Are you inspired by Alex Vero's ambitions, or slightly insulted?

Wow, I remember reading this a couple of years back, always wondered how he'd get on.  

 Tough luck Alex, sorry to read it didn't work out for you fella. I know how injury and illness and determination to finish a mara can f*** you up.  I'm still paying the price for finishing the 2007 FLM when the smart move would have been to pull out, haven't done a proper run since! Ah well, hindsight's a wonderful thing.

 Are you still running Alex?  Just wondered how close you got to the 2.30 target.

Si

I'm tempted to go just to see if I get into it again!

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I spent about 14 months out with an achillies injury but back running 4 times a week and have done a few half-ironmans over the summer. Everyone is welcome to come along, even you 'hobbling harrier'. If my memory serves me correct you were a little upset at times about the documentary but I think that you might find that you actually enjoy it.

There are less then 80 tickets left which can be booked at http://www.alexvero.co.uk/screenings.htm

Here is a trailer for it - http://www.alexvero.co.uk/trailer.htm

Thanks 

Alex

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I notice Alex Vero's website says the documentary "is due to be broadcast on national TV in December 2009". Save some money and watch it on TV if you like corn syrup. I think Tom Bedford is doing the Chicago or Frankfurt marathon shortly isn't he?

A Thomas Bedford ran 2:24:07 today at Dublin Marathon. Is it the same one and will his Dad pay up?

Yes, it was the Tom Bedford. Good for him. I bet he's pleased!

This is Tom finishing the marathon

 http://www.letsrun.com/photos/2009/tombedford1026/imagepages/image22.php

Forget all about the self-serving Alex Vero and be inspired instead by what Tom Bedford has achieved. He's also raised a considerable amount of money for charity. In fact, why not click through to the Entoto Foundation  and donate some yourself - I already have.

Hi everyone,

It's taken a long time but marathon running documentary 'Running to the Limits' will get it's first Channel 4 screening on Wednesday the 16th December at 00:35 (in the morning) so if you have Sky + you can record it and watch it at a more convenient time!

http://www.channel4.com/tv-listings/daily/2009/12/15

It's going to be shown on 4OD (on demand on the Channel 4 website) for 30 days after the initial broadcast.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/4od

If you know anyone that might be interested please do forward this e-mail on and please feel free to let Channel 4 know what you thought of it.

Thanks for all the support.

Have a Happy Christmas

Alex

www.alexvero.co.uk

Alex, although I was one of your critics, I shall set the C+ and watch with interest.

Intresting docu , i think Alex comes out of this quite well ,2. 15 was always going to be a absoulte mountain of a target to achieve in 2 years! but fair play he gave it a go and you cant knock him for that.

I've  just watched it, I thought it was quite interesting. I would liked to have seen more of the training and specific schedules Alex went through.

I thought it had been dumbed down a bit for the general public. Alex's achievements were admirable tho in the time frame.

Did anyone else get the impression from the film that Ben Moreau won the Bath half marathon?

Yes I did, I meant to look at the results because there was a guy at the front at the start, who I recognised.

Didn't he win then?...lol

Typical film makers!

He came 3rd - winner was British (I think) and beat him by 1m 40s.

It's not a big deal - I was surprised his time was good enough to win such a big race and it wasn't.  I just assumed from the film he had won.

There were quite a few half truths in the film that I tried not to let bother me.  I'm still trying.

Spit it out Moraghan.

Well he trained for 2 years but had a few months out for injury.  But somewhere in there was a run in the Paris Marathon where he crashed and burned - where did that fit in?  I'm confused about the timescales. 

Also, he mentions his mileage (100('s) of miles a week) but I thought he ran 100 a few times but it was all in kilometres. 

We never did find out what his best marathon was - we kept hearing about "being in 2:30 shape".  Would have been nice to see his true progression.  It seems like the default position is fat bloke to sub 2:30 marathoner.  But he didn't get anywhere near 2:30 did he?

Featuring Ben Moreau was great but he's so far away from the necessary standard that it seemed a bit misleading along with the perceived bath half finish.

Anyway, I enjoyed the program and maybe all of the above is a necessary evil of the medium.

Yeah I think it should have been spread over 5/6  1hour programmes and shown in a more precise detailed way. The details almost seemed secondary.

I didn't feel like I'd been on the journey with him. Big gaps in time. He mentioned 100m/week, but I wanted to see the suffering behind it. Words are just that. He came back off  a 22m run and said, "I'm knackered". I wanted to see more.

I posted this on the other "that documentry" thread"

When Alex launched this project it was to be called "The Road to Bejing" about how a fat boy was going to run a 2:15 marathon. It was obvious from the outset that the proposition was either ridiculous, naive or simply arrogant, and he was rightly told so by anyone who knew anything about what serious distance training involved.

Because his project was based on something so obviously unachievable, it was inevitable that the substance of the film would change and we would never get to see the anticipated highlight of Alex running his 2:15 chasing marathon.

What we then had was something quite different, an interesting contrast in the backgrounds of two quite different runners. I suspect that Alex was then hoping that the new highlight of the film would be the raw untutored Ethiopian boy running away from the field of the Bristol HM to underline the nature over nurture theme. Sadly of course that didn't happen either, for rather poingant reasons.

I do think however that the documentary made some interesting and relevant points, and the visual images of crowds of Eitheopian men and children running everywhere underlined them. For East Africans, running is a way out of poverty, whereas for Westerners it's a way into poverty! The sacrifices that third world athletes make are far less (relatively) and the rewards far greater (again relatively) than runners from the more advanced nations. To some extent people travel from country districts to Addis hoping to make it as a runner, in the same way that Americans descended on Hollywood hoping to make it in the movies during the depression.

It would have been interesting to hear more from Richard Neurekar (former world class marathon runner, trained by Bruce Tulloh) as he has been actively involved in running development in Eitheopia for several years.

I suppose I really would have liked is a little less of the blood, sweat and tears (been there, still doing that) and a little more emphasis on the socio-economic and nature vvs nurture issues which define the superiority of African runners. But then that wouldn't have made for very interesting film, and Alex is after all primarily a film maker

I thought it was a sloppy piece of film making - lots of discontinuities as mentioned above. Confusing at times - some of the time the target was mentioned as being 2hrs 20 but in other places, the original 2hrs 15 was discussed.

I laughed at one point when he said that all his doubters had actually strengthened his resolve "without you I'd have given up". Hang on mate, but you did give up!

The biggest flaw I think was that by being both hero and fim maker, the whole thing lacked editorial objectivity. Lots of scenes of Vero striding majestically through the countryside and puffing hard after yet another gruelling training session. A different editor would have been much harder on him and his failures, and maybe the viewer would have understood better why it's not just a matter of wanting something badly enough.

I suppose if he hadn't been so naive, he would have realised what any number of people were telling him - that it was all going to be a pipe dream. All he seems to have achieved athletically was a 73 min half marathon. I'm amused to see on his website that he offers his services as "motivational speaker". Even funnier he is offering himself as a personal trainer. Qualifications???