The Perfect Race | Full Movie | Allee-Sutton Hethcoat | A Dave Christiano Film

[Music]

um

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what's that

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we did it we did it young lady

half second despair full recovery then

three more

proud of you brittany proud of you

thanks coach

hey hi

how are you i'm good i'm good how are

you good i'm so glad to see you

yeah we do oh coach michaels this is my

high school cross country coach coach

donnelly

ah so you're the one that discovered

brittany oh i think that brittany

discovered herself jeffrey michaels

pleasure to meet you courtney smith

donnelly nice to meet you too

and yes she's the one her friends anna

and heidi talked her into coming out for

cross country her senior year

yeah coach i had never run before in my

life thought i was gonna hate it but i

ended up making top seven i saw she had

some natural speed so i encouraged her

to go off her track

she begged me i begged i did i begged

i'm sure glad you did me too she ended

up setting the record in the 800 meter

at orange hills academy and wound up a

state champ

that's where i came on the scene sure

nice to meet you first coach

thank you perhaps we can talk some more

at the conference

yeah i'd love that it starts tonight and

goes all day tomorrow

is it just for high school coaches no

actually it's for middle school high

school college

officials administrators all the

christian schools in the states

just a way for everybody to get to know

one another sounds like fun

yeah i think it should be but enough

about me tell me about you

well i like my classes the school

um i have some great friends i like

track

and i love my coach coach michaels

trains the distance runners and he's

also the head coach

he seems very nice he's the best

oh and i have a boyfriend oh

yeah his name is chris he's on the track

team

and he runs the 800. okay okay

so can you beat him

and now we'll give him set up for you

immediately

well doc

dr harris have you ever thought about

retiring

yes but if i retire won't have anything

to do

did you play golf no why not

cause golf is the most frustrating game

ever invented

i can't argue with you there

you didn't answer my well something's

not right with your heart jeff

you really should retire before it

retires you

like in the ground six feet under well

we don't want to go there just yet

what is it it's probably too much stress

look you teach classes all day long you

coach cross country in the fall

indoor track and winter outdoor track

and spring and you've been doing it like

what 100 years

the stress is too much for you 27 years

i love coaching then the love of it is

too much for you

you're gonna need extensive rest until

we can get this thing figured out

jeff you need it now

who would have entered your coaching

track oh i uh i don't actually coach

track

you coach across the country but you

don't coach track right

you ever run track no again

okay when i was in high school i played

golf in the spring and get you both

so golf golf is the most frustrating

game ever invented

sounds like you play no not anymore for

the exact same reason i just stated must

be a pretty good golfer if you didn't

run track in high school

orange hills academy that's where you

coach cross country right right

it's about an hour from here yes sir

brittany's a junior i can't believe

we've never met before now

i know i've been meaning to come out to

watch her run and i'm gonna make it out

to meet this year

i'm good we've got a home meet coming up

this weekend yeah i'm planning on being

there actually

she'll appreciate that she's running

second you know

brittany's drink second in the

conference conference

he's second in the nation ncca

i did not know that brittany was ranked

second in the nation national christian

collegiate association

not the ncaa i don't get them confused

we're a christian college small ncca is

made up of many schools around the

country like us

we're not going to get the elite athlete

to come here but now and again god will

bless me with a little gem

she never told me she was ranked that

high she ran a 209

hater first race this year granted the

top girls in the ncaa to be faster but

anytime a young lady runs

under 210 in the 800 pretty good

absolutely

last year during the regionals girl

tripped and fell and brittany and some

of the other runners went down with her

she didn't qualify for the national this

year the goal is to get to the national

place in the top three and stand on that

podium

you must be doing a great job training

her thanks

you gave her a strong endurance base

her high school track coach did okay

she's under my watch now

i'm pretty old school actually my doctor

is saying that i'm just

old

hey you ready yes i am wait what'd you

say

i said i'm ready hi mckenzie did you

hear that

hey hear what this is the first time

she's ever been ready when i came to

pick her up

it is not yes it is you're never ready

you're always in there with the door

closed right

mckenzie don't drag me into your family

squabbles

oh i see two against one i can't win

with you two huh

make sure you have her home by ten the

movie doesn't get out to 10 15.

guess you'll have to miss the ending

then see you mom

she's never been ready and you know it

come together let's see what we're doing

today

200 repeats 16 of them we just did this

coach simpson we just did 200 repeats a

couple days ago

i know i'm combining everybody today

well can the 400 girls do something

different

sure you can do 20 of them how's that

you know leah you question almost every

workout i give you

sorry coach it's just we just did these

well i think you need them again

our relay team has a lot of ground to

gain if we want to qualify for the

regional

i don't like her oh yeah we can see that

she doesn't know what she's doing

come on leah she's a good coach and you

know that

i'm not a fan

mrs price you wanted to see me yes coach

donnelly come in come in

take a seat oh how many times have i

told you to call me karen

i lost count i'm a science teacher not a

math teacher funny so how you doing

good good how are you well normally

my job as assistant principal is about

putting out fires but

today i have some good news to report i

got approval

from the board and next spring we're

going to field our first ever golf team

at orange hills academy oh that'll be

good every other private school in the

states had golf for years and we're just

now getting around to it but

we finally arrived and i need a coach

that's where you come in now i know

you're a good golfer so

don't try to tell me you're not i'd like

to offer you the job

first the pay is about the same as you

get for cross-country so i know that's

not really much incentive

but here's the agreement thank you so

much i'm i'm

honored and flattered um and definitely

interested

if it's okay with you i'd like to talk

it over with my husband first

of course of course take your time take

the agreement home talk it over

like i said we're in no hurry it won't

start till next spring

208 five that's a pr she bettered her

own school record

i was open to break 209 and we did it we

did it

i'm very proud of you young lady thanks

coach that's a great time for it

congratulations thanks and coach

donnelly thank you so much for coming it

really means a lot

oh i'm happy to be here i wouldn't have

wanted to miss it brittany

oh it's my dad go go

she's the best female 800 runner i've

ever had

i'm really glad for her hey would you

mind if i asked a quick question about

the race today

sure go ahead i just noticed that she

ran her first slap 4.2 seconds faster

than her second

do you think that if she even out those

splits she could go even faster

i would agree with you except it's the

800 800 is the most unique

running event there is i'm not sure i

understand

you're on the 5k in cross country right

right that's pacing

this is an all-out endurance sprint

check the world records into distance

events that are basically

all even splits so i agree with you this

800 it's different almost every world

record in that event through the years

has been

positive splits uh well she did one

and it was her best time she did and it

was

and she rang green yes she did

hey it's good to see you again thank you

thanks for coming

glad to be here we appreciate it

[Applause]

