I looked up the road to the next street sign. “That’s it, right?” I asked. “Smallwood Drive?”

“That’s it,” Gavin confirmed. “Now we just have a couple hundred meters to go.”

Not what I wanted to hear on this steamy (92 degrees, 85 percent humidity) evening training run. We’d already done three mile-long fast tempo miles; this was No. 4 and I just wanted it to be over — now, not 200 meters from now. But I was running with my coach and my training group, and so, despite the militant protests by my gasping lungs and cramping legs, I poured it on for another 200 meters.

Once again I realized how much I need — and yes, enjoy — my half-marathon training program.

Tonight, for instance, not only would I have not run those last 200 meters, I probably wouldn’t have run, period. It was hot and muggy, I was feeling lethargic, I had a good book I wanted to finish on the couch. But not running really wasn’t an option because of my training program. For one, there’s the peer … pressure, I guess, for lack of a better word. I’m not pressured by the group, I’m pushed to run because I enjoy running with them. And, every week I realize how much the program is helping me as a runner. Helping me by pushing me, as it did this evening, and also by helping me to train smarter.

At the end of tonight’s run, Gavin said this would be the last of our speed workouts. The goal in the first half of our 12-week program had been to build speed; after tonight, we’d cut back on speed and start running longer — at a pace faster than we could have imagined six weeks earlier. It made sense, but I would never have come up with that game plan on my own. And he was certainly right about building speed: Tonight, my miles had all been at 7 minutes, far faster than I could have envisioned at the start of the program. When I signed on in May, I just wanted to be able to finish a half marathon. Now, I assume I’ll finish and am starting to think about a target time.

I didn’t dare entertain such aspirations six weeks ago. And I wouldn’t be now if I was preparing for a marathon on my own.