After a three week hiatus, the Thursday night workout report returns! You could tell I ve been away for a little bit, as most people forgot to offer up any stories of note. I m sure things will be different next week!!

A cold March night with wicked, wicked wind welcomed Central Park Track Club members this past Thursday. The pre-workout talk focused on two things, the weather: and some rumor about a guy attempting to climb Mt. Everest while only wearing shorts (for the record, only three brave souls came to the workout wearing shorts). [Click here for more info on the Everest guy, courtesy of Alan Ruben. — Ed.] The workout is one of the most famous workouts we do, two four-mile loops, with the second loop run ten to fifteen seconds a mile faster than the first loop. While the workout sounds simple on paper, in execution it s anything but. And considering that many runners use this workout to prepare for the Boston Marathon, there was no doubt in everyone s mind that slacking off would not be tolerated.

Much to the chagrin of the fifty-two cold runners in attendance, Coach Tony arrived at the statue a few minutes late. After some brief announcements, the first group left at 7:13. It should be noted that only forty-five runners showed up by the end of the announcements, as seven runners arrived between the first group heading off and when the A group started the workout. I must say, it s truly a great skill to time your arrival between the end of the announcements and when your group heads off to run. Not only is there little room for error (especially given the fact that depending on the day, announcements can be very short or very time consuming), but if you are just a few seconds late, you risk running the workout by yourself. Talk about risk versus reward!

The workout itself didn t disappoint. Little conversation took place during the run; it was clearly gametime! The pace started out quick and didn t let up. It was so bad that this workout reporter didn t even have the energy to correct Stuart Calderwood s story about a twenty mile race that I ran in (don t worry Stuart, next time I see you I ll give you the correct recap of what took place that day)… By the end of the workout, everyone looked beat and fatigued, almost as exhausted as the contestants on the Search For the Next Pussycat Doll looked after the big elimination performance. Most likely due to the cold weather, no one wanted to hang around much after the workout, so everyone hurriedly shuffled home.