Spirit of the Marathon follows six runners as they prepare for and compete in the 2005 Chicago Marathon. Some are competitive runners who have placed in previous years, some are Olympic medalists, and some are regular people, just like you and me, with no aspirations other than to finish. While I found inspiration in Spirit of the Marathon and can relate to all the conflicting emotions involved in running races, I don’t know if someone who doesn’t run would “get it” after watching this. In fact, one commenter said, “It is an exaggeration to say that running a marathon will change your life . . . ,” proving that even one runner can miss the point for another. For me, the first 5K I ran changed my life before I even got there.
Runners won’t get any training tips, but the energy, excitement and triumph of the marathon will get the average runner impulsively searching for local races to enter.