Two friends were sitting on the couch watching a basketball game one day when one them became thirsty. Remembering Chuck Woolery’s famous claim that all television commercial breaks last two minutes and two seconds, Brett asked Casey if it was possible to run to a convenience store around the corner and across the street, buy a pop, and get back to the game before the commercial break was over.
Casey didn’t think so, but Brett tried anyway. Although he failed—he made the first Run to Jay’s in 2 minutes and 5 seconds—their curiosity unleashed a game that would become an annual event and involve dozens of athletes—everyone aspiring to run from the house to Jay’s and back to the house as quickly as possible.
Last year the bar was raised high when someone ran the Run to Jay’s in fifty-seven seconds. Although no one believes that that time can be beat, there are at least a dozen men and women willing to give it a try.
“Run to Jay’s” is an engaging, wholly entertaining short documentary about a group of professional people vying to be number one in a sport recognized by their friends and few others.
Director Brett Spackman has constructed a wonderfully told short film, including a cleverly structured introduction to the Jay’s run that tell everything one needs to know about the race—and the documentary—in a witty animated preface. Complete with interviews of those involved, and footage of the various races, “Run to Jay’s” is a short film that, like fine Hemingway prose, manages to get across a lot of information with terse, athletic storytelling.