what's up guys we are celebrating

celebrating what ah you got engaged

no we're not even close chris

i mean we're we're close we are so close

just not yet

we are celebrating a great athletic

achievement we know

good job brittany yes congratulations uh

you mean good job chris and

congratulations i broke 155 today

are you kidding that's nothing she broke

209 and beat her school record

you're just jealous i'm jealous why

would i be jealous i beat it by 14

seconds

so my doc says i gotta take an extended

rest

says i gotta take it now i told her

track season just started

and your assistants finish this out for

you they can keep doing what they're

doing and run the team

my graduate assistant can help

coordinate the distant runners workouts

though he doesn't understand the

different training i'm giving him

can you write the workouts for him then

i did that

i got an idea the team is just average

with the exception of brittany ward

she's my only athlete that can get to

national she's got a real good chance of

making the podium

i'd like to recommend we bring in

another coach

all right you have someone in mind so

coach michaels is having trouble with

his heart

and his doctor said that he has to stop

coaching immediately

i'm sorry to hear that i know me too

he doesn't have an assistant coach to

help with the distance runners and

he asked me if i would help out but

specifically if i would coach brittany

okay but how are you gonna pull that off

he was thinking that i could drive over

there three days a week and on those

days practice could just start later to

accommodate my drive

and it would pay and the school will

cover my expenses

he's got that approved by the athletic

director

what do you think i think it's totally

up to you

what do you think

in here are all the workouts i've done

with brittany and the other runners so

far this spring

and also what i have planned for each of

them the rest of the season

thank you if you look at everybody's

times you see that brittany's my only

distance runner who can qualify for the

regional

that's why i want your help even though

you don't coach track

you've coached brittany and she respects

you

i think that's a good fit i appreciate

that

you have any questions

yes sir um coach

i'll leave everybody else the same but

i'd like the liberty to modify some of

brittany's workouts as we get into this

if that's okay with you it's okay with

me

i brought you on board because of what

you've accomplished in orange hills

also because of what britney told me

i trust you thank you

keisha thompson set the ncca record last

year in the 800.

she ran in 2046 she runs for zion

college

that's about three hours from here about

two hours from where you live

the regional meet is there this year and

also the national

national moves around different parts of

the country but this year it's in our

region

zion has a very nice facility

the henry hall track and soccer complex

i know mr hall

he's a legendary coach but he's retired

now

he's built a very strong program there

coach what do we have to do to qualify

for brittany to qualify for the

nationals she has to place in the top

four in the regional

she will be ranked second behind keisha

we have six regions so that means 24

runners will make it to the national

gotcha i've been coaching for 27 years

i've never had an 800 meter runner male

or female make it to the podium

britney is our best chance i'll do my

best to help

thank you i've asked the distance

runners and the coaches to stay after

practice

let's go meet him

okay everybody listen up have your

attention please

this is coach donald donnelly she

coaches cross country at orange hills

academy

she was brittany's coach when she went

to school there

let me introduce you to the staff this

is coach simpson

she used to run for me a few years ago

she coaches the sprints to 400 and

hurdles

coach rogers he's the male counterpart

for the same events

he ran for me in the day too coach

maxwell

handles all field events and he's our

trainer

and then jess is my graduate assistant

he helps with the

distance runners and all of these

beautiful young men and women

are my distance runners 800 and up

coach donnelly is temporarily joining

our staff

she's gonna drive over here three days a

week and basically she'll get here when

you're done with your workouts brittany

i want you to wait and work with coach

donnelly personally on those days

now some of you may be thinking that

this is a step down going from a college

coach back to a high school coach

i would be thinking the same thing but i

can assure you

that you're wrong coach donnelly will

have

all of the workouts i have planned for

you this season

okay i'm going to be taking an extended

vacation

it doesn't mean i'm gonna be relaxing on

some beach

i'm gonna be resting at home so you can

come and see me anytime

i love each and every one of you i'm

gonna miss

seeing you every day

[Music]

god bless you that's it

that's it

[Music]

hey coach um i just wanted to say thank

you

for everything that you've done for me

you're welcome

listen whatever culture donny tells you

to do you do it

got it yes sir and i'm going to work

really hard to make that podium this

season

and if i do then we did it that's right

we did it god bless you

what do you want chris all right coach

i just want to say it thanks for

everything hey

i um couldn't help but over here

what is we did it mean uh well

the first thing coach michaels told us

as freshmen is whenever we run

and accomplish something it's not i did

it but

we did it athlete coach and the lord

together he says to

never leave the lord out of anything

that you do in your life so his saying

to remind us of that

is we did it that's really nice

hi so what do you say we take

a little road trip tomorrow morning

yeah what'd you have in mind

uh track meet trackmates yes keisha

thompson has a home meet and i'd really

like to watch her run

how far away ah

two hours

you know i can't think of anything else

i'd rather do on a saturday morning with

my wife

so why all the way up okay i want to be

able to see

the 100 200 and 300 meter mark

keisha's won the national championship

in the 800 meter for three years in a

row

nobody in any of those races is even

coming under 210 meaning

she's had no competition okay

once the race starts i'm going to click

my watch on her 100 meter splits can you

write down the times that you see

sure thank you

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so if if keisha is four seconds faster

