Bredin on Running & Training

HALF-MILE, MILE, AND DISTANCE RUNNING. 37 regarded as an unfair assistance to the striding quarter– miler-at any rate, when in competition with much slower men, insomuch as it is of little benefit to the runner making a severe pace to hear what time has elapsed at that point. His mission is to get along as fast as he can, and therefore to be aware of the fact that he has run 440 out of the 88o yards in fifty-two or fifty-eight seconds will, I presume, make no difference to his continuing to hurry along. However, I have rarely run half a mile without being told en route how time was progressing, and certainly have not, either in amateur or professional races, ever had objection raised to my being to this slight extent coached. The fast miler, who starts for the event now under discussion, as I have just remarked, must act as pace– maker; time is not of so much importance with him as to bring his speedier opponents down to his own weight, so to speak, by making the pace fast throughout the race. To conclude with the half-miler proper, F. J. K. Cross once told me that he always endeavoured to run his first quarter in fifty-five seconds, and then tried to beat one minute for the next. This class of runner possesses to a greater or lesser extent the strong points of the other two, speed and endurance, and his success depends on a proper exercise of these gifts combined; therefore half a mile with him somewhat resembles the race at a like distance undertaken by the would-be record breaker, the only difference being that he may out-class his field, and consequently not be compelled to desperately struggle in the latter part of the race, as we must conclude the man going solely for time would necessarily do. Other competitors may be regarded as almost