Sparrow Motors - Sparrow 2

[JNR]

??? I don't see how people ever thought the 4min mile was impossible. Dimitri and I both beat the 4min mile at a track meet in 10th grade and we weren't even people put olympic levels of training in, we just raced weekly during our gym period and eventually reached 3:58.

I don't want to rain on your parade, and I don't think you lied, but made a common mistake. The standard "mile-like" race in the US has been the 1600 meters in high schools and the "metric mile" 1500 meters in other levels for years, but many just call both the mile. I was an average runner so I find anyone that can run 4 minute 1500 meter fast also, but 4 minute mile can still only be done by very high level runners. Most good college level good runners can run a 4 minute metric mile. I suspect you ran 1500 meters in 3:58, which considering elite runners run in 3:45 or better, that is still fast. Check US track and field result times. If you ran the 1500 in 3:58, that us a 4:13 mile pace, but 3:58 mile would make you 6th high schooler ever to run that fast.

Only 5 US high schoolers have broken 4 minute mile to this date.

 

[AriLea]

It's not hard running fast enough to do a 4min mile if you keep up the pace, but most people simply can't sustain. My father and grandfather both did long distance running during their school years and won many state championships, so I had that genetic advantage built in. Dimitri and I weren't even trying to break 4min that day, were were just damned if we were going to let the other guy finish first and kept ramping it up.

I had to learn to not land hard on my heals. I put sound suppression head phones on. If you run wrong, you can hear your bones click, and the thump of the head phones moving up and down, shows your center of gravity isn't level. Very informative.