than britney how does she ever expect to

beat her

in all honesty she can't it's too much

time to make up

so this was a wasted trip no i wanted to

find out how keisha ran her race and now

we know she was up fast and then slows

down

well it didn't look like she was too

much slowing down i mean she killed

everybody

her first lap was five and a half

seconds faster than her second

and all the other girls slowed down too

ah i see

all right look at her splits she gets a

little slower every hundred meters

there's gotta be a way to beat her so we

drove two hours to watch it a two minute

race

we drove two hours swatch a two or six

point three minute race

hey chris just came in what's he doing

here

does he know we're here no

hey let's sneak up on him

hi i like to pick up my shoes we had to

order them

okay i'll check oh can i ask you

something um

i'd like to get a gift from my

girlfriend i wonder if you had any ideas

she runs track for bethany

i'm i'm not sure did you have anything

in mind um

not really um maybe a shirt she could

wear in practice

like a training shirt yeah um do you

have a

shirt with writing on it that says i i

don't know my boyfriend is the greatest

you know something humble like that

i i don't think we have anything like

that okay uh how about a shirt that says

uh

my love for my boyfriend is 800 meters

wide

oh wait i got it how about a shirt that

says

why are you two spying on me

[Music]

[Laughter]

what are you up to i didn't know you

were coming in here tonight well i don't

know you were coming i got a message my

shoes came in

ah i see actually she was gonna get you

something

right brit uh yeah well that sounds

great don't let me stop you ladies then

um do you have a shirt that says my

girlfriend is the greatest

you know something humble like that

hey what you doing watching some 800

meter finals from the olympics and a

couple other championships trying to see

how these people run

picking up on anything yeah coach

michaels is right

every single race has been one of the

positive splits so the first lap is

faster than the second it's just not the

best way to run

i mean do you know anyone else who

thinks the way that you think

yes dave waddle he won the 1972 olympics

with even splits

he wasn't the favorite but he outsmarted

the competition

sounds like your kind of runner

there's got to be a better way

hi coach hey jess how's it going it is

going

we just finished up 800 meter repeats

everyone hit the pacing coach michaels

had written for them except for chris

what happened with chris he ran them a

lot slower than he was supposed to

do you know why i do not oh hey coach

coach michael's left a small present for

you on this desk be sure to grab it

before you leave

a present yeah you'll understand when

you see it

okay thanks

[Music]

hey chris what's up are you injured oh

you mean my repeats

no i took it easy because i wanted to

run with brittany and push her along if

that's okay

uh sure that's okay it's just that

brittany's not doing the workout the way

you were supposed to

you're kidding okay yeah

brilliant move on my part you know what

you can run with her it'll work out

okay i'm all wrapped up and ready to go

okay good we're doing 800 meter repeats

today and i want all of them at 236.

236. that's pretty stuff give me your

first slap in 80 seconds the second and

76.

i've never run them like that before run

them that way a few times and you'll see

236 in too slow

okay i want even pacing on both of these

laps you're gonna have to hit 100 meters

in 20 seconds

200 meters in 40 seconds 300 meters and

60 seconds

400 meters and 80 seconds sounds easy

yeah right when you come through and you

start your second lap you're gonna have

to tell yourself to pick it up a step

because when you've got to do 100 meters

in 19 seconds

tell myself to pick it up step i got it

uh coach how many of these are we gonna

do

78 79 80. good job right on pace pick it

up a step

[Music]

so how long have you two been dating um

about two years

we started dating in the track season

freshman year and i've been letting her

hang around me ever since

i got an admit coach that workout was

different

yeah we usually do 800 meter repeats

pretty hard i don't see our running 800s

at the pace we did help brittany get any

faster

it was too slow doesn't make any sense

well chris if there's anything i've

learned since becoming a christian

that there's a lot of things in life

that don't make sense i can think of

examples of this from

from running or christianity all right

i'm all ears

okay all right um running take today for

example brittany ran slower

but look how many 800 meter repeats she

was able to do and with limited rest in

between

that's what makes the workout effective

she's building strength and endurance

and over time

those are the things that make you

faster okay

i'll buy that i think okay

in christianity jesus said whoever

will save his life shall lose it but

whoever will lose his life for my sake

shall save it

i've never really understood that verse

what does it mean

it means that in christianity you win by

losing

win by losing that doesn't make any

sense

i i think i get it as christians

we surrender our lives to gain his

and with running you can get faster by

training slower

so win by losing yeah you got it

and now you see why i've been letting

her hang around me ever since

[Music]

morning sharon i just got off the phone

with coach michaels

and there's a real good chance that he

will not be back in the fall so

looks like we're gonna need to start a

search

coach donnelly you're here early today

yeah uh we're on spring break at

orangeville so i can actually get here

when you guys do

coach i'm leah and i'm tanya i'm candace

nice to meet you guys

we run the 4x4 and we were wondering if

you might have any advice on how we

could get faster

oh well i'm sure that your coach is

doing everything she can to help you on

your best

she is um but we see how you're working

with britney

and it's different than what she

normally does so we were just wondering

if

maybe you had some advice i'm

sorry i'm not your coach you'll just

have to ask coach simpson

coach simpson said it would be okay if

we talk to you

really yeah um

okay what times are you guys running

right now

my best 400 is 54 8. jenny's run a 58.

i've run a 56 four 57.5

do you remember what your 200 meter

split was on that 54.8 i ran 26 seconds

for my first 200.

okay and you came back on almost 29

right

try going out at 27 and maintaining that

that'll get you down to 54.

