Sub 4

     Happy Saturday everyone! Aren't you just glad that the week is over, and the weekend is finally here? Aren't you even more glad... gladder?... no, more glad...that it's time for another ramble? I know I would be! So lets get to it.

     It's time to hear of another inspirational athlete today. It's fitting that it is about a runner... since I'm so bad at it. But this man will motivate you to put the pavement under your feet. His name is Sir Roger Bannister.

     Now, Roger may not be a household name like Michael Jordan or Michael Phelps. But, Bannister paved the way for runners everywhere! Prior to him, it was thought IMPOSSIBLE to run under a 4 minute mile. Well, you guessed it, Roger did this that!

     Bannister began training at the "young" age of 17. With limited training of 3 half-hour sessions a week, he was already showing promise as a competitive runner, clocking in a mile in 4:27 in 1947. In the late 40's and early 50's, Bannister was coming out on top of races and shattering records, finishing in the range of 4:10. Yet, no one had seen a sub 4 to this date.

    After a fourth place finish in the 1952 Olympics, Bannister had his eyes set on a new goal... the sub 4 minute mile. In May of 53 Bannister ran the mile in 4:03! This gave him confidence that hitting the 3 minute range was possible. He was not the only one striving for this. American Wes Santee and Australian John Landry were "running" for the title, both with a 4:02 mile.

     On May 6th, 1954, Bannister was signed up for another race. With winds blowing, he wasn't sure that he wanted to run, and save his training for another day. As the winds died down, he decided it was time.  With a pop of the gun the race was off... and less than 4 minutes later, history was made. Bannister finished that day in 3:59.4, making Roger Bannister the very first man to run a sub 4 minute mile! Since then, hundreds of people have gone under the 4 minute mile mark. However it started with just one man.

     Just imagine what is possible. One man set to break a record, once thought unobtainable. And just think, it took that one man to break that record for others to follow in his footsteps. Use this in your own life, set goals, no mater what they are. So keep going, never stop... and do burpees.



3,2,1 GO!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yesterdays WOD:

Rest Day
Maybe I could have gone back to it, but I really don't want to chance it.