Erik’s Blog: Board Shorts and Business Suits

The Perfect Mile

The Perfect Mile by Neal Bascomb is just like the subtitle reads: “Three Athletes, one goal, and less than four minutes to achieve it.” For any person who has trained to run a mile I believe the dream of the four minute mile is bouncing around their head somewhere, man or women. The number is somewhat magical, just over 4 laps around a standard track, in less than 1 minute per lap, and the Author portrays every minute of it’s mystic quality on every page of this book.

The Perfect Mile follows three runners during the middle of the 20th century as they all compete against the clock and each other to break the unbreakable barrier first. Roger Bannister, the English fellow, John Landy the Aussie, and Wes Santee the American.

Neal Bascomb captures the excitement of each race, the grueling battles of workouts these men completed, as well as the human side of pushing yourself to the limit. I was amazed at how well a story I already new the ending to could be written but it kept me reading more and more with every page I turned. Even though the outcome was set in stone, literally, I could feel myself rooting for the underdog and wanting history to be rewritten.

The Perfect Mile ends with a less known race between Roger Banister and John Landy that will leave you wishing there were more races written down. This book is a must for anyone wanting an inspirational book about sport and life.