Run to Win

Last week, I reviewed the DVD of Run For Your Life, which follows the life of Fred Lebow as he brought about and grew the New York City Marathon.

Screen Media Films has provided me with 5 copies of the DVD to give away. Monday through Wednesday, you had an opportunity to win a copy through the website by leaving a comment on the daily contest.

Yesterday, the folks that have subscribed to my running tips newsletter were given 2 opportunities to win the remaining DVDs, first by sending an email to a specific address for the contest (the easy way) and second by emailing a separate address with the answers to a couple of questions that require a little bit of research (the hard way.)

This morning, I chose a winner for the 4^th DVD:
(Click here to continue reading…)

Last week, I reviewed the DVD of Run For Your Life, which follows the life of Fred Lebow as he brought about and grew the New York City Marathon.

Screen Media Films has provided me with 5 copies of the DVD to give away. Monday through Wednesday, you had an opportunity to win a copy through the website by leaving a comment on the daily contest.

I am also giving away 2 copies to people that belong to my Running Tips Newsletter, so you have until 11:00 this morning (Eastern Daylight Time) to join my newsletter so that you can receive instructions about how to win one of those two copies through your email.

Be sure to get to a screening of the movie sometime this week in New York City, if you are in the area. And if you don’t win a copy of the movie this week through these contests, then be sure to pick up a copy after it is released later today on DVD.

Now, here is the winner of the third DVD:
(Click here to continue reading…)

Just a quick update that I got the DVDs in the mail today, so once I have everybody’s addresses I will be able to mail them out next week. Any suggestions on how best to mail them are more than welcome.

Now, for the proof:

Greg and Rick have already won copies of the movie, which leaves 3 left. You still have a few hours to win today’s copy by clicking here or one of the last 2 copies by joining my newsletter before tomorrow:

Last week, I reviewed the DVD of Run For Your Life, which follows the life of Fred Lebow as he brought about and grew the New York City Marathon.

Screen Media Films is providing me with 5 copies of the DVD to give away. Monday through today, you will have an opportunity to win a copy through the website by leaving a comment on the daily contest article answering a specific question, which will be asked after yesterday’s winner is announced. I will randomly choose one commenter each day from people that comment on that day’s article.

I will also be giving away 2 copies to people that belong to my Running Tips Newsletter, so you have until tomorrow morning to join my newsletter so that you can receive instructions about how to win one of those two copies through your email.

Be sure to get to a screening of the movie sometime this week in New York City, if you are in the area. And if you don’t win a copy of the movie this week through these contests, then be sure to pick up a copy after it is released later today on DVD.

Now, here is the winner of the second DVD:
(Click here to continue reading…)

Last week, I reviewed the DVD of Run For Your Life, which follows the life of Fred Lebow as he brought about and grew the New York City Marathon.

Screen Media Films is providing me with 5 copies of the DVD to give away. Yesterday through tomorrow, you will have an opportunity to win a copy through the website by leaving a comment on the daily contest article answering a specific question, which will be asked after yesterday’s winner is announced. I will randomly choose one commenter each day from people that comment on that day’s article.

I will also be giving away 2 copies to people that belong to my Running Tips Newsletter, so you have until Thursday morning to join my newsletter so that you can receive instructions about how to win one of those two copies through your email.

Be sure to get to a screening of the movie sometime this week in New York City, if you are in the area. And if you don’t win a copy of the movie this week through these contests, then be sure to pick up a copy after it is released later today on DVD.

Now, here is yesterday’s winner:
(Click here to continue reading…)

Last week, I reviewed the DVD of Run For Your Life, which follows the life of Fred Lebow as he brought about and grew the New York City Marathon.

Screen Media Films is providing me with 5 copies of the DVD to give away. Today through Wednesday, you will have an opportunity to win a copy through the website by just leaving a comment on the daily contest article. I will randomly choose one commenter each day from people that comment on that day’s article. I will also be giving away 2 copies to people that belong to my Running Tips Newsletter, so you have until Thursday morning to join my newsletter so that you can receive instructions about how to win one of those two copies through your email.

Be sure to get to a screening of the movie sometime this week in New York City, if you are in the area. And if you don’t win a copy of the movie this week through these contests, then be sure to pick up a copy after it is released tomorrow on DVD.
(Click here to continue reading…)

The movie Run For Your Life chronicles the life of Fred Lebow, who was one of the most influential people that brought road racing and major city marathons to the public consciousness. Fred founded the New York City Marathon at a time when the city really needed something positive, and was one of the catalysts for revitalizing New York.

(Click here to skip over Fred’s life and the plot summary and straight to the movie review.)

About Fred Lebow

The movie begins by describing the running scene in the 1960’s, and introduces Fred as an outsider who gets involved with the running community and helps to move them from the Bronx to Central Park after traffic and crime begin to get to the point where its no longer safe to run. Fred worked in the fashion industry selling cheap designer clothes, but his real passion was for running. He built up the Central Park marathon and made it successful, and really wanted to bring running to the the masses.

Fred helped empower women in the sport, creating the first long distance women only event that was wildy successful. He began his interactions with the media by convincing a group of PlayBoy bunnies to promote and compete in the 6 mile race.

After a couple of years, the marathon in Central Park had outgrown its course. There were too many runners for the officials to keep track of what lap everybody was on in the 4 loop course of the park. New York City was suffering from a financial crisis, and the problems with crime and arson were at an all time high.

Fred used the tough times to help sell the city on a race that went through all 5 boroughs, and used a lot of smoke and mirrors to bring everything together. He did such a great job convincing everybody that he had the numbers he needed, even before he did, that they all came together and actually put the fantasy he was spinning into reality.

