It seems fitting that at the same time the world's fastest milers were inching ever closer to the four-minute mile, the world's most skilled mountaineers were making the initial ascent to the summit of Mt. Everest--the "rooftop" of the world.

In the same way that Sir Edmund Hillary's conquering of Mt. Everest in 1953 symbolized a victory of man over nature, Roger Bannister's 3:59.4 mile at Oxford's Iffley Road was more than a fast time or a world record, it was the mark of a man single handedly redefining human limitations.

Since the first successful trip up and down Mt. Everest, it is no longer enough to simply set foot atop the mountain; one must be the fastest, the oldest, the youngest, without oxygen or solo in order for the greater world to take notice.

And so it is with the four-minute mile. Fifty years have passed since Bannister's historic run on May 6, 1954, and thousands of runners spanning the globe have dipped below the four-minute mark. Even here in the U.S., the four-minute mile has been achieved at the high school level, and at the collegiate ranks, the marquee milers can all run four-minutes or below.

Yet, after all these years, the four-minute mile has not been entirely forsaken. The barrier still maintains an aura of perfection, a standard of excellence, and if and when a miler does run inside four-minutes, it's considered a right of passage.

Considering that Bannister was a medical student when he first ran sub-four, with seldom more than 30 minutes each day to train, and he competed on cinder tracks without the aids of modern science and technology, his 3:59.4 remains extraordinary.

Bannister's historic run came almost 10 years after Sweden's Gundar Haegg ran what many thought was an insurmountable 4:01.4 mile. Yet, less than two months after Bannister's sub-four, Australian John Landy ran even faster, clocking 3:58. Over the years mile times have plummeted all the way down to 3:43.13, by Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj in 1999.

The first sub-four minute mile certainly did a lot for the sport of running, but what's more, it opened the door for every man and women to push beyond mental and physical limitations, both in and out of the sporting world. That is why Bannister's achievement will never be forgotten.