Run to Win

In 2006, Dean Karnazes was the second person to run 50 marathons in all 50 states on consecutive days. You can now watch a documentary of his exploits on the big screen, which is titled after his book, Ultramarathon Man:
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Did you get to see Spirit of the Marathon on either of the nights that it was screened throughout the country? If not, you may get another chance.

The Spirit of the Marathon is going to be screened 16 more nights, but only in select cities near specific events. Here is a full list of dates and events that the movie will be screened:
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Stay tuned this weekend for some good entertainment.

First, on Saturday, February 17^th, the Ford Ironman World Championship from Hawaii will be airing on NBC from 2:00 until 3:30 EST.

Then, on Sunday, you can watch tonight’s Tyson Invitational on ESPN at 5:00 P.M. EST.

Don’t want to wait and have 4 minutes to spare? Then you can watch an advance trailer of the Born to Run movie, which is in post-production right now and chronicles the trip to the Olympic Trials for 6 of the men who competed:
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Not being a part of the Coast to Coast run back in 2004 is one of the few regrets that I have in my life, which is a large part of why I like to share news about it even 4 years later. The other reason that I like to discuss it, of course, is that the entire idea of running a relay from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean is very exciting to me. (Plus, the guys that did it are friends of mine.)

Well, now that the run happened (2004) and the book was written (2006), it is time for the next step. It is time for a documentary!

And what do you know, but a couple of the guys got together and spent a few months putting one together. Kevin Turko and Ryan Pancoast teamed up and put a lot of work into the documentary, so I hope that you enjoy watching it as much as I did.

The video is 27 minutes long and details the trip from the West Coast to the East. Interspersed with actual video of the running is some great music, still photographs from the trip, and interviews with the coach and some of the runners.

If you enjoy the video, Kevin and Ryan have entered it into a contest at FloTrack. I am sure that they would appreciate it if you went over and voted for them. The voting page is at: http://www.flocasts.org/flotrack/080808_vote.php (Their video is entitled “Coast to Coast Relay 2004″ - The best video is awarded a pair of tickets to the Beijing Olympics!)
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How far would you run to see a movie?

Last week, there was a 1 night showing of The Spirit of the Marathon in 1 theater here in Maine.

Crow Athletics and the Spudland Racers got together to send some runners down to Brunswick to catch the movie last Thursday evening.

The catch? They lived in Bar Harbor, which is 130 miles north of Brunswick.

The idea started out as a random conversation between a few friends wondering how cool it would be to do a relay down to watch the movie. Things spun out of control, as they usually do, and the media got wind of what was going on.

“The amazing thing is the word or mouth thing. We never asked for the excess media attention. We just said let’s run to Brunswick, simply because we can,” Gary Allen said. The idea of running from Bar Harbor to Brunswick “happened so quick we haven’t added a lot of hype about it.”

You can read about some of the local media attention here:

• Village Soup » Runners get into spirit of marathon
• Lincoln County News » Maine Runners Make 130 Mile Trek To View Marathon Movie
• Bar Harbor Times » Bar Harbor to Brunswick on Foot, to see a Movie
• Bangor Daily News » Running for ‘Spirit’

So, how far would you run to see a good movie?

I just got back from watching Spirit of the Marathon, a documentary by Jon Dunham that follows a number of athletes as they prepare for the 2005 Chicago Marathon. There must have been a fair number of people who bought tickets in advance, because they have already scheduled an encore presentation on February 21^st, 2008. So if you missed seeing the movie tonight, tickets will become available starting tomorrow.

The theater was about 3/4 full, and everybody was having a good time. Many of the runners who came to watch the film gathered ahead of time at a restaurant outside the theater, and then chatted in the lobby of the theater as they filtered in. Despite being about 30 minutes early, my wife and I weren’t bored while we since we could listen to various conversations and talk to a few of the people that we knew as they arrived.

