The Perfect Race (2019) | Full Movie | Allee-Sutton Hethcoat | A Dave Christiano Film

[Music] um [Music] what's that [Music] 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 [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] 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 [Music] 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 [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] 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

Channel: Christian Movies

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Keywords: Films, Movies, Entertainment, christian movies, christian films, faith based films, new religious movies, religious movies, Feature Films, The Perfect Race Movie, The Perfect Race Full Movie, The Perfect Race Feature Film, The Perfect Race, race, racing, Coach, coaching, athlete, college, college athlete

Id: nv97RBG9LJc

Length: 96min 46sec (5806 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 01 2021