same with you guys even out your splits

on the 400 you sure

yeah try it and see okay and what order

are you guys running your event in

i lead off then jenny and candace

and leah anchors okay so you're starting

with

your second fastest runner handing off

to your two slowest

and then finishing off with your fastest

right coach likes to get a good start

okay well i would try starting with

jenny handing off to candace and tanya

then leah

why in that order because you want to

get faster each time you hand off the

baton

oh okay well thanks we'll try that

coach donnelly you have a moment sure

um look we appreciate you helping coach

michaels with his distance runners

but i don't need any help with my

what are you talking about well quite

frankly i

don't appreciate you coming to my relay

team changing up their order and then

telling them to go out slower for even

splits

it's a 400 meter run it's not a 5k

cross-country race

coach simpson the plus we don't need a

high school coach coming in here and

making it seem like we don't know how to

train our athletes

that's very embarrassing do you

understand

yeah yeah of course

thank you

why'd you do that today do what tell

coach donnelly that coach simpson said

it was okay

because i don't like coach simpson it

doesn't make it all right saying what

you said

it's no big deal leah come on girl

come on girl what tell the truth don't

tell lies

i didn't lie no solo said she said to

coach donnelly

i didn't lie i told you i don't like

coach simpson and that's the truth

so the gun sounds i decided to go right

for the lead and my reasoning is is that

both strong and white golf are in the

race and those guys are better than me

so i thought let me grab the lead then

maybe i can hold them off

wrong i hit a wall after 500 meters

ended up finishing

dead last i should have been no worse

than third

yeah well chris that's what happens when

you try and run somebody else's race

what do you mean well i would know

because i did the same

thing when i was 13 i played golf and

i entered into a youth tournament on my

home course kids from all the

surrounding counties came in

i was put in the top four some and

ranked number one

go out on the first hole three other

girls go before me and i'll hit

great drives so i start getting worried

i go out and on my first shot i drive at

20 yards

yeah i dub my next two shots and ended

up with like a nine on the first hole

i lost that tournament by 12 strokes

even though i was ranked first

and i went back the next year when i was

14.

i let it wired a wire and ended up

winning by three strokes

the difference was that when i was 13 i

was looking at

everybody else and worried what they

were doing the next year i focused on my

game

so you got to do that focus on your race

you do what you do best

can't expect one by running someone

else's race well

i finished last so i can attest to that

all right you guys just has your

workouts hey brittany

i'm not gonna be here friday so can you

meet saturday instead

yeah sure okay good we're gonna take a

little drive and do a really important

workout

sounds good i know you recognize this

place

yeah it's where i ran the state cross

country meet that's right they've got

something here that's

hard to find it wasn't a part of your

course but it is right next to it

all right that's 400 meters right there

you see where i marked 100 meters

200 300 and now 400 meters

right all right let's go back to the

start talk about how you're gonna run

this thing

now what's special about this course is

that it's slightly uphill the entire way

each time you pass the flag i need you

to tell yourself to speed it up a little

okay

first hundred meters run at about twenty

percent your second you're gonna pick it

up to forty percent

third ramp it up to sixty percent and

finish your last one

at eighty percent you don't have to run

all out okay the main thing is each time

you pass a flag you have to tell

yourself to pick it up a step

okay got it i'm gonna go about halfway

from there i can get your 100 200 and

300 splits but when you run across

the forum to throw your arms up so i

know you're done you're gonna walk back

to her cover

and you're gonna go again got it uh

coach

how many of these are we gonna do

all right way to go girl pick it up to

60 percent

[Music]

hello this is john duncan the athletic

director of bethany university

yes sir karen price assistant principal

orange hills academy

well it seems we have one of your

coaches helping us out over here this

spring

yes i heard coach donnelly yeah i'd like

to ask you about it for a moment if i

may

sure how can i help well i'd like to

know if you could give her a

recommendation

can i recommend coach donnelly yes ma'am

oh mr duncan i've been an administrator

for 14 years in three different schools

both public and private and coach

donnelly is as fine as they come

well that's that's high praise i'm glad

to hear that

may i ask what this is about it looks

like our cross-country coach is going on

an extended leave so

we're starting to look for somebody to

take his place i see

i'm aware that coach donnelly has her

master's degree yes she does

well i appreciate the good word about

her thank you for your time yes sir

[Music]

goodbye

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

is

i just saw a perfect race your best time

is 3.9 seconds behind quiches now

in an 800 meter race that's a long way

yeah i know so we've got two tasks one

we've gotta get you two to three seconds

faster

two we've gotta get kisha onto two

seconds slower

what our first task is to get you faster

we're gonna change the way you run your

race you're not gonna be going out fast

and then slowing down in your second lap

the way that you're used to

you're actually going to be doing the

exact opposite secretary is the horse

owned the 1973 kentucky derby in

record time the race is a mile and a

quarter long and each quarter mile he

got faster than the one before

these are splits the science behind

running says you maximize your ability

with a 51 to 49

split meaning starting out slower and

getting slightly faster as you go

it's exactly what secretariat did it's

exactly what you're gonna do

all right i want you to run your first

hundred meters in 16 seconds with three

tenths of a second on either side

now it may take a few times to get the

pacing down so let's try a few

start in lane two for me

[Music]

set

[Music]

all right 15 seconds let's try it again

17 seconds try again

[Music]

16.8

[Music]

16.7

[Music]

15.3

coach i can't do it it's too hard

[Music]

brittany do you remember the story in

the bible about the rich young ruler who

asked jesus what he had to do

to have eternal life yeah

that story kind of asked the ultimate

question right what do you have to do to

have eternal life

and you'll remember in the story it says

that he asked jesus and

jesus told him he didn't like the answer

so

he walked away and the bible said that

he was sorrowful

think about that here's somebody

asking how to have eternal life he was

standing there staring right at it

and he walked away why

because he didn't want it bad enough

you want to try this again

[Music]

15.5

16.5

[Music]

