Bredin on Running & Training

QUARTER-MILING. to tell, and expecting at every moment one of the other runners to make his appearance alongside. Here I am forced to pause ; for a presentiment arises that during the summer Brown will say to Robinson: "Read that fellow Bredin's remarks on running quarters? Lot of good they're likely to be to me ! Talks of how you should sprint off to begin with, keep it up all through, and then fly past the other runners down the straight. Now, I never could sprint, and the more I practise slow laps the worse I seem to last." "What mark are you on?" inquires Robinson. "Only thirty-eight from Smith; and I should so like to win that quarter handicap at Bamford next Saturday; I've some friends living down there who are coming to the sports to see me run." "Well," returns Robinson meditatively, "suppose I shall only have thirty-two now; sure to pull me back four yards for that second the other day ; beastly shame I call it. Yes, I agree with you; Tomkins had that book with him yesterday when he came to have a run; I sat in the grand stand and read it through while he was going two miles-certainly can't see anything in it to help me very much." No, my friends, I am afraid you will not, through reading my or anyone else's advice, suddenly become possessed with athletic ability. You represent the third class, and the third class in athletics, as throughout life, must learn to become contented with small and somewhat stale loaves; but let me point out, by way of a few crumbs of comfort, that you also get your share of sport out of the game, and the fact of winning frequently makes victory lose much of its charm. In a few years' time it will make but little difference whether you were once applauded for