Run Fatboy Run...

Took a day off today to hang out with R. before she flew home to DC. I had some afternoon time and no plans to run so I headed out to the new theatre in the downtown to watch this flick, Run Fatboy Run, which starts Simon Pegg, who was brilliant in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Landed in a totally-empty theatre (okay there was a couple at the very top) for a 3 p.m. showing.

This won't be a review, but I'll say this: It was a so-so comedy with only slight appeal (yes, I said slight) to runners. Herewith are random things that bugged me

Simon's character (Dennis) has an arch-nemesis Whit, played by Hank Azaria. Okay, they had to make him hateable for the sake of the main character but he kinda made marathoners look arrogant, holier-than-thou and vain.

Dennis follows the underdog sports formula by getting into "Rocky-like" shape in the span of a few weeks, which consists of jumping rope, doing hill repeats, lifting progressively heavier weights and sprinting. He loses a whack of weight. Can you sell running to a weight-conscious crowd by showing (unrealistically) how quick it can be done? The movie has a line that mentions perseverance, and in one sense it's right. Most of us marathoners don't get to the starting line until long months, even years.

I won't be giving much away, but in the first part of the marathon, 'Dennis' and 'Whit' get into a sprint race. Not to mention how that's the stupidest strategy of all time, they actually 'catch up' to the race leaders. That's freaking unlikely, me thinks, having watched plenty of TV marathons where the leaders are going at 5 minute miles. No average runner can even sprint that fast for a few hundred metres.

Okay, I won't take it too seriously, but now i'm really looking forward to seeing Spirit of the Marathon. JellyP and I have tickets for the showing in Toronto on Wednesday. Should be fun as it's set in Chicago, where we did our first marathon! That should be a little more enjoyable and I'm sure it won't be an empty theatre. Anyways, I got back home determined to shake from my memory this film by going out for a recovery 4 miler.