16 seconds

[Music]

hey your favorite thing to do as a blade

i know i'm sorry

i found keisha's championship race from

two years ago and the one from last year

and she ran the boat exactly the same

way there was nobody near her they were

easy ones

and she's the one you need to slow down

right

you know i've never heard of a runner

intentionally slow down so that a slower

one can beat her

have you no

so how do you intend on beating her then

i have an idea

[Music]

the last two years we ran together every

day in practice

now i hardly see you coach finally said

you can come to my practices

yeah but i got to run with the guys

i don't know why coach michaels brought

her on anyway you could just run with us

i'm just saying

what's wrong nothing

i just don't understand why you get your

own personal trainer it's like we don't

matter

that's not true when you know it oh how

come i don't get my own personal trainer

then

i'll tell you why i'm not going to

regionals or nationals that's why

chris coach donnelly was my high school

cross country coach

she's the one who convinced me to go out

for track in the first place i wasn't

going to

if i didn't have track i wouldn't have

you

yeah that was hard really

i thought the test was easy how about i

aced it yeah right

no really i bet i got every question

right how'd you know all that i studied

there is no way you knew all of it okay

look

she gave the same test yesterday so so

one of my friends snapped a picture you

cheated

no i had advanced information

32.1 good job i want five in a row just

like that

five yeah make sure they're all within

four tenths of a second on either side

you got to get the pacing down

gosh i can't run five two hundreds in a

row at 32 seconds

uh yes you can and we're going to stay

here until you do

33 try again

32.9 half a second off

32.2 great job four in a row one more

coach i can't i'm too tired yes you can

no i can't there's too many

brittany this is exactly how you're

going to feel in the final 200 meters at

nationals you're going to be this tired

so what are you going to do you're going

to stop you're going to keep going

[Music]

[Applause]

what was my time most athletes would

have given up a half hour ago

did i get it most athletes would have

quit

oh it's my time

there's an inner satisfaction that comes

when you work hard when you don't give

up

and when you give it your best and i'm

really proud of you good job

thanks all right take tomorrow off i'm

not gonna see you friday but i want you

to get a workout in okay

i want you to do 10 100 meters in a row

at 16 seconds you got to get the pacing

down

okay half this time you text me when

you've done it

all right hey you did it

we did it hey

hey so i got a call from the athletic

director at bethany this afternoon and

they are looking for somebody to coach

cross country this fall

and they need a distance coach for track

in the spring they've got a science

position available

you're serious yeah and he asked me if i

was interested

just like that just like that so what

did you tell him

well i totally have to talk to you about

it first

wow i i just didn't expect it

yeah okay so what do you think

well my first thought was that coach

michaels

is either retiring or that his

condition's more serious than he's

letting on and

i'm flattered i just i don't know

michael

i don't know my girlfriend she's trying

to run like a horse

we're all practicing to run and she's

learning to gallop

i'm just kidding well it's not funny

you know that horse set a record in 1973

that still stands today

can't think of verona that's done that

[Music]

hey hey

you okay yeah

i just hate it when he makes fun of me

he does that a lot

when i was a freshman in college i dated

a guy that made jokes about me like that

and i

hated it too we were together for

six months before we split up

and when i was a sophomore i started

dating michael

and he's never made fun of me or

embarrassed me

not once i'm really glad i'm married to

michael

why does he do that he's jealous

and joking like that is his way of

covering up his own insecurity and hurt

bret he may say that he loves you i just

think he probably has a little bit to

learn about what real love and

commitment are all about

what makes you say that well the bible

says love isn't envious

so you should be happy for somebody's

success and

not jealous of it when you really love

them

well then how will i know when he

really loves me

you'll know

we can start whenever you're ready okay

[Music]

uh not tonight i just got in and i have

a lot of homework

[Applause]

no i don't want you to help me study

look i just need to get a shower and get

to work okay

um no no i'm just gonna eat something

here

[Music]

i just don't feel like talking right now

okay

i need to go chris

i need to go

you're going to run your first 200

meters in 32 seconds the second and 31.5

the third and 31 in your final 200

meters and 30 seconds you do that

you're in a 204.5 that would beat our

record by a tenth of a second

yeah but i'm not trying to beat your

record i'm just trying to give you a

chance to win the race

today we're going to work on your first

400 meters so let's go to work

would you like something to drink i'm

okay thank you so much i was just gonna

stop by for a minute okay

thank you hey coach donnelly

forgive me for not getting up please

come on in sit down

i thought i might stop by to give you an

update on how britney was doing

but first how are you doing well

not doing too good doc says i'm gonna

need surgery

i'm sorry me too

so how things going brittany's doing

well we're working on strength right now

with some he'll work

out she's learning pacing and it's not

easy but you know she's a hard worker

i think the combination of things that

we're doing is gonna give her a good

chance

you're a good chance

to beat keisha

nobody's expecting a miracle i just

wanted to make the podium

i do too sir i'm just uh aiming for that

top spot

uh i just wanted to stop by for him and

then i still gotta make the long trip

home but

we'll be praying for you and i'm not

just saying that my

husband and i we have been praying for

you

thank you

thank you very much hey coach

mind if i ask you you've been a

christian long

uh yes sir since i was a junior in high

school

you take christianity very seriously

don't you

yes sir i do do you ever think about

death

occasionally i've been thinking about it

quite a bit lately

and even though i'm a christian

death is something i'm not looking

forward to

i understand what do you believe coach

what do i believe about

life and death god

well i believe that the god of the bible

created me

and i was born a sinner and that means

one day i'll die

i also believe that jesus is god

that he came to earth he died on the

cross for our sins

he rose and he's seated at the right

hand of the father and he'll return one

day

i believe that faith in christ is the

only way to go to heaven

i believe that there's nothing nothing

more important than following him in

this life

that is very well said young lady

thank you

thanks for coming by i hope you get

better sir

thank you for helping with brittany

you're welcome

[Music]

coach i think she can beat her

can i ask you a question you just did

still not talking to chris

i'm taking a break from chris why

why do you ask cause he keeps asking me

what's wrong

i told him we needed a break from each

other

yeah but he doesn't know why

that's fun to figure out

133.8 okay good job it's half a second

faster than you want to be but you still

got something left right

yeah good this is where those hill

workouts are going to come in

i know you might not like doing them but

the final 200 meters of the race you're

gonna be glad you did

okay take a full recovery we're gonna go

again 600 meters and 134.5 this time

yeah i think i've only got a couple

jumpers that are going to regionals this

year

that's about it show workout today

brittany uh yeah

just three six hundreds but all at rice

base you got your first crack at keisha

coming up in the regionals

i think you can catch her i don't know

she's pretty far ahead of me

we'll be pulling for you thanks i hear

you've been working the hills

yeah coach donnelly's pretty big on that

good for you

he'll build some strength she's trying

to get me a couple of seconds faster

that would still leave a couple of

seconds to gain though wouldn't it

well yeah but coach donnelly said she's

gonna try and slow keisha down

wait what was that she's gonna try and

slow keisha down

i don't know how or what she means by

that

well see ya bye brittany

bye

slow down a runner beats me

[Music]

