From 4:36 as a Freshman to 4:00 as a Senior: Caden Leonard on Chasing Sub-4 In The Mile, Being Coached By His Dad, and Why He Refuses to Visualize Losing

THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST · Apr 21, 2026 · 39m

He's 0.08 seconds from the four-minute mile, and Festival of Miles is the race he's had circled all year.

Caden Leonard arrives in St. Louis as the top-ranked high school miler in the country—coming off a 4:00.07 indoor and a 4:01.02 outdoor, the fastest mile ever run by a prep athlete on Texas soil. Last year he ran this same race through a stress reaction nobody knew about.

This year he's healthy, hungry, and done waiting.

In this conversation, Caden breaks down exactly how he plans to race the most loaded high school mile field of the year– with Jackson Spencer, Quentin Nauman, Alan Webb's…