When Beau Miles became 42, he ran 42 kilo­me­ters. Not the full length of a marathon though. So he wait­ed 71 days longer, until he became 42.195 years old — and ran 42.195 kilo­me­ters. «To cel­e­brate being alive». The film he has made about this run is a won­der­ful small masterpiece.

I’m gonna run a course that says some­thing about my his­to­ry: where my mom grew up, where my dad grew up, where I’ve grown up, where I live.

«Based on the actions of two peo­ple almost 43 years ago, I decid­ed to run the famous dis­tance around my dis­trict, retrac­ing my his­to­ry via schools, homes, mem­o­ries and odd expe­ri­ences that have shaped me, mum and dad over this marathon-chunk of time», Beau describes his deci­sion. And so he takes us with him on a hillar­i­ous jour­ney full of mem­o­ries, laugh­ter and curios­i­ty. And there­by he teach­es us an impor­tant les­son: that run­ning is not only sports, it’s not only a chal­lenge, but a won­der­ful pos­si­bil­i­ty to expe­ri­ence your­self — and you surroundings.

By watch­ing this movie you will not only learn a lot about Beau and his life, but you will also get to know why peo­ple should stop more often to go for a swing, why Beau is car­ry­ing a lit­tle tree in his back­pack halfway through, and why run­ning is such an impor­tant part of his iden­ti­ty. Thank you, Beau. And my belat­ed congratulations!