see you guys see you jess

[Music]

coach donnelly we were just talking with

brittany and she mentioned you had a

plan to slow down a runner

i've been around track a long time i've

never heard a coach say they could do

something like that

especially somebody like kesha thompson

you do know she's a three-time champ

i'm well aware of her success yes i saw

kisha run the final last year

she'd have to trip and fall before

anybody'd have a chance to beat her

is that what you have in mind no

okay well i didn't know cause i've been

to some high school meets and

stranger things have happened well i can

assure you the thought never crossed my

mind

please don't do anything to disgrace the

name of the school

slow down a runner what's keisha gonna

do

run right up to the finish line stop

just before crossing and go

come on brittany it's all yours

no she hasn't said anything yet but i

don't believe for a moment she's going

to turn it down

she'll get to coach at the college level

teach a couple of entry-level courses

and her pay will double

well maybe not double but it'll surely

go up

you could always match funds with some

of your principal salary and keep her

here

oh here's the clincher her husband's an

accountant

and their firm has two offices guess

where the other one is

we're going to need to look for a new

science teacher a new cross-country

coach

and a golf coach because coach donnelly

is not going to be here in the fall

yeah i'll be sorry to see her go too

[Applause]

nice job ladies

how's it going it's not

got one meat left to qualify for

regionals my relay team has a lot of

time to make up if we want to get in

how much a little over three seconds

ouch

yeah right now i've got leah going in

the open 400 but she's my only runner

relay team's a long shot can leah make

the national

no no not a chance at least she's going

to regional

i can't seem to get these girls to go

any faster or put together four good

legs

well why don't you try a couple of

different things then oh

grad assistant has some advice that

should be good

have you considered having your goals go

out to lower the first 200 so

that they can come back faster even

splits for a 400 meter run

yeah or something like that and change

up the order of who leads off

start with your slowest runner and

always hand off to a faster runner

you sound just like that high school

coach that's where you got it from

what did she do talk to everybody about

my relay team she didn't talk to me

how do you know what you just said then

your goals went up to her and asked her

if she had any advice for them

wait what my girls asked her

yeah how do you know that i was standing

right there when it happened

okay wait so they asked for her advice

on what exactly how they could get

faster

and coach donnelly told them not at

first what do you mean not at first

explain she won't answer the phone when

i see her on campus she says she doesn't

want to talk

what's going on i don't know but you're

a roommate you must know something

well i'm sorry i don't something

happened i don't know about it

could be

i never knew how much i really cared for

well you should tell her that

how she won't talk to me

[Music]

coach donnelly can i talk to you for a

minute sure

is everything okay

when we talked to you a while ago about

our relay team

leah told you that coach simpson said it

was okay but

coach simpson didn't know anything about

it

and i felt guilty ever since i wanted to

come to you sooner but

[Music]

i'm sorry thank you for telling me

coach leah lia's not doing so good

what do you mean well she lies

she cheats in school and she doesn't

seem to have any conviction

about anything and i'm scared that

she's not a real christian

why did she come to school here then she

has a partial scholarship and her father

went here and

he's a pastor

and you're not sure she's a believer

she's heard it her whole life

but i'm not sure she's ever really heard

it

i see i'm sorry that we lied to you and

i went along with it

but i'm a christian coach i struggle

with things but i'm a christian

emily is my friend she just needs help

tonya thank you for coming to me

so we can transition over the new office

whenever we're ready it's totally up to

us

wow that that's good to know yeah

seems like everything's falling into

place yeah it really does

so the decision's all yours

no the decision's ours no

it doesn't matter to me either way i can

stay here or go there i mean this

decision's all up to you miss courtney

smith

[Music]

[Applause]

hey jess how'd it go today it didn't no

one ran

how come we don't run runner training

hard

is britney here yeah she's in there

coach i didn't think you'd be coming

today you do know they're on track meets

in the rain right

well yeah but it's raining pretty hard

coach michaels doesn't make us practice

when it rains

[Music]

[Applause]

hey coach does your high school team run

in the rain like that

yeah as long as it's not lightning we

run but why

because there are runners and that's

what we do i mean

nationals could be in the rain it was

boring that's ridiculous why would you

run in the rain

do you really want to know sure

seriously chris do you really want to

know yeah

sure

can i ask you are your parents together

or divorced

they're together anybody else here have

parents that are divorced

raise your hand

yeah mind you anybody here with their

hand up wish that never would have

[Music]

happened

look chances are you're all gonna get

married someday

no pledge to make a commitment for life

and

there will come a day in your marriage

you experience rain

you're gonna have a really big decision

to make

you can choose to do the easy thing like

our parents did and get divorced

or you could choose to stay together in

the rain

chris it's really easy to run when the

weather is nice

it's easy to follow the lord when

everything's good

what about when it's not it's not fun to

run in the rain

and it's not easy to follow the lord

when nothing's going right and you're

wondering where god is

but regardless of the conditions you

still run

and regardless of the circumstances you

still follow

that's why we run in the rain

brittany good job today

i'll see you next week

[Music]

so

[Music]

where are you going to see chris

[Music]

