The Mile

David Yon, August 26, 2010

May 6, 1954 - 3:59.4.  

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

Rudyard Kipling, If – and the introduction to the book The Perfect Mile

The Perfect Mile (Neal Bascomb) is the story of one of the most famous athletic achievements of all time, Roger Banister’s race to break the 4:00 mile.  It was thought by many at the time to be a goal that exceeded the limits of human possibility.  The mile is a track event that more than any other captures the public’s imagination.  It is long enough to involve strategy and endurance, yet short enough so not exceed our short attention spans. 

Last Saturday, GWTC held its Breakfast on the Track mile race.  Felton, Bonnie and Jamie Wright have produced a special event every August now since 1998.  Runners are grouped in heats of approximately 20 runners based on their projected times, so each one has a chance to compete against runners with similar goals.  As Herb Wills has ably described in his writings, there were some strong performances.   But for most of the almost 200 participants, the mile is a great unknown.  As distance runners and weekend road racers we just don’t get enough chances to learn how to run the event.  One can go out and “just run the mile” and have fun without suffering, but to truly run the mile runners must learn to push through their aerobic threshold much quicker and much further than we are normally trained to do. 

The Perfect Mile is a great story of just how difficult it is to run the “perfect” mile.  In addition to great conditioning, the tactics must be flawless, and the will to push through the pain and exhaustion barriers must be stronger than the doubt that will cloud the mind in the middle laps, the fatigue that will turn the legs into stone pillars and oxygen deprivation that will choke the ability to perform out of the body.  More than anything else, because the race is so short, it requires relentless focus.  A mental lapse brings relief from the battle, but it also dooms success.  Again from the Perfect Mile 

“… Bannister was beyond tired.  At fifty yards from the finish he had exhausted himself completely…  He was simply used up.  Yet he forced himself ahead, drawing deep upon a reservoir of will only few ever discover.  Twenty-five yards.  Ten yards. Five yards. The distance from the tape appeared to lengthen.  He began to push his chest forward.  His legs were still moving.  Two strides. His chin went up, his arms drove higher. Keep going. One stride. Keep going.  He flung himself at the tape, a tortured yet glorious expression of abandon on his face…his legs buckled and he collapsed…barely conscious and…overwhelmed with pain…For a moment he could only see black and white.”

I have run the mile many times and most often I have failed miserably.  I find it ends before I can give my best effort.   But once I hit it just right. I finished just under a minute slower than Mr. Bannister’s most memorable performance, but it remains perhaps my favorite race of all time.

Four laps, One mile –
Great hope without great confidence,

First lap fueled by adrenaline
Begins the journey into the abyss.

Second lap alarms the pain to come;
Go slow - not too fast too soon

Number three brings despair-
This deed it cannot be done.

And yet the last lap bell steels the mind
Which drives the body to the break;

Seconds pass after a minute’s worth of pain
But some great will pushes on when no strength remains

And lifts the body across the line with just one tick left.