run a 4 minute mile

I’m a college runner, this is pretty much the only thing i think about. It’s a long, long way away, but hey, i never thought i’d make it as far as i did. I started out in 8th grade, i ran a 5:36 mile, and i decided to stop playing tennis and commit to track. now, I’ve run 4:15 and am shooting for 4:10 this season. This is my number 1 goal.

I’ve run a time trial 1500m in 4:03 and a 1600m anchor leg of a DMR in 4:21 (I haven’t raced 1500m or the mile much in the last couple of years), so I’m a long, long way off of 4:00.

I ran some 200’s in 30s the other day, and the only thing I could think was, “How does ANYBODY ever run eight of these things back to back?” I had to work hard at it, just to run the 200’s.

It blows my mind the things truly great athletes can accomplish. The other day I watched a youtube video of Daniel Komen running the 3000m world record of 7:20 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4vg3-aOGfs), going through 800m in 1:56! That’s truly what they call a “physical genius”.

Just the other day a woman ran 100km in 7:00 dead, a pace of 6:46/mile. Imagine running at a normal training pace – but continuing on for seven consecutive hours without stopping. And the men in the race ran 6:10 pace for the same distance.

Yiannis Kouros once ran 7:38/mile for an entire 24 hour day! If that sort of thing doesn’t absolutely blow your mind, fill you with awe, and make you fall in love with the magnificent heights achieved by truly dedicated and exceptional people, I don’t know what will.

I used to be sub 4:30 for months (4:23 personal best) but I got really sick(heart problems, chronic ulcerative colitis) and didn’t run for a long long time. Now I’m 21 and want to be faster than I ever was, the 4 minute mile is a long way away, haha, but we can all get there! I hadn’t run more than 50 feet in like 6 months before a few days ago and I was still mid 5’s. So yea, once I break 5, I’ve gotta keep making faster and faster goal times until the 4 minutes is broken.:]

The closest I have ever come to this goal was in a county championship 1500m race, which I finished in 4:24.7.