![]() ![]() And no one better can help us understand the importance of cultivating sports in our society than the man. No better man can advocate running as Roger Bannister. When he wrote, as much as advocated, "We run, not because we think it is doing us good but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves." Amateur athletes will accept it as fact as he is one of those still untainted by the dark side of modern sports- doping, bribery, corruption, illegal betting. But not Bannister.īannister of course was the ultimate idol of the sports. Murakami was merely a runner, not an advocate after all, talking about running, recounting it, writing about it. The Japanese author Murakami, on his book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, explicitly avoided sounding dogmatic as he recounted his life as a marathon runner, his passion for the sports and his love of running. If you're a runner - whether you're a sprinter, miler or marathoner – a champion, mid-packer, or the last person to cross the finish line – if you’re a runner, you’ll find a kindred spirit in Roger Bannister. He loved the freedom, the confidence and the joy that running brought him. Whenever his training bogged him down, or his nerves began to strain before an important race, he fell back to the basics – he loved to run. ![]() What I enjoyed most about this book is Bannister’s unrestrained love of running. In fact, he even worked at the hospital on the morning of his record-breaking run. During his eight years of competitive running, he also completed college and medical school. No stipend from his university or paid endorsement from a shoe company. This 2004 edition has been updated with new material in recognition of the 50th anniversary of Bannister’s feat.īannister was one of the last great amateur champions. ![]() A little over a year later, Bannister retired from racing, and wrote a book entitled, "The First Four Minutes". In 1954, at the age of 25, Roger Bannister became the first person to break the four-minute barrier for the mile, with a recorded time of 3:59.4. This is the best book on running that I’ve read. Physical perfection was a worthy end, and the striving heightened rather than dulled perception of other things.” (P.82) “The Greek ideal was that sport should be a preparation for life in general. “.that select group in Oxford, one of whom had boasted, ‘Yes, I have occasionally felt the urge to take exercise, but I just lie down until it passes off.’” (p49) I think we are sometimes wrong to criticize ambition,” (P.48) “If we aim at a star we may occasionally reach a height normally beyond us. “It is strange how we strive unwittingly towards our own treatment and cure, battling our heads against many doors until we find one already open.” (P.39) “Until quite recently, if I had been asked what running meant to me I should have replied ‘I don’t know.’” (This was written 10 years after he ran the sub-4 minute mile! P.14) my grasp of the reasons why I run continues to grow.” (P.13) “As a neurologist, I now understand more about such sources of pleasure and pain and the strange, some say mystical experiences that come to those who extend their physical powers to the limit and beyond.” (P.10) ![]() Here are a few things that I quoted to my extended family in a letter when I had only read half the book. Perhaps I enjoyed this book more than some of the other reviewers because I am a runner, and thus it had a lot of meaning for me. After reading "The Perfect Mile", I wanted to get Roger Bannister's perspective, and read this book also. ![]()
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