The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown

Pete challenged me to the mile today. $50 USD is on the line. Last I ran the mile, I did it in 8:40, just kind of a brisk pace, nothing really heavy. I've been running on and off around a month now. I have one and a half months left to train before race day.

If anyone has any advice/tips to help me increase my time, that would be great.

I want to win this thing bad.