Running to the Limits DVD

My "British DVD" finally arrived this past week.  It was supposed to be a Christmas present, but the first mailing never arrived from England.  Fortunately, the documentary folks sent a new one immediately.  The film is titled "Running to the Limits" and it chronicles Alex Vero's attempt to qualify for the British Olympic marathon trials.  It takes a sub-2:20 to qualify!  Alex started out as an ordinary English guy.  Well, actually he may have been slightly "less than ordinary" considering he was overweight (16 stone=224 pound), asthmatic, a heavy smoker & drinker, and could barely run 5 minutes at one time.  What was this dude thinking?  Was he crazy?

He commits to intense running for the next 2 years.  His transformation is pretty impressive.  The documentary focuses on his training, but it quickly involves others runners, including an Ethiopian bell boy.  Nice stories all around.  In  addition to the main documentary, there are extra features that include more details on training.  It's quite impressive to see "old timers" like Bruce Tulloh and Ron Hill commenting and advising Alex.

The documentary inspired me to try for a fast marathon and 50K this year.  If this guy can start out from nothing and attempt to get to a 2:20 marathon in 2 years, I should be able to go from "fairly consistent runner" to the streets of Boston in less time.  I'll be breaking PRs along the way at many distances!  I doubt I'll be running 2:20, or 2:30, or 2:40, or 2:50, or 3:00...but hopefully an easy 3:30 marathon.  And surely I can break 5:00 for a trail 50K. 

The DVD sells for 12.99 British pounds...that's about $20 US dollars.  The cost includes shipping.  I think it was well worth the money.  If you are interested in the DVD, it can be purchased directly from the web site alexvero.co.uk.