okay your surgery is scheduled for

saturday the 18th here's some

information for you i want you to come

in a couple days early so plan on being

here on the 16th

saturday's the day of the national

what time's the surgery two o'clock

one of my runners should be in the 800

meter final then

they're gonna run her race at 2 30. i

wanted to listen to it over the phone

sorry coach can't you push it to another

day or time

jeff the line waiting to get the table

at this hospital

it's 800 meters long i'd rather listen

to the race

and i would rather not have to perform

this surgery

can we do it in the morning i play golf

on saturday mornings

then i tell golf is the most frustrating

game ever invented

you better hope i have a good round so i

don't take my frustration out on you

hey may i speak with you a moment

sure i uh

i owe you a little apology there's been

a misunderstanding

i'm sorry for the way i spoke to you

before

i thought you had approached my girls

and given them advice on how to run

i did not know that they approached you

and told you i said it was all right to

share your thoughts

they were wrong to say that um i

apologize for my hasty response

no apology necessary

leah and i have had little tension all

year

i understand i have been there before

thanks yeah

they missed qualifying for regionals by

nine tenths of a second

they all tried to run even splits and

each ran their best time

and i like the idea of getting faster

each time you hand off the baton

all four girls are back next year and

they're pretty pumped that's great i'm

i'm really happy for you guys

good luck with brittany in the regional

[Music]

thanks

hey hey hardly anybody around did you

just finish your workout

yeah ready for the regional

um yeah i guess but i don't stand a

chance at nationals

sure you do no i don't

the only girls that don't stand a chance

at nationals are the ones that didn't

qualify

i ranked seventh out of eight and only

the top four get in

okay but what if three of those girls

got disqualified what if they cheated

cheated yeah you know steroids doping

wouldn't surprise me some of them are or

what if some of their coaches submitted

faster times than they actually ran

that'd be wrong the cheating or the

lying

both yeah

that reminds me in my class i have

this thing that i say to my students

before every test i say

get it wrong before you cheat you know

that way you can

feel good about yourself sleep at night

it's my only rule get around before you

cheat

that's a good rule yeah

what year are you junior

[Music]

bethany university and orange hills

academy where i teach they exist for the

same purpose

that's to teach people about christ

we've all lied we've all cheated

i know i have in my life that's why we

need christ

when i was a junior in high school this

girl told me that jesus died for all my

sins

she led me to christ

[Music]

coach do you have a minute sure

[Music]

me are you okay

coach i owe you an apology

[Music]

you and like half of the people on

campus

brittany

i'm so nervous i understand

you're not gonna run your race today the

way we've been training for it what

keisha's gonna go out for the lead and i

want you to go with her

stay right on her shoulder for 600

meters and then slow down and make sure

you finish in the top four

wait why do you want me to do that stay

with keisha for 600 meters

slow down make sure you finish in the

top four i'll see you at the end of the

race

coach hey you win by losing right

[Music]

ladies move up to the line get after it

brittany you can get here

all right jasmine

let's go britney

[Applause]

monkey

runner set

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

they were there keep it up

where'd the girl in blue come from i was

just thinking the same thing

what's wrong with her why she's slowing

down is she hurt

[Music]

come on

[Music]

you gotta make time for brittany

[Music]

[Music]

coach dunn any idea why that runner

pulled up

why are you afraid somebody might beat

your girl no just wondering why she

slowed down i mean she looked great up

to that point

i mean how these coaches are they tell

their runners to start out with the

leader and try to stay with them

well she did for about 600 meters yeah

like michael's is her coach and i've

never seen him coach a runner like that

uh michael's ain't coaching you got to

take some time off having some heart

trouble

oh wow i'm sorry to hear that so who's

coaching her

some high school coach i can't remember

her name but i've seen her some of the

cross country meets when i've been

recruiting

something didn't seem right what do you

mean well i mean she deliberately slowed

down

well if you're worried and you shouldn't

be in two weeks when you run the

national

just tell kisha not to go out so fast

and to stay with her

and then in the last hundred meters

keesha kicks it in blows her away

you got nothing to worry about brittany

why did you slow down coach told me to

why did you have her slow down she was

right with her dad

the goal wasn't to try and beat her

today but that's the way she needs to

run

just go out and stay with her see if you

can beat her in the end brittany can't

win if she runs that way

but she was right with her for 600

meters if she gets a little more

training in she might be able to

i'm sorry sir it doesn't quite work that

way okay coach

if and this is a big if brittany can run

a 206

how does keisha thompson run a 206. if

he sure goes out slower than she

normally does and brittany has a chance

wait i don't understand please explain

keisha usually goes out in 60 seconds

finishes the second lap in 65 so if she

goes out slower than she sees two then

brittany has a chance

how do you figure because keisha's body

is used to going out fast and then

slowing down

and if she goes out at a slower pace

it's gonna do the same thing what

if keisha goes out slower it's gonna be

easy for her to maintain that pace yeah

and then she'll just turn on the jets

and blow britney away down the stretch

i'm sorry i mean no disrespect you guys

i i really

don't but i think that you're mistaken

keisha's body isn't used to that she

hasn't trained that way she's gonna go

out

she's gonna slow down like she always

does and she's not gonna be able to turn

on the jets like you guys think

coach donnelly i appreciate all you've

done for brittany i really do

but i have to agree with the coaches

here brittany needs to do what she just

did

go out hard after keisha and try to hang

on and see if she can beat her in the

end

what makes you think her coach is stupid

enough to slow her down yeah why would

he ever do that

brittany can't win by running keisha's

race she needs to run the way that we've

been training

you did a great job today brittany okay

see you tuesday

excuse me

brittany what did she tell you to do

stay with keisha for 600 meters and

finish in the top four

why'd she slow you down i don't know she

didn't say

[Music]

it doesn't make any sense wait on

michael's hears about this

[Music]

[Music]

hey jess hey coach the lineup for the

heats came in today

keisha's in heat one britney heat two

okay what are the top qualifying times

in brits race

one of the girls has run it to 11.8 2

are over 212 and the other's 213 and

above

okay thanks

so what time's your race saturday 2 30.

