Bredin on Running & Training

SPRINTING. 3 shortly rigged out in borrowed costume, and told to come down the straight at his best pace, when the 'cute old trainer immediately spotted a most promising nov1ce. On the other hand, many a man has been disillusioned at Stamford Bridge, and after a first appearance has no doubt wisely reconciled himself to the fact that other pastimes might be found to be more suitable than that of running, though there was one case, sad to relate, in V\: hich a would-be even timer-who did not possess the slightest athletic ability-refused to be discouraged, unconvinced by the most positive proof in failing to win a heat from the limit mark, and who therefore not unnaturally came to be regarded in the light of an easy target for small shafts of wit, so that his trials, which were almost of daily occurrence, were returned in times that would have won races from scratch, and a special bottle of embrocation, a concoction of sand, vinegar, and mustard, was presented and used with thankfulness, though presumably creating some degree of soreness. New excuses for the lamentable want of speed in races, and the unaccountable difference between the pace exhibited in contests and that dis– played in trials, were forthcoming, until the fault was at last attributed to the meal before the race, and our hero, on answering a question as to what his lunch con– sisted of on such occasions, by stating that the meal was plain and frugal, was assured that half-a-dozen buns and a glass of milk would form a most desirable repast. This seemed to be approaching the proverbial last straw; for a few days afterwards he expressed doubts as to the bun theory, adding that his mother B 2