Don't Go that Way

As much as last week's Saturday run was about running by myself, today was about the power of running with others. I doubted my ability to knock out 12 miles at 8 min pace most of the week. Ran 7 Tuesday and struggled to run 8:30's on the LSC greenway, and really doubted Saturday's plan. 7.3 with Monica/Justin/Rachel Thursday AM and it was even more of a struggle....although I felt better as the run went on, and still saw Saturday as a struggle. A good easy run on the Latta Park trails made me feel better, but TacoMac for dinner and a few beers signaled I didn't think I was quite ready.

On Saturday morning, I was looking for someone who had emailed the group looking to run the exact workout I was planning on running. Never ran into that guy, but this put in me in a little more of a "seek out the new guy" mode than usual. Never ran into that guy, but this lead me to Brian from the Gaston County Running Squad (something like that..), who was certainly the guide I needed today. We hit the first mile in 7:25, and they (the group at this point was me and all new kids....Brian, Stephanie, and Angie) didn't seemed panicked, which made me in all honesty kinda panicked (more on this later...stay tuned). We turned off of D. Taylor onto the greenway, and when we made the swing back from the greenway we rolled past the water fountain, and I felt better about my commitment to holding this pace.

I realized how much I was counting on the group when Brian asked if we should turn down the Doby Creek greenway extension, and I was insistent that we could get the remaining miles going straight. That sounded a little less desperate than "please don't leave me". Even though I'm honestly trying not to force the "indie rock as expressed through running or vice versa" as a constant theme, I had been blaring "Under Cover of Darkness" by The Strokes as my get ready for running song....



....and I truly echoed Julian Casablancas' cry "don't go that way", when I realized how essential the group was to getting through the run. We settled into a steady pace and were trading stories of upcoming races and general running banter. Brian and I sustained a nice push up Fairlea and had a nice push on the last mile in 7:34 to give us a 7:46 average on the entire 12.

Afterwards in Caribou, I chatted with Angie who mentioned she was worried about hanging at the pace we were running. I told her I felt the same way, and was glad we didn't share our concerns. Somehow as long as we kept out concerns a secret; the pace could be kept as well.

All in all, great confidence building run, and 2 weeks till Medoc!