There were some hand made posters lining the wall outside the theater, and a van was parked outside that had Spirit of the Marathon quotes and messages scrawled all over it. Apparently, some folks from Bar Harbor decided to run to the race relay-style with each person running about a 20 mile leg today on the way down. It is about 130 miles from Bar Harbor to Brunswick, Maine.

I enjoyed the movie a lot, and I plan on purchasing it if and when it becomes available. Seeing it in the theater with a bunch of other runners is definitely worth the effort, though, because the crowd provided almost as much entertainment as the movie did. It is one of the few times that I haven’t been annoyed by people talking during a movie. When Joanie came on screen for the first time, everybody in the theater clapped and cheered.

The cameo appearances and interviews were well spaced amongst the scenes with the athletes that were followed during their training and throughout the race. The athletes that starred in the movie were well chosen and represented a good variety of different types of marathoners, from the elite level down to repeat marathoner in his 60s to a few first timers.

I was definitely able to relate to quite a few of the scenes during the training, and just about every little detail from marathon weekend through the end of the race brought back a flood of memories of my own marathons that I have done over the years. Given the hushed comments from people seating around me, I wasn’t the only one to experience this. After one scene that took place in a hotel the night before the race, where luggage and paraphernalia are strewn everywhere, my wife leaned over and whispered to me, “She needs a copy of your book.” I should see if I can get some contact info for her and send her a copy.

The final scenes of the race for Deena Kastor and Daniel Njenga were a little anti-climactic for me, since I already knew what was going to happen, but my wife and almost everybody else in the theater seemed at the edge of their seats and gasped and clapped in the appropriate places.

The one thing that bothered me about the movie was the score. Jeff Beal is a very talented composer, and for most of the movie he did a very good job. There were a few times, though, when he just hit you over the head to try to force an emotion on you and I actually rolled my eyes. The scene of the start of the race where the camera keeps panning back farther and farther and revealing the field of runners is rather awe-inspiring, but I’m a bigger fan of a more subtle touch than was displayed.

There were some extras at the end of the movie after the credits, including interviews and deleted scenes. I’m disappointed that the scene of Deena Kastor cooking enchiladas didn’t make it into the movie. Watching her cook certainly made me hungry.

Would I recommend that the average person go see the movie? I’m not so sure. As a runner and a marathoner, I (obviously) really enjoyed the movie. I can certainly picture myself enjoying the movie even if I weren’t a runner if I had a family member or close friend who was a runner and had put me at the periphery of the sport. Certainly not all of the people that were in the theater were runners. I am not so sure that I could relate to the movie as a complete non-runner with no connections to running, though. I’ll have to withhold judgement there until I hear from others that have seen the movie.

If you have ever run a marathon, or if you run regularly, then I definitely recommend that you go see it when it rescreens in February.

Don’t forget that the Spirit of the Marathon is playing tonight only at theaters across the country.

You can find if it is playing at a theater near you by going to Fathom Events and entering your zip code.

I am looking forward to seeing it tonight and will have a review up tonight or tomorrow morning.

The Spirit of the Marathon is a feature-length movie following 6 runners as they train for and run the Chicago Marathon in 2005. Deena Kastor takes center stage along with 1 other professional, 4 amateur athletes and a “Who’s Who of Marathoning” that make cameo appearances throughout the film (including Joan Benoit Samuelson.)

The movie debuted last October and was well received at two film festivals, and will be screening on January 24^th, 2008 for 1 night only in 500 theaters nationwide. I have already bought tickets for my wife and I to see it in Brunswick, Maine.

“I simply went about my normal routine and training,” said Kastor, “and they followed and filmed as we went. I did not find it distracting. In fact, it was motivating.”

“I was struck by the similarities for us as we prepared for the Chicago Marathon,” she said. “Everyone had hurdles and setbacks, and everyone struggled through long runs—it was so similar despite the different levels of training and pace.”

“I went into that race very confident—I don’t know where that came from—but I was supremely confident,” Kastor recalled. “I ended up winning by only five seconds, and I hit the wall for the first time.”

Here is the trailer for the movie:
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