Discovery Park 7 miles

Current Mile total: 1125.75 miles

Tonight I meet up with my Northface training group at Discovery Park for a repeat of last week.
A 4.25 warmup loop with a 2nd shorter loop at tempo 10k pace. We all chat it up a bit before heading out and then decided to do the reverse loop. This week I decide that I want to stay up front. I try to keep my breathing easy but I want to show that I've got speed. The group is lead by Michael, then it's Travis and Jim and then me. After about a mile or so we hit a downhill section of stairs and I fly by everyone because I choose not to run the stairs but rather the dirt next to them. From here on out I'm right behind Michael. I've created a nice lead from the others and decided that I should allow myself to slow down a touch. We then hit another set of stairs but this time going up. I manage to finish in before Travis and Jim but they pass me shortly after as I recover from the climb. I stay behind them until our second loop where we all pick up the pace a little bit. I decide to hold back until the last quarter mile where I'm try to pass them. At the beginning of this second loop, Michael stops to tie his shoes. I forget about him until about a half mile later his flies by me like I'm standing still. He joins decides to hang out at the front with Travis and Jim. So I follow them about 50 yards behind until I think we're about a quarter mile from the finish and then I pick up my pace considerably. I catch them within a minute and we all are charging through the forest at a very fast pace. Not a 10k pace. Everyone has decided to lay the gauntlet down. Travis eventually lets us go and its now just Michael, Jim and I. I get the feeling that Michael is just having fun, its no big deal for him. Jim I suspect is pushing hard but I can't hear him breathing. Not over mine that is. Its at this same moment I realize that we were certainly further out that a quarter mile. I'm breathing hard and every little hill we hit makes me want to give up. I nearly do on a couple times but manage to keep pushing it. I'm astounded by Jim who seems to be running with ease when I'm giving it all I have. I make it to the end, maybe 30 yards behind him and him 30 behind Michael. I congratulate him on such a fast run. This is a guy whom I've run faster than every weekend out on the big runs so I never suspected such speed from him. My guess is that he's more of a road runner. Anyways, I ran well for the majority of the run until that last bit where I let my inner jackass take over. I know that I'll regret the pounding I gave myself but I had fun and it was a good workout. I can see now that the training has really provided me with a strong base and when I do attack another road race I should have great results.

On that note, I had registered a week or so ago for the California International Marathon where I hope to qualify for Boston. Today(9/6/07) I purchased my flight and hotel room for the race. Its all set. All I have to do now is keep training hard, and then run a 3:10:59 marathon. NOOOO Problem.;-)