Running Online

The Mile

I am sitting on the airplane when the man next to me, John, began a conversation with me. We exchanged greetings and before soon I explained to John that I am a professional runner. His obvious response was to ask me if I have ever run a marathon? No I reply. He then proceeded to ask the next standard question for runners, well how fast can you run a mile? I replied, around 4 minutes flat, hoping to break the infamous 4-minute mile barrier real soon though. So what is about the marathon and the mile that they are the ultimate tests of any runners ability. The marathon is obviously the ultimate test of endurance. But what is it about the mile? Why not the 5km or the 800 meters? Somehow the mile race is the glamour event of track & field.

The mile is the perfect test of speed and endurance. The distance of 1 mile is such that you cannot attempt to run full speed from the start, but yet requires a great deal of speed to run comfortably for the first ½ mile at very near full speed. The mile is a race that requires great strategy. A miler must first consider how fast they are capable of running, then break the race into smaller segments (i.e. ¼ miles) and focus on running each segment perfectly to achieve goal. For instance, if a miler wants to break 4 minutes, then they must run four ¼ miles in less than 60 seconds consecutively. Secondly, a miler must then consider how to beat their competitors. This is where superior tactics are important. In miling there are the ‘kickers’ and the ‘non-kickers.’ The kickers are the runners who have an amazing ability to switch running speeds on a moments notice and are able to drastically increase their running speed late in the race in their charge for the finish line. The non-kickers don’t have this flexibility; they do best with a fast consistent pace and just try to maintain their fast pace late in the race to make it to the finish line. Tactics come into play when you line up a kicker versus a non-kicker. In order for the non-kicker to beat the kicker, he or she will need to set a fast early pace to try and gap the kicker early in the race, break their spirit and their attempt to kick after the non-kicker late in the race. This means the non-kicker will have to take the lead early in the race and hold it through the finish. For the kicker to beat the non-kicker, the kicker will need to hang onto the non-kicker until late in the race, at which point they can outsprint the non-kicker with their superior finishing speed. There are two ways for a kicker to attempt to stay with the non-kicker early in the race, they can take the lead early in the race and intentionally slow the pace, or they can run right on the back of the non-kicker, know as sitting, and benefit from drafting effects of running directly behind someone.

So perhaps the mile has become the glamour event of track & field because it is an athletic chess match. To succeed in the mile not only requires a great combination of speed and endurance, but requires great skill in tactics. For some reason God created kickers and non-kickers, and the place these two titans come to meet is in the 1-mile race. Why not the 800 meters or the 5km I asked earlier. The 800 meters is short enough such that leading versus sitting and kicking is not as much an issue. While the 5km is long enough that endurance will ultimately prevail. But the mile requires such a complex combination of speed and endurance, outcomes are often highly influenced by the tactics of the race. The 1992 Olympic 1500-meter final was a fine example of this athletic chess match. In the field was the world record holder Nouredine Morceli from Morocco whose personal best for 1500-meters was more then 3 seconds superior to any of his competitors. Also in the field were three Kenyans and a Fermin Cacho of Spain running on his home turf in Barcelona, Spain. So it was Morceli with the fastest time, three Kenyans who could use team tactics to steal the medals, and a Spaniard with blazing finishing speed. The field of 12 went out very slowly, so slowly in fact that they passed 800-meters slower then the women did in the same event just moments before the start of the men’s race. Everyone was perplexed why Morceli would allow the pace to be so slow when he could easily take the lead early in the race and run everybody into the ground while blowing kisses to the crowd. The problem was that the Kenyans were dictating the race, they had a runner in front of Morceli, on his shoulder, and directly behind. Morceli was boxed in and incapable of moving to the lead to push a faster tempo. Meanwhile the Spanish kicker was just sitting behind the leader biding his time until they were near enough to the finish to unleash his powerful kick.. With 300 meters to go, everyone began their kick for the finish line, Morceli still boxed is unable to make it to the lead, Cacho has now taken the lead and the Spanish crowd is cheering like crazy. Onto the homestretch it is all Cacho, as the Kenyans are left in the dust paying too much attention to Morceli, and Morceli still has no room to run as they approach the finish. Cacho wins the gold medal easily, while Morceli finishes mid-pack. This was a stunning upset, and probably could not of happened in any other race. The distance of 1 mile is long enough that leading the whole distance could be disastrous as the kickers draft off your fast pace and kick by you at the end, but yet it is short enough that one wrong move could cost you the race.

Of all the lists that define track & field greatness, the most famous remains the list of sub 4-minute milers. Roger Bannister was the first to etch his name on this ‘milestone’ over 40 years ago. Once though impossible, hundreds of runners have now broken this famous time barrier, and a few very talented milers have been able to break this barrier over 100 times. When I go to sleep at night I often think of when it will be my time to etch my name on this ‘milestone’, will it be next week, next month, or maybe even next year. I do not know for sure, but when it is cold and rainy outside and I don’t feel real excited about lacing up the training shoes for a run, I think about this list. Did the runners on this list lace up their shoes on cold and rainy days? You bet, so it is time for me to lace up my shoes and prepare to carve my name on that list of mile superstars.

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