“26 miles, 385 yards, no one was mugged, no one was hit by a taxi. For the city of New York and Bill Rodgers, the marathon was a resounding success.” — Dick Schaap, NBC News, New York

The first 5 boroughs marathon helped to revitalize the city. There were 2000 runners, the sponsors came through with plenty of race support, and Fred empowered all of the neighborhoods to come out and cheer on the runners and to clean up their streets for the race. Fred brought in Bill Rodgers and Frank Shorter, the 2 best American marathoners in the country at the time and used them to promote their rivalry through the media.

Halfway through the movie, the marathon has been run through New York a few times and Fred has become a full time race director. You get to see some of the wacky races that he put on, and are introduced to some of his innovations. Some of the innovations stuck, such as the pasta dinner, and others have largely disappeared, such as the world’s largest urinal trough.

“I can still hear the voice of the commentator, ‘Who is number 1173? She’s going to win the race, set a world record…’”

Grete Waitz almost wasn’t invited to the race. She was a European track star who had never run more than 11 or 12 miles at a time, but Fred brought her to New York and helped to define her career from that point forward. Despite saying she’d never run another marathon after that first win, she went on to win the race 9 of the next 11 years.

Fred built up his own fame and reputation as well, as he went under the assumption that in order for the club and the race to be famous, it needed somebody who was famous at the helm.

He was a schemer and a manipulator, and was often referred to as a dictator or as the “running czar.” He thrived on people criticizing him as long he managed to get publicity out of it, and he had no trouble handling the media and controlling what went out through his antics.

Despite being best friends with Bob Bright, the founder of the Chicago Marathon, Fred and Bob had a rivalry in the media and were thought to be bitter foes. Fred knew that the more coverage their rivalry received and the more the two races competed with one another, the larger they would both become.

The last 10 or 15 minutes of the movie chronicle Fred’s diagnosis of brain cancer, and his positive attitude in fighting it. He was absolutely sure that he would beat it, and defied his doctor’s diagnosis that he only had months left to him by living for another 5 years. He measured out the distance in the hospital hallways, and would run laps between surgeries.

“He got to feel what everybody who ran his race felt.”

In 1992, Fred finally got to run in his own race for the first time. The movie ends with him crossing the finish line with Grete Waitz, both of them wearing their ages as their bib numbers, with a very obvious crowd that followed him for the entire distance.

About the Movie 

I really enjoyed watching this movie. The first 2 to 3 minutes are very slow and the music is very in your face and forced, but once the story moves beyond running in general and begins to focus on Fred’s life and his contributions to the sport it becomes very engaging. For the most part, the music does a good job of setting the mood for a scene without calling attention to itself.

The movie did two things exceedingly well, and that was the use of old video footage and photographs.

It was very cool to be able to see actual video footage of the majority of the events as they took place, especially for the first running of the marathon through the entire city.

The use of photographs was also well done, often seeming to be more video footage despite being stills. The photos were given a life of their own as they were on screen.

Throughout the movie, there were shots of political cartoons of the day and newspaper headings and articles flashed onto the screen, which give you a good sense of the times and how the world was reacting to Fred and his race.

Many of the interviews were filmed for this movie, but there were also interviews of Fred from years past and of other prominent people that were featured in the movie. I especially enjoyed some of the live news coverage from the races, especially the bloopers from Bill Stewart as he tried to describe the finish line and Fred making fun of Tom Brokaw for not finishing a marathon whereas his wife had.

The DVD of the movie goes on sale on October 28^th (available for preorder at Amazon) and there are some limited screenings next week from October 29^th through November 6^th in New York City, the week before the marathon this year. There are also screenings in Philadelphia and Israel this weekend.

I’d like to thank Carly Weisenberg of Screen Media Films for providing me with a screener’s copy of the film, as well as 5 copies of the DVD that I will be giving away through the website next week. Come back on Monday for your first chance to win one yourself!

Last night, I explained my reasons why I think that Ariel O’Connell did not win the Nike Women’s Marathon this past weekend. After all, she wasn’t the first to cross the finish line.

Thanks to a thoughtful reader, though, it appears as though Nike might be changing their minds. Here’s the reply he received through their help desk system:

Hello,

Nike is announcing today that it recognizes Arien O’Connell as a winner in last weekend’s Nike Women’s Marathon with the fastest chip time, completing the full race in 2:55:11. She shattered her previous time and achieved an amazing accomplishment.

Arien will receive the same recognition and prize, including a Tiffany bowl, the full marathon elite group winner received. Arien was unfortunately not immediately recognized as a race winner because she did not start the race with the elite running group, which is required by USATF standards. Because of their earlier start time, the runners in the elite group had no knowledge of the outstanding race Arien was running and could not adjust their strategies accordingly.

Learning from the unique experience in this year’s race, Nike has decided today to eliminate the elite running group from future Nike Women’s Marathons. Next year, all runners will run in the same group and all will be eligible to win.

Nike has a proven track record of supporting athletes and we’re proud to be able to honor Arien and other athletes who surpass their goals and achieve great accomplishments.

Sincerely,
Nike+ / Nike Running

So Nike is going to own up to their not overly well thought out system and change things next year, and will recognize Arien for the great race that she ran this weekend.

They are not going to take away the win from Nora Colligan, since she did in fact win the race, but are going to have a dual prize to recognize that Arien was the first woman to cross the line that started with the main pack.

I’ll update with a link to the press release when (and if) this becomes official.

Update: Still no official word, but there is an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about it that was published about an hour after my article.