

My favorite quote from the movie comes from Daniel Njenga: "Running is my job and I like my job."

I highly recommend this move to anyone, runner or not. Just watching someone struggle for and achieve their dream makes for a great movie. Anyone who is thinking about running a marathon, will definitely sign up after watching this movie. If you missed the first showing, there is going to be an encore performance in some cities, check their website for specifics. A word of caution though, bring your running shoes, you'll be so inspired you'll want to run home!

Running moment of the week:

The road to failure is paved with good intentions. 

On Wednesday morning, I woke up with an upset stomach and tried to run anyway. I got about ten feet from the house and realized this was not going to happen and ended up spending a good portion of the morning on the toilet. This kept me out of commission on Thursday as well and so I didn't hit my goal milage of 55 miles this week. No problem, you always have to keep the training schedule flexible. And actually I only missed it by 9 miles which isn't bad since I missed a day and ran short on Friday. Next week: 60 miles.

1/21 - 1/27
total miles: 45.9
time: 5:56

YTD total miles: 186.6