Are you a runner by any chance? 
I like to do mile runs every now and then. It is a middle-distance foot race.
A mile is a nice distance. I actually ran competitively in college. Back then I could do a mile in under 4 minutes. No more! 
Wow you were very fast. The mile run began in England, where people liked to gamble on them.
Really? I had no idea. When was that? 
Started in 1800s. In the 1900s it survived the new metric system.
Oh interesting. As I'm thinking about it, I would have imagined the Greeks would have run a mile as part of the original Olympics.
in all fields of athletics and it remains the only imperial distance for which the IAAF records an official world record. Although the mile does not feature at any major championship competition, the Wanamaker Mile, Dream Mile, and Bowerman Mile races are among the foremost annual middle-distance races indoors and outdoors, respectively.
The current mile world record holders are Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj with a time of 3:43.13 and Sifan Hassan of The Netherlands with the women's record of 4:12.33.
History.
The distance of the
sort of speed you've got, if you do the endurance training, you could be one of our best middle-distance runners." During his early career under the tutelage of Lydiard, he started with New Zealand titles and records for 880 yards and the mile, despite being an unusually large and powerful man by typical middle-distance runner standards.
Olympic success.
Snell came to international attention with his gold medal in the 800 metres at the Rome Olympics in 1960, setting a new national record. He