Bud Runs a Marathon

Over the weekend, while our house was being shown to prospective buyers, my wife Muri and I decided to go to the movies.  We chose Brittany Runs a Marathon, the indie film from Amazon Studios directed by Paul Downs Colaizzo, and starring Jillian Bell as Brittany.   Brittany is a 29 year-old Cornell graduate whose once promising life has faded into a montage of mindless partying, low paying jobs, and falling self-worth.   After being told by her doctor that she needs to lose weight she reluctantly decides to try running.  As played by Bell, Brittany is a funny, resilient but wounded girl whose self-deprecation masks deeper self-loathing, and whose self-sabotage veers precariously toward self-harm.  Toward the end of the film, Brittany is near mile twenty-two of the marathon, too tired to continue.  Friends convince her to keep going and the camera follows her painful steps toward the finish line.  Surprisingly, I found myself emotionally invested in her progress, crying like I rarely cry at movies.  What was that about?

In the early eighties, I embarked on one of my numerous lose-weight-and-get back-in-shape efforts by running.  Even at my fittest, I was not built for running.   I had thick thighs and broad shoulders (I was a swimmer in high school) but there was a group of men running at lunch time at work so once I had run enough to stay with them, I joined in.   We ran a seven mile course through the neighborhoods, and it was all camaraderie and fun for six miles.   Then it was every man for himself.   I was the slowest but trying to keep up gradually made me faster.  With my friend’s encouragement, I tried a few 10Ks and eventually let them convince me to run the Long Beach Marathon.

 

Upon hearing that I ran a marathon, many people say, I couldn’t do that.  I think they are wrong but it does take commitment and a willingness to endure physical discomfort, during training and the race.   Like many runners, I had run 22 miles in training before my first marathon, the prevailing logic being anyone can run four more miles.  That, too, I believe to be true, although I wouldn’t have told you that at mile 22 of the 1983 Long Beach Marathon.  At that point, I was running a block or so until I cramped, then walking until I could run again.  When I turned the last corner, the finish line was two blocks away and spectators were cheering, C’mon, you can do it!  Run.  So I did.  Two volunteers caught me as I crossed the line with a full body cramp.

For many people … like me and Brittany … finishing a first marathon is a peak experience.   You learn something about yourself in those last miles that you only learn by extending yourself beyond what you think is possible.   In part, of course, I cried at the end of the film because I’d bought into Jillian Bell’s Brittany and wanted her to recover her life.   But more, I cried because I’d been there, WAS there beside her, knowing how it felt.   I’m not trying to convince anyone to run a marathon.   But if you haven’t and wany to know how it feels, see Brittany Runs a Marathon.   And if you’ve ever struggled to run your first, I think you’ll react as I did.   It isn’t a perfect film but it’s very good.**

** There is a very good review by Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post, here and a nice perspective on the file from the director, here.

 

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Tags: feeling older, inspiration, marathons, movies, running

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