Our concept of a family holiday was going to a guest house in the Lake district or Wales, where walking was part of the holiday..

The Athletic Association competed against the University. So there was an event. You cannot break world records unless it is an established event, an….

The mile has all the elements of a drama..

My introduction to track racing was through the background of cross country running, which is not a sport perhaps as popular in America as it is in E….

It is a paradox to say the human body has no 'limit.' There must be a limit to the speed at which men can run. I feel this may be around 3:30 for th….

The essence of sports is that while you're doing it, nothing else matters, but after you stop, there is a place, generally not very important, where ….

I found longer races boring. I found the mile just perfect..

I was playing rugby and the other games English school children do, and there was an event which was planned in which races were run, and I simply ju….

I came from such a simple origin, without any great privilege, and I would say I also wanted to make a mark. It wasn't until I was about 15 that I ap….

It had always been a British preoccupation to hold this mile record..

Athletics is a luxury..

My athleticism was really the core to social acceptance, because in those days the overwhelming number of students came from more of a public school ….

My family actually lived in the same village for about 400 years. They had great stability until the last century. People lived and intermarried in s….

No longer conscious of my movement, I discovered a new unity with nature. I had found a new source of power and beauty, a source I never dreamt exist….

Beating John Landy was my defining race..

May is a very early time in the year and the weather is usually bad. You cannot run a fast mile race if there is a strong wind, because it makes your….

We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves.

Your spikes, which were really quite long then, would catch the material of the track and your shoe would get heavier. I was simply filing them down ….

I've always been very impatient. At age 10 I frankly found life boring, and I can remember age 9 having the awful thought, as it seems now looking ba….

The human spirit is indomitable. No one can ever say you must not run faster than this or jump higher than that. There will never be a time when th….

The man who goes on, even when it's the hardest to be the winner..