“I usually only run when somebody is chasing me. But I’ve decided to chase a dream and start running.” Paul Shipper, in pursuit of the four minute mile.
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I live an extraordinarly ordinary life. I have an ordinary job, live in an ordinary house and have a relatively ordinary family. I go to work, come home, feed and bathe my kids, put them to bed, and then, if I’m lucky and don’t have any work to do, have a beer and watch some TV. On the weekends, I shlep my kids to their ballet classes and baseball games, birthday parties and lacrosse games. If my in-laws are available to baby-sit, sometimes the wife and I will go out with friends.
But I want to do something extraordinary. Not just extraordinary, epic. With a capital E. Epic. E.P.I.C., EPIC.
I want to run a 4 minute mile. More specifically, I guess I want to run a mile in under four minutes.
When I first thought of doing this about four years ago, I mentioned it to a friend at work, Rob, who is a runner. When I say he’s a runner, I mean he is a serious runner. He and his wife went on a vacation during which they ran from Michigan to Minnesota. Or maybe it was Minnesota to Michigan, I don’t know. But the point is, they started in one of the states and over a few days ran over 100 miles into the other state. For fun. So I mentioned my idea to him.
“Hey, out of curiosity,” I asked, “do you think it’s possible for someone like me, who has no significant track background, to run a four minute mile?”
“Someone” he asked, “or you?”
“Me. Do you think I could run a four minute mile?”
“No, that’s impossible,” he said. “That’s crazy. Some of the best runners in the world can’t run a mile that fast.”
♦◊♦
I realize that running a mile in under four minutes is almost impossible. Everyone to whom I have mentioned this idea has pretty much agreed on two things: 1) that I have no chance of accomplishing the feat and that I’m setting myself up for failure, and 2) that I’m crazy.
Now, there are a number of very significant obstacles, not the least of which is the fact that I hate running. I used to be able to run all day while playing a sport, but running, just to run? I hate it. It’s boring, it’s tedious and thoroughly unenjoyable. I’m 41, and while I doubt I would be the oldest man to ever run a sub-4 minute mile, time is not on my side. I’m not in bad shape, but I’m not in particularly good shape either. Also, my left knee almost always hurts, especially when I walk up stairs.
But, all that said, I want to try to run a mile in under 4 minutes. Rob suggested I run a marathon instead.
“I don’t want to run 26 miles,” I told him. “I want to run one mile, as fast as humanly possible.”
I want to do it, and yet I realize that there is a much greater chance that I will not be able to. I want to see how close I can get. I want to do the undoable and run the unrunnable. Like Ahab chasing the white whale, or Don Quixote tilting at windmills, I will be chasing down a number. A very small and mythical number, to be sure, but one that is, in theory, attainable.
Now all I need to do is start running.
Game on.
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Photo: transformer18 / flickr
How’s the training going?
You will probably not break 7:00. For you to run 6:30 would be a huge accomplishment.
Go to the 400-meter track at a local high school that goes around their football field and try to run a lap in under 60 seconds. If you do this easily, measure the track with a measuring wheel. If it turns out to be 400 meters, prove me wrong!
you. have. no. clue.
Letsrun will crowdfund $500,000 if you break 4. Hell, they’ll probably crowdfund $50,000 for this guy to break 4:30. Z-e-r-o chance.
sure, let’s pick a completely arbitrary goal and *train* for it. yawn. you have no idea how talented and dedicated one must be to run a sub 4 mile.
I ran just over 4 minutes (4:00.21) when I was 27. That was after 18 years of running and a slow steady progression towards it. I also ran with Jim Sorenson, who had the 40+ age group record before Lagat. It’s hard running fast and staying healthy when you’re older. It’s even tough to stay healthy coming from a sedentary lifestyle to mile training…even slow, conservative mile trainin.. A four minute mile takes some talent, which, even in your prime…you may not have possessed. I get the sense you have no clue what it takes to run this time. You… Read more »
All true what you say Nick.
Then again, it will become obvious pretty quick to him whether or not he can run anywhere even close to that time. If you can’t even sprint 200m in 30s or after a year of solid training are still running 6:xx for the mile it becomes pretty clear that 4:00 is something else entirely.
That said, best of luck on training. You don’t know till you try and there is always a possibility you may have some serious unknown talent.