The Bible has more than a few passages that use running long distances as a metaphor for Faith. The one I would like to highlight is Hebrews 12:1, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us. . . .” To put this in shorter terms: run your race. It is also a sideways way of saying that you should follow God’s will because who else knows what you should be doing? With this in mind, it begs the question: who are you running for? Though God is not at all a part of the story, these are all issues with which Brittany Forgler (Jillian Bell) must contend in Brittany Runs a Marathon (2019). We tend to think that the goal of completing such an athletic feat is enough, but how you get there matters, and this film underscores why.

Brittany begins Brittany Runs a Marathon living in New York City with her roommate, Gretchen (Alice Lee), and treating life as one long party. She works as a greeter at an off-Broadway theater, regularly arrives late, drinks heavily, and abuses Adderall. Hoping to obtain another prescription, Brittany visits a new doctor, only to be told that her weight, blood pressure, and lifestyle are putting her health at risk. He recommends that she lose weight and begin exercising. Unable to afford a gym membership, Brittany reluctantly tries running outside. Her first goal is simply to make it one block, and accomplishing even that leaves her exhausted but proud. Catherine (Michaela Watkins), Brittany’s seemingly perfect upstairs neighbor, invites her to join a running group. Brittany initially resents Catherine, whom she assumes is wealthy and condescending, but joins anyway and meets Seth (Micah Stock), another inexperienced runner trying to become healthier for his family. As Brittany continues training, the three become friends. She loses weight, runs her first 5K, and begins changing habits that had previously defined her life. After the race, Brittany, Catherine, and Seth decide to aim much higher and run the New York City Marathon. Catherine already has a guaranteed entry because she has run before, while Brittany and Seth must enter the lottery or raise money through charity. To afford a gym membership, Brittany takes a second job pet-sitting at a wealthy couple’s home. There she meets Jern Dahn (Utkarsh Ambudkar), another sitter who has secretly been living in the house while its owners are away. Their mutual irritation gradually becomes friendship and then a sexual relationship. It is not the most Catholic of relationships, but it is healthier than others she has had. At the same time, Brittany’s changing lifestyle strains her friendship with Gretchen, whose partying and superficial ambitions increasingly frustrate her. Brittany eventually leaves their apartment and begins staying illegally at the pet-sitting house with Jern. Her physical progress continues, but the confidence she gains does not cure the insecurity underneath it. When Seth receives a marathon entry and Brittany does not, Catherine and Seth arrange to provide the money Brittany needs to enter through a charity. Instead of accepting their generosity, Brittany interprets the offer as pity and lashes out at them. Determined to prove that she can succeed without anyone’s help, she pushes her training harder. Her body finally rebels. With only weeks remaining before the marathon, Brittany learns that she has suffered a stress fracture and cannot run for six to eight weeks. She will miss the race she has built her new identity around. Soon afterward, the homeowners unexpectedly return, discover Brittany and Jern living in their house, and fire them. Brittany retreats to Philadelphia to stay with her sister, Cici (Kate Arrington), and brother-in-law, Demetrius (Lil Rel Howery), who became a father figure to her after difficulties in her childhood. She ignores messages from Catherine, Seth, and Jern and watches from afar as her friends complete the marathon without her. Her self-loathing erupts at Demetrius’ birthday party when she cruelly insults an overweight woman named Jasmine (Sarah Bolt), projecting onto the woman the same judgments Brittany has long directed toward herself. Demetrius confronts Brittany afterward, forcing her to recognize that losing weight has not automatically made her kinder, happier, or healthier in the ways that matter most. Brittany apologizes and returns to New York determined to rebuild her life rather than merely reshape her body. She stops obsessively tracking her weight, finds an entry-level job in advertising, and begins repairing her friendships. Catherine reveals that her own apparently perfect life has included addiction and a bitter custody dispute, helping Brittany understand how badly she had misjudged her. Brittany also tells Jern that she needs to work on herself before they can have a real relationship. A year later, she finally reaches the starting line of the New York City Marathon. The race becomes increasingly painful, and around mile twenty-two a severe cramp forces her to stop. Brittany considers quitting, but after accepting help getting back to her feet, she sees Seth with his husband and children and Catherine cheering from the crowd. Jern also appears and tells Brittany that he loves her. Surrounded by people whose support she once resisted, Brittany continues. She crosses the finish line, accomplishing the goal that had seemed impossible when running a single block was an achievement. The victory is not simply that Brittany has completed 26.2 miles. She has finally learned that running her own race does not mean running it alone. The final scenes find Brittany and Jern living together as a couple. When he playfully raises the possibility of marriage, she declines to rush things, kisses him, and heads outside for another run.

Brittany Runs a Marathon is finished, but her race, in the larger sense, continues. In looking back at her life before she finally runs the title distance, she realizes that she had not been living responsibly. It starts in the doctor’s office when she is asked whether she has been making healthy choices. With this question comes a flashback to how she let herself be taken advantage of at a bar because people perceived her in a certain way, and she lacked the confidence to do anything about it. To put a more Catholic spin on these thoughts, she was unable to see herself as the child of God she is regardless of her appearance. She did not feel her worth. Faith reveals the fullness of that dignity by showing us that we are created and loved by God and called to life with Him. The thing is, though, that God is constantly trying to give us reminders of how He values us. Generally speaking, when people start talking about such matters, they think this means reading the Bible and going to church in order to discover these things, which are all important activities. However, while God approaches us in a unique and privileged way through the Sacraments, He also works through other people and the ordinary circumstances of our lives. What is apparent throughout the movie is that Brittany believes she has to undergo her transformation on her own. Whenever the people she meets, mainly Catherine, Jern, and Seth, try to assist her in any way, Brittany takes it as pity. Brittany, of course, is acting from a place of woundedness. Modern culture tends to look at pity as a negative thing, as though those who show it are somehow insincere or condescending in caring for another person. Condescension is certainly a problem, but compassion for someone who is suffering is not. Instead, Brittany’s woundedness reinforces all the negative things people have said about her and tells her that genuine expressions of love and concern must be false. Where she eventually lands is closer to what Christianity would tell us about our family and friends: they can be little Christs to us, demonstrating through their love, presence, and sacrifice how much a person is loved and wanted. When Brittany finally runs the marathon, the people lining her route are therefore more than encouragement to keep moving. They are a reminder that running your own race never meant that you had to run it alone.

And I would be remiss if I did not say that I loved Brittany Runs a Marathon, warts and all. As a Catholic, I did not care for some of the sexuality in the film. Nonetheless, it does not take away from how much you care about Brittany’s struggle or how touching her triumph is.