I had track again this morning. When Tracy, the leader, sent out the workout via email last night, I could see right away it was going to be a doozie. Four full miles of speedwork! Beginning with all-out 200s! It would be the toughest track session yet, yes it would.

This morning, I figured all of my pertinent paces, and wrote them on a card so I'd remember from set to set.

"The only way I'm going to get through this," I told Dan, "is to stick to these paces and not go out too hard."

"Mmm hmmm," he said, not looking up from his computer.

"It's gonna be tough because those track ladies like to start fast," I said, shaking my head, "but I'm just going to run my own pace." I stood up from the computer. "Even if I have to go it alone." I waved my card in the air to demonstrate my commitment to those numbers. "Those ladies are going to get away from me," I continued, "but they're going to come back to me eventually."

"Mmm hmmm," Dan said.

"It's like I'm going to be the peloton," I declared, "and they're going to be the break-away. Before it's over, I'm just going to swallow them up!"

Dan raised his eyebrows. "I don't think you should tell that to the track ladies," he advised.

Probably a good tip. But, the peloton image did work for me during the intervals. That, and I started talking to myself in the voice of Mary Murphy: "You're going to finish this workout, YES YOU ARE!" "You can do it, YES YOU CAN! HAHAHAHAHA!"