Vignette

It’s In the Mind
By Lovett H. Weems, Jr.

Most people know that it was Roger Bannister who first ran the mile in less than four minutes. It was on May 6, 1954, in Oxford, England, that Bannister achieved what was, at the time, the unbelievable feat of running the mile in 3:59.4 minutes.

Prior to Bannister’s achievement, it was assumed by many people that the four-minute barrier would never be broken. In fact, there had been books written contending that it was physiologically impossible for the human body to move at such a speed. One could certainly understand why such contentions were believable. Since no one had ever broken the four-minute mile, perhaps it was impossible to do such a thing.

However, once Bannister performed the feat, notice what a short time it was before someone else did it also. In fact, while it had taken until May 6, 1954, for the first person to break four minutes, it took less that two months for the second person to do so. It was on June 21, 1954, in Turku, Finland, that John M. Landy ran the mile in 3:58.0 minutes.

What we think we can do truly does make a difference in what we are able to do.

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