Gulf Winds Track Club hosts its 18th annual “Breakfast on the Track” one-mile race at the Maclay School Track on Saturday morning, August 15. Mid-August seems about the right time to do a mile in Tallahassee, because it’s certainly the wrong time to go longer. No one is going to say, “Hey, August 15 may very well be the hottest day of the year. I should plan on going after my best time in the marathon that day.” No one in their right mind would, anyway. Summer is a time for slower runs and shorter runs while you drink lots of water and wait for October and cooler air. A one-mile race fits well into that strategy.America has such a love affair with the mile, though, that hardly any time of year could be considered wrong for a mile on the track. Glenn Cunningham, Gil Dodds, Wes Santee, and Jim Ryun were all American milers and they were all household names in their day. Ryun went on to become a U.S. Representative. Bernie Sanders was the captain of his track team at Brooklyn’s James Madison High, where he ran the mile. Sanders was never as fast as Ryun, but he did Ryun one better by being elected to the Senate.
You don’t have to look as far as Capitol Hill to find great milers. As a Chiles High senior this past spring, Avery Bartlett was invited to race the Adidas Golden Spikes Dream Mile in New York on June 13. Bartlett ran a career-best 4:08.01 in that race, placing sixth. He wasn't Tallahassee's first entry in the Dream Mile, either. Leon High's Sukhi Khosla was invited to the race in 2014; he placed thirteenth in that Dream Mile with a 4:13.77.The mile isn’t included in the usual program in Florida high school track and field, but the athletes compete in the 1600-meter run. The 1600 is about 944 centimeters short of a mile, but it’s closer than the 1500, the so-called “metric mile.” The 1500 has the prestige of being on the program at the Olympics and at the World Track & Field Championships, but it’s still not a particularly satisfying race. Because the 1500 doesn’t come out to a whole number of laps on a regulation 400-meter track, the athletes start on a corner of the backstretch. If you’re in the stands, you’re liable to miss the start entirely. Besides, it’s just not a mile. The 1600 is close enough that you can pretend it’s a mile. Bartlett and Khosla were each state champions in the 1600, by the way. Khosla took the class 3A title in 2014 with a 4:05.96, and Bartlett won class 3A in 2015 in 4:12.76.
Neither Bartlett nor Khosla are liable to be at the Breakfast on the Track Mile because of their collegiate commitments. Bartlett is headed to Georgia Tech and Khosla to Oklahoma State. That’s not to say that there won’t be some fast athletes in the race, if past years are any indication. Matt Mizereck, a two-time high school state champion in the boys' 1600, won last year's Breakfast on the Track race in 4:22.11. Stefanie Kurgatt won the Breakfast on the Track women's title three times, and set the women's record of 5:00.97 in 2010. Canadian Olympian Kevin Sullivan won the race in 2011 with a 4:26.90.The first section of the Breakfast on the Track Mile will be the fast section. After that there will be a series of sections that are progressively less fast. In some of the later sections you’ll recognize that the athletes are heroic just to finish the four laps around the track (plus 944 centimeters). Fast or slow, going for records or just trying to go the distance, they’ll all be running a mile.
| "Breakfast On The Track" Mile champions, 1998 - 2014 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Men | Women |
| 8 August 1998 | 4:36, Robert Pautienus | 5:21, Jane Johnson |
| 14 August 1999 | 4:26, Lee Willis | 5:27, Jane Johnson |
| 26 August 2000 | 4:42.97, Gary Droze | 5:09.08, Sarah Docter-Williams |
| 18 August 2001 | 4:21.47, Ryan Deak | 5:08.94, Sarah Docter-Williams |
| 17 August 2002 | 4:35.07, Lee Willis | 5:10.33, Sarah Docter-Williams |
| 16 August 2003 | 4:45.20, David Huntzinger | 5:02.28, Sarah Docter-Williams |
| 14 August 2004 | 4:32.40, Lee Willis | 5:11.79, Sarah Docter-Williams |
| 13 August 2005 | 4:46.26, Art Remillard | 5:07.13, Sarah Docter-Williams |
| 12 August 2006 | 4:47.58, Whitney Strickland | 5:09.85, Sarah Docter-Williams |
| 18 August 2007 | 4:48.04, Michael Martinez | 5:12.91, Sarah Docter-Williams |
| 16 August 2008 | 4:31.39, Whitney Strickland | 5:12.79, Jana Stolting |
| 15 August 2009 | 4:43.40, Patrick Swain | 5:05.66, Jana Stolting |
| 21 August 2010 | 4:33.30, Trevor Touchton | 5:00.97, Stefanie Kurgatt |
| 20 August 2011 | 4:26.90, Kevin Sullivan | 5:05.82, Stefanie Kurgatt |
| 18 August 2012 | 4:40.52, Travis Covert | 5:01.74, Stefanie Kurgatt |
| 17 August 2013 | 4:34.92, Remy Tamer | 5:12.07, Sheryl Rosen |
| 16 August 2014 | 4:22.11, Matt Mizereck | 5:26.81, Caroline Willis |
Links
- 2014 story, “Morning mile honors for Mizereck and Willis”
http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2014/08/breakfast-2014.html
- 2013 story, “Tamer and Rosen eat up the field at Breakfast on the Track”
http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2013/08/breakfast-2013.html
- 2012 story, “Covert and Kurgatt master the mile and a morning meal”
http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2012/08/breakfast-2012.html
- 2011 story, “Making a meal of the mile”
http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2011/08/breakfast-2011.html
- 2010 story, “A mile for breakfast”
http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2010/08/breakfast-2010.html
- 2009 story, “Patrick Swain wins 2009 'Breakfast on the Track' Mile”
http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2009/08/patrick-swain-wins-2009-breakfast-on.html
- The Breakfast on the Track Mile is just on upcoming event on the Trouble Afoot! racing calendar
http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
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