Why doom-scroll when so much is possible?
The first professional one-mile race was held in London on July 26, 1855. Charles Westhall won with a time of 4 minutes and 28 seconds. Over the next 90 years, the time was slowly but surely whittled down to 4:01.4 by Sweden’s Gunder Hagg on July 17, 1945.
Nine years later, on May 6, 1954, England’s Roger Bannister did the “impossible.” He ran a 3:59.4 mile. The following month, the “impossible” was done again. John Landy of Australia ran a 3:58 mile on June 21, 1954.
Within a year, we had three runners breaking the four-minute barrier in the same race.
The current mile world record holder is Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco with a time of 3:43.13. As of this writing, about 20 male high school runners have accomplished the “impossible.”
So, what changed since July 17, 1945?
Some may point to training or nutrition and perhaps they play a recent role. But remember, Bannister made history in 1954 and his record was smashed just 46 days later. So, yeah… it’s more than training and nutrition.
Could it be that once we choose to envision the possible instead of fixating on the impossible, our power is released? If so, where can we effectively focus this power today?
(FYI: The women’s record is 4:12:33 — run by Sifan Hassan of The Netherlands.)
If I wanted a subtle, semi-addictive means of squashing anything radically beneficial, doom-scrolling would be on the short list. It makes the scrollers prisoners of their own captured minds.
I think it is a stimulance to define something impossible. When I went to driving school my husband (ex) said I would never make it, because I was too nervous. Haha. And 3 weeks after I got my driver's licence he left. And 7 months later he realized he made a mistake. Too late man.
I remember reading about the first computers, was it Einstein who said it would never mount to anything? Even great minds make that kind of mistakes.
As to the North African runners, they are so strong, so all muscle and no fat at all, so elegant. It is just a pleasure to see them run. I remember one saying he ran barefoot through the desert as practice!