Runner Insight

Spirit of the Marathon:  A Review

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Hey we just watched a great DVD called “Spirit of the Marathon”.

It’s a motivating documentary following 6 runners training for the Chicago Marathon in 2005.  They range from first time marathoners to elite athletes, from young to old, from fast, fast, fast to average to slow, with lots of commentary and insight about marathons from historically great marathoners like Alberto Salazar, Paula Radcliffe, Kathrine Switzer, Bill Rodgers, Amby Burfoot, Joan Benoit Samuelson and Dick Beardsley, etc.

It’s a captivating story weaving through the lives of the 6 runners, exploring questions such as why they want to run a marathon, to how they are training, and it captures the joy and hardship and heartache and dedication: ultimately capping off with the marathon race itself. 

We get to follow an elite male Kenyan runner, Daniel Njenga who hadn’t finished the Chicago Marathon higher than second place, and watch him compete for a first place finish. And we get a look at some of Deena Kastor’s preparation and training and modifications that she had to make to her marathon training program to compensate for an injury.

It runs 102 minutes and it had me reminiscing about my marathon training program and marathon experience as well as contemplating another.  It made me want to get out and run, and it got me excited to do it all again!  So if you’re a runner, whether casual or competitive, it is definitely worth the watch. We really enjoyed it.

My only beef is they didn’t include what the runner’s finish times were. After all, it is a race and even if times don’t matter, we still want to know!  We’ve attached to these people, and are interested in how they did. I’m a casual runner, not even contemplating finishing in the top anything, (okay, I’ll admit it was cool to come in first in my last name group ) but I’m still interested in gauging times. And that is how we as runners talk to each other….”Oh I ran my first marathon in…x hours and y minutes.” And personal bests, etc. Am I right?

It’s only $20 for the DVD at Amazon…Click Here Now to Get it: “Spirit of the Marathon”

It’s also available at the same link as a Video on Demand, so you don’t have to wait for them to ship the DVD to you!

How ’bout it?

- Vision Runner

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Title: Spirit of the Marathon: A Review
URL: http://runnerinsight.com/2009/06/26/spirit-of-the-marathon-a-review/

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