Last week, I came across a post from Dan @ Running Dan, encouraging everyone to run their fastest mile on May 6th as a tribute to Roger Bannister’s Sub-4 Mile. And so I did.

Although the sub-4 mile is known even to non-runners, here is a short background. On May 6th, 1954, Roger Bannister ran a mile race in three minutes 59.4 seconds. The first person recorded to have run a sub-4 minute mile. Although the record stood only for 46 days before John Landy ran a 3 minute 57.9 seconds mile, breaking the sub-4 was a big milestone in running history.

After a 1 mile warm up, I attempted to run a mile as fast as I could. I could not have chosen a worse day for a mile test! My quads were sore from yesterday’s million squats and I started my run in the heat at 11:30am. It was still good to attempt a mile run as a tribute to the landmark event that changed running history.

So how did I fare at the mile run? Not so good, I’m afraid. Only a 10:26 effort, influenced largely by the above mentioned factors. (Far worse than my previous attempt of 9:57). It would be interesting to keep doing a mile run throughout the season to see how I progress.

Have you attempted a mile run? What was your best time? 
How do you think running a mile compare to running a 5k or a marathon?