Blankenship is a pretty big guy to be running that fast.  

A little perspective: Roger Bannister ran 3:59.4 on a cinder track in London in 1954. The world record for the mile is 3:43.13, set in 1999 by Hicham El Guerrouj. El Guerrouj finished barely ahead of 20-year-old Noah Ngeny. The American record was set in 2007 by Alan Webb, at 3:46.01, breaking Steve Scott's record set 25 years earlier. Webb had broken Jim Ryun's 36-year-old high school mile record of 3:55 running 3:53 in high school in 2001.