In August 2008, Miles Batty had not run for two years. Just back from his mission in Belém, Brazil, he walked into his second year as a member of the Brigham Young University track team—with which he had run during his first year of college—unconditioned and nearly 20 pounds heavier than when he left.

He didn’t know if he could return to the shape he had been in during his first year as a collegiate athlete.

On Saturday, February 11, 2012, at the Millrose Games at the Armory Track & Field facilities in New York City, Miles attacked his namesake event—the indoor collegiate mile. He beat the record by eight-one hundredths of a second with a time of 3:54.54 and became the fastest college mile-runner in U.S. history.