The Pedestrian's Record

the pedestrian's record. 55 sound nitrogenous food for any athlete. Pastry may be taken sometimes, but milk-puddings and custards being highly nutritious should, as a rule, comprise the after meat course, to be washed down with a pint of ale, neither sour nor strong, as beer highly charged with alcohol does not quench the thirst so readily as a milder ale. Effervescing drinks of any kind must never touch the lips. Walking and sometimes running must be resorted to as preliminary canters, and can be persisted in until the muscles have gained that tonicity upon which the trainer will feel it permissible for him to exact that amount of physical exertion which is demanded of those who seek dis­ tinction on the running-path. Pedestrians of the present day seem to think that leg exercise is all that is required of them, that the other parts of their bodies will gain strength without being brought prominently into play ; this is the great mistake which has led to such disastrous results on the cinder-track, and in other athletic pursuits where all-round preparation of the body has not been resorted to. Would a mechanic employ machinery wherein weak parts existed? Would an admiral fight a ship with confidence if he knew his armour- plates were defective? Would a soldier strike so surely with his sword if the blade were soft ? Cer­ tainly not ! Yet the runner, in nine cases out of ten, enters the lists with a body half-drawn out; his legs have undergone a certain amount of exertion, his lungs have been educated to bear the strain of