He loved the freedom, the confidence and the joy that running brought him. Whenever his training bogged him down, or his nerves began to strain before an important race, he fell back to the basics – he loved to run. What I enjoyed most about this book is Bannister’s unrestrained love of running. In fact, he even worked at the hospital on the morning of his record-breaking run. During his eight years of competitive running, he also completed college and medical school. No stipend from his university or paid endorsement from a shoe company. This 2004 edition has been updated with new material in recognition of the 50th anniversary of Bannister’s feat.īannister was one of the last great amateur champions. A little over a year later, Bannister retired from racing, and wrote a book entitled, "The First Four Minutes". In 1954, at the age of 25, Roger Bannister became the first person to break the four-minute barrier for the mile, with a recorded time of 3:59.4. This is the best book on running that I’ve read. Physical perfection was a worthy end, and the striving heightened rather than dulled perception of other things.” (P.82) “The Greek ideal was that sport should be a preparation for life in general. “.that select group in Oxford, one of whom had boasted, ‘Yes, I have occasionally felt the urge to take exercise, but I just lie down until it passes off.’” (p49) I think we are sometimes wrong to criticize ambition,” (P.48) “If we aim at a star we may occasionally reach a height normally beyond us. “It is strange how we strive unwittingly towards our own treatment and cure, battling our heads against many doors until we find one already open.” (P.39) “Until quite recently, if I had been asked what running meant to me I should have replied ‘I don’t know.’” (This was written 10 years after he ran the sub-4 minute mile! P.14) my grasp of the reasons why I run continues to grow.” (P.13) “As a neurologist, I now understand more about such sources of pleasure and pain and the strange, some say mystical experiences that come to those who extend their physical powers to the limit and beyond.” (P.10) Here are a few things that I quoted to my extended family in a letter when I had only read half the book. Perhaps I enjoyed this book more than some of the other reviewers because I am a runner, and thus it had a lot of meaning for me. In an interview in 2004 Bannister said he considered winning that race – not the Oxford run – the highlight of his career.After reading "The Perfect Mile", I wanted to get Roger Bannister's perspective, and read this book also. Both men finished in under four minutes but Bannister was the winner.Ī bronze statue of the moment Landy glanced around now stands outside the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver, and Landy once joked that while Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt for looking back: “I am probably the only one ever turned into bronze for looking back.” Then, at the final turn, Landy looked over his left shoulder to check where Bannister was and the British runner overtook the Australian on the right. Landy lead for most of the race, with Bannister close behind. The race became known as the Miracle Mile, and more than 60 years later is still among the most famous in the history of modern athletics. In any case, the first two sub-four minute runs coming so close together set the scene for a dramatic encounter between the two men in August of the same year at the Empire Games in Vancouver. John Landy, when governor of Victoria, with Queen Elizabeth on her arrival in Melbourne in
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