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.
What is the IAAF?
The IAAF is the International Association of Athletics Federations, the international governing body for athletics.