but i run a qualifying heat before it on

wednesday

i thought you already qualified that was

the regional to get into the national

so there are 24 runners that made it to

the national meet so on wednesday there

are three heats

the top two for beach heat plus the next

two best times make it to the final

which is on saturday

so eight runners total on the final

right i see

well we're all planning to be there

thanks are you nervous

nope no no you are too

i am not don't get overconfident now i'm

not doing that

i never do that i have respect for my

opponents they just can't beat me

what about the girl from bethany what

about her machine your heat

no but it doesn't matter look see the

side of me

yeah that's the only side any runner's

gonna see of me at the end of a race

okay so you won your heat today but you

can't run a 210 and expect to win in the

final

i know but i didn't run my hardest i

told you that but i haven't seen you run

hard since coach donnelly took over i

mean you ran a faster time coach

michaels

well coach donnelly has a race strategy

and there's been no reason to use it yet

but we will

on saturday that doesn't

i was gonna say something negative when

i caught myself i'm becoming a new man

race strategy coach donnelly on saturday

got it hey brittany

[Music]

hope it works thanks

brittany ran a 209.8 earlier in the

season and then two weeks later a 208.5

since then nothing faster and keisha ran

a 2049

regional just three tenths of a second

off her record

it's not even close ah that girl looked

good for 600 meters i mean she was right

there

it's an 800-meter race not 600.

you worried about her no sir even if she

stayed with me she wasn't going to beat

me down the stretch

look coach we've got two options here

either keisha runs like keisha runs

or we let brittany take the lead and

keisha gets her in the end

hey coach i saw your car hey you didn't

have to come in today all i did was run

easy

i know i wanted to i felt like it was

important

the other coaches said they're coming to

watch my race it's great

not sure what they're expecting to see

keisha's gonna make history

right only four-time winner in the event

is what everyone's expecting to see

except me

and that's why i'm here today and it

would really help if you felt the same

way

coach i've run a 208

she's run a 204. i'm not even close

brittany running isn't just physical

it's also mental

you have to believe you can do this

it's easy to say do you remember the

story in the bible about the blind man

bartimaeus

he was begging on the side of the road

when he heard jesus was coming

he said jesus son of david have mercy on

me

and jesus called for him and pardon me

has cast aside his garment

and jesus asked him what he wanted he

said that

he wanted to see jesus said your faith

has made you whole

and he immediately received his sight

jesus said that his faith made him whole

but what faith was he talking about

a lot of people don't know that in those

days blind people wore a special garment

so that other people would know that

they were blind

so when bartimaeus cast it aside it was

his way of saying i'm not even gonna

need this

anymore that's the fate

he believed that jesus was gonna heal

him before he was even healed

[Music]

and i believe you can be kesha i really

do

but you got to believe it too

brittany was right with keisha for 600

meters in the regional

and coach donnelly told her to pull back

why she do that

we don't know brittany

i don't know i just did what she told me

and then yesterday in her heat at the

national qualifier

coach donnelly told brittany to stay

with the leaders and then win it at the

end

which she did i ran it 2 10.3

you run faster than that yeah

coach michaels we're not here to

complain about coach donnelly

but perhaps you can give us some clear

direction

i saw the regional race and for 600

meters

brittany was right with keisha she

looked great

yeah she did and i think it's the only

way to run the final and have a chance

it certainly can't be what coach

donnelly is hoping for

which is what

that keisha will go out slower in the

final

now think about that the 800 meter

champion for the past three years

nobody even close to her and coach

donnelly thinks

keisha's coach is going to slow her down

for the final why does she think that

no idea brittany

i don't know sir we came here tonight to

ask if you could override coach donnelly

and make the decision for how britney

should run her race

i see coach michaels

if coach donnelly had never come on the

scene wouldn't you advise brittany to go

out with keisha and try and stay with

her

[Music]

coach wouldn't you

as a former 800 meter runner and a

finalist in the ncaa yes

i would would you gentlemen please

excuse us i want to talk to brittany

alone

[Music]

told you we could get him to make a

change

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can you listen i'm still the head coach

of this team

coach you distance runners we've been

together now

three years you and i have accomplished

a lot

so i'm gonna tell you how you're gonna

run your race at the national and i want

you to do it exactly as i'm gonna say

you understand young lady yes sir

please give me your word as a christian

that you'll do exactly as i tell you

i will i want you to run your

race exactly as coach donnelly says

[Music]

yes

[Music]

you warmed up yeah i'm ready okay

good this is what we've been working

towards

all the training all the effort all the

pacing

yep this goes the way i hope then you

should be

in the lead at 100 meters with keisha

right behind you

let's hope her coach took the bait what

does that mean

do you remember the story i told you

from the golf match when i was like 13.

yeah do you remember what i said i did

wrong

um you worried about the other players

right

and that's exactly what we tried to do

to keisha

we want her to run our race today

instead of hers

having you run with her for 600 meters

and slowing down

that was to get into her head let's hope

it worked

what if keisha goes up fast like she

always does it doesn't matter

run the race the way you've been

training but if she goes out with you

that's what we want

remember it's not always the fastest

runner that wins

it's the one that crosses the finish

line first

i've never been so nervous in my life

hey

you've run this pace for 600 meters in

practice so you

know you can get that far the whole

workouts that we've been doing

and bartimaeus they'll get you the rest

away

if i had to place a bet on the race

today

i'd put my money on secretariat

[Music]

never been a four-time winner in any

event i bet keisha breaks her record by

at least a second

what's her record two of 4.6 24.6

[Music]

okay

[Music]

i don't think our high school coach

knows how good keisha really is

well she'll find out in a few minutes

800 is about to start

[Applause]

[Music]

ladies

[Applause]

let's go brittany

good luck whitney

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

let's go

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[Applause]

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[Applause]

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[Applause]

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foreign

hi hi um how's coach michael's doing

he's doing fine but he's pretty heavily

sedated so

he won't be awake for a few more hours

can we see him

i'm sorry but no visitors

you guys wait here for me

i think

hey she said that you could go back

there but just for a minute

okay thanks

[Music]

[Music]

to be successful as a runner it takes

hard work discipline

and proper training and sometimes in

order to win

you have to be willing to lose the same

is true in life

hard work discipline and proper training

always pay off

but the most important thing in this

life is to be willing to lose

jesus said it best whoever will save his

life shall lose it

but whoever will lose his life for my

sake

shall save it

[Music]

so

[Music]

you