Rowing and Track Athletics (extract)

Distance Runs and Distance Runners 341 can consistently be maintained from start to finish. There are different methods of, planning out the pace in the mile, but the intelligent runner is likely to run his first quarter in the neighbor– hood of 65 seconds, the second quarter at about the same pace, the third quarter a bit slower, and the last as fast as he safely can. To be lured into a rash sprinting match in the first part of so long a distance as the mile is obviously fatal, and yet it is a striking fact that time and again men who have all the physical qualifications of first– class milers fail merely because they lack the self-control and the headwork properly to run this race. Certainly, in a large field, where there are two first-class runners of practically equal ability, one of whom runs blindly and by impulse and the other of whom races with judgment, the chances of victory are decidedly with the man who runs with his " head." To be able to "feel " the pace which one can consistently maintain throughout a mile race, to settle into it after the spring away from the mark, not to be held back by crafty campaigners who happen to be especially good at the sprint-in to the tape nor to be hurried by decoy pace-makers - all this requires endless trials of running under the watch, and, when the race actually comes, all that the contestant has of judgment, self-control, and patience. There are times when a scratch man may want to sprint