If you can believe it, the hills are even more alive...

...with the sound of wheezing and cussing.

Team in Training got real tonight. If you think last week's hill workout sounded fun, this one was a doozy. Exactly seven days ago our coaches sought to instill in us a respect for the hills we'll inevitably have to conquer and to better equip our bodies for those upward surges that come out of nowhere. Having mastered the basics, tonight was about pushing ourselves to the limit and seeing just how fast we could propel ourselves uphill. Awesome. The workout was structured a little something like this:

• Run slightly uphill at a fast pace for a distance equivalent to about one city block.
• At the point where the incline really starts to steepen, haul ass as fast as friggin' possible for another three city blocks.
• Recover back down to the starting point for the total four blocks.

(Preceded and followed, of course, by a mile-plus warm-up/cool-down).

We did this 6 times. I gotta say, despite the pained looks on our faces as we launched into the final stretch of each uphill sprint, it was actually a blast. First, the weather more than cooperated; it was a balmy 45+ degrees in Central Park tonight (leaving me slightly overheated in my two top layers and gloves). Secondly, we had an extra element of competition. In my haiku collection last week (I love saying that), I alluded (in five syllables) to "a new friend" joining us at practice and giving me a literal run for my money on the road. He (Dimitry) was back tonight to ignite my competitive ridiculousness.

MOREOVER, some total rando named Paul showed up and completely schooled every single one of us. He told us that he'd only run one marathon before and did it in 3:06. WTF. More than a few four-letter words were uttered as we ate Paul's dust. And then we found out that, contrary to public belief tonight, Paul wasn't a friend of our running buddy Junior's (like we all thought). He was a complete stranger who found his way into a TNT practice and made all of us look like old ladies. Somewhere around the fifth go-around he just disappeared into the night. Maybe he's a unicorn.

The workout tonight will doubtlessly come in handy this weekend for the half-marathon, as we'll be facing the brutal Harlem Hill not once but twice over the course of the 13.1 miles. Janneke, Carey, Ren, and Junior are all racing and I'm very glad that there will be some familiar faces in the crowd. As I wrap this entry up and head to bed, I'm left to wonder: will the complimentary race t-shirt be as insanely yellow as the one we got for the Fred Lebow Classic? We'll find out this weekend, dear bloggers.