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. 
The mile run is the only imperial distance for which the IAAF keeps official records.