Trivia: How many meters are there in a mile?

THINGS TO BE HAPPY ABOUT

1. Live Internet audio feed from WJOX, 690 AM during the Men's Olympic Marathon Trials from Birmingham, Ala., Feb. 7.

2. Hotels/motels with non-smoking rooms.

3. Drivers who wave in greeting to you on back roads.

4. The U.S.-to-Canada-to-U.S. aspect of the Detroit Free Press Marathon.

5. Songs with running references.

6. The book "Running in Literature" by Roger Robinson.

7. Roger Bannister running the first sub-4-minute mile 50 years ago on May 6, 1954.

8. Running on a school and Michigan collegiate record-setting 4-mile relay at the Drake Relays 30 years ago, April 1974.

9. Fifteen-year-old running clothes that still fit.

10. BLT's, garlic bagels, A&W root beer.

11. Owning a library with 100 running titles.

12. Body Glide, Nip Guards.

13. Gatorade; introduction set in motion the refueling industry.

14. Powerbars and Brian Maxwell, who did for food what Gatorade is to fluids. Sadly, Maxwell passed away in March at age 51.

15. Brian Sell of the Hanson's/Brooks team taking the race to the rest of the field for 21 miles in the Men's Olympic Marathon Trials.

16. Running across a frozen body of water (running on water).

17. Marathon relays.

18. 'The Quotable Runner" book by Mark Will-Weber.

19. A little fear is good for you pre-race.

20. Answering, "Why run?" can knot the brain and set you free simultaneously.

21. Humility will happen. Learn from it and move on.

22. Running is a learn-by-doing sport with basic principles yet every journey unique.

23. Getting acknowledged by an athlete being inducted into a Hall of Fame (watched Joanna Bullard and Lisa Rainsberger get inducted into the University of Michigan Women's Track Hall of Fame in January).

24. Phillipa Raschker, 57, winner of the most national and international masters track and field championships, was nominated for the Sullivan Award.

25. "You may run less than one hour in 24, but you're a runner all day long," from Joe Henderson's book, "Running A-Z."

26. The everyday run.

27. Running isn't always fun, easy or pain-free, but neither is it the chore non-runners think it is.

28. The reaction of those described as joggers by non-runners.

29. All-women fitness clubs.

30. Track club awards programs and newsletters.

31. Finding the mate to a pair of socks four weeks later rolled up in a shirtsleeve.

32. Running "secrets" are revealed through a little trial and error.

33. No two runs are alike.

34. Attending your first track meet with a knowledgeable companion.

35. Having a new pair of your favorite shoes waiting in a box under your bed.

36. Running form CAN be improved.

37. Done with others, speedwork seems less daunting, less of an ordeal.

38. There aren't many running rules to abide by.

39. "Running" by Joyce Carol Oates; a short story that quickly evolves into a 2,600-word sentence that "runs on."

40. Running rituals.

41. The decided absence of Sunday races in West Michigan.

42. Runners over 70 still churning out the miles, including Canadian Ed Whitlock who skews all thinking about aging.

43. There are shoe-lacing techniques to relieve pressure and snug the heels.

44. You know what a "running flat" is.

45. A University of Illinois study showed that exercise boosts thinking in adults, 58-78.

46. You know who Arthur Lydiard is.

47. You know the name of the USATF CEO.

48. A sports massage.

49. Olympic track and field coverage on CBC.

50. Rise of the Ethiopian men and women to rival the Kenyans on the world stage. The Ethiopian men broke Kenya's streak of 18-straight wins in the World Cross-Country Long Course Championships in March.

LESS THAN FOUR. Over eight days from Jan. 31 through Feb. 7, five men from five different countries living seven miles apart in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, ran sub-four minute miles.

Unable to get in the featured 3000 meters at the adidas Boston Games Jan. 31, Eastern Michigan University grad and Kenyan Boaz Cheboiywo raced to a PR 3:57.00 for second place in the mile.

Eight days later at Notre Dame, two men each from U-M and EMU bettered 4 minutes in the Meyo Invitational. It's likely the first time, or a rare instance, where four athletes from two schools have run sub-4 in the same meet indoors.

Wolverines Nick Willis and Nate Brannen were 1-2, with EMU's Gavin Thompson and Jordan Desilets 3-4, in South Bend. Willis, from New Zealand, ran 3:56.55, with Brannen, a Canadian, clocking 3:58.55. Brit Thompson, who finished a close third in the NCAA cross-country meet in November, ran 3:59.05, while steeplechase All-American Desilets, from Lake Orion, became the 257th American to run sub-4 with his 3:59.83.

In the previously-mentioned adidas Boston Games 3000 meters, Willis become the first Wolverine under Coach Ron Warhurst to break a collegiate record with his 7:44.90.

In March, Cheboiywo ran the 3000 meters for Kenya in the World Indoor Champs and just missed qualifying for the finals.

A week later at the NCAA Indoor Champs at the University of Arkansas, U-M flexed its distance muscles. With Brannen leading off and Willis anchoring, Michigan set a new collegiate and World's Best time for the Distance Medley Relay with a 9:27.77.

Brannen returned to win the 800 meters with a strong kick, and Willis finished second in the 3000 meters to Alistair Cragg (who had broken Willis's collegiate 3000 record a week after the adidas meet).

Desilets managed an All-American finish with his seventh in the mile at the NCAA meet, just behind Steve Scherer of Michigan State University in sixth.

Answer: There are 1609.34 meters in a mile. MR