Athletics

FLAT RACES. 71 at half a mile or a mile, as the case might be, but the issue of whose meeting at amiddle distance wouldbe very open and interesting. I thinkthe level three-quarter mile at the S.L.H. Oval meeting was first introduced to bring about a meeting between F. Stuart Howard, E.D. Robinson, and others. My reason for mentioning this " origin," so to speak, ofthe distances ,is to show that it was with the idea .of bringing athletestogether on more or less neutral ground, who at their own distances were certainties, and then watching thetactics and running of the athlete in a distance to which he was unaccustomed. This applies to the 1000 yards also, as although it was as long ago as 8 Oct., 1881, that Myers was credited with 2 min. 13 sees, in America, the distance has but rarely been run until the last two or three years in the South of England; a Northern Counties 1000Yards Championship has, however, existedfor many years. Diet. —I proposegiving a very brief outline of training in diet, etc., as far as I found it necessary from personal experience, andthen to turn to the method of training in exercise which I found always the most reliable—when I had time forit—as it was rather of the "slow and sure " order. The ordinaryman in dieting himself for running need really make very little difference from his ordinary food if he has been accustomed to wholesome and healthy fare. The old idea of semi-starvation is now dying out, and the more sensible view "the more hard work you do the more nourishment you need to keep yourself up to the mark " is becoming daily more recognized. By " nourishment" is meant good plain food, omitting pastry, potatoes, and anything very sweet—these are bad for the windand puton fat. Some men put on a great deal of superfluous weight