With each quick step, the curly, red-haired Cary Academy runner moves past the aches that only he seems comfortable taking.

When others start hurting, the senior is at the front, extending his lead.

Graham has seemingly mastered the art of managing the pain that comes with the sport's 5-kilometer run. And in the process, he's also managed to avoid the pain of finishing anywhere but first.

He is the overwhelming favorite to win another N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association individual cross country title, which would make him the first to ever win four. He's won all three events he's entered this year - by anywhere from seven seconds to 47 - including setting a new course record at the Western North Carolina Invitational in Hendersonville.

Winning is more than the result of a speedily-run 15 minutes or so. It's the result of the hours Graham pushes his body during the week - and one of the reasons Graham fell in love with the sport.

"A lot of people like running because it's competitive, but I like running because it's really process-oriented," Graham said. "Everything you put into it is what you get out of it, and you don't get out anything you didn't put into it. Talent can only get you so far."

In each of Graham's three titles his team has come up just short of doing the same - taking runner-up each time. It's one of few honors that has eluded him.

Running buddies

Although cross country can be an individual sport, and Graham's lopsided wins can have him running alone in the front, he enjoys the team aspects. About 60 percent of his friends, he guessed, he's met through running.

"Having the support of teammates, having a coach who isn't necessarily just for you, and is concerned about how other people are doing as well is really important," Graham said. "You have a network of people experiencing the same thing as you do every day at practice and trying to be good just like you."

Graham wants the team title more than a fourth straight individual title, but knows that the former probably won't happen without the latter.

"Ending my senior cross country season that way would be huge. This is why you run for your school and don't just run on your own," Graham said. "You want to share the success with everyone else and share the goal and work towards it."

Enduring the pain

Winning these races isn't easy to execute.

Graham breaks away from the rest of the field after about the 1-mile mark. He maintains that same level of intensity through the rest of the race, daring other runners to use up their energy in the early stages just so they won't finish far back.

Graham knows his body well. He says he doesn't have the kick of speed that some runners use near the race's end to make up ground. So he doesn't let himself fall behind.

He wins races by crushing the psyche of his opposition.

"It is a tough strategy, but it's a good one for Thomas," CA coach Conrad Hall said. "At a lot of places where people are people are hurting the worst, that's where Thomas is the best at pushing."

In order for that plan to work, Graham has to take off when most runners are just feeling the onset of pain with no finish line in sight. But enduring is what he does well.

"A lot of how success is measured is how far past the (pain) threshold you can push yourself," he said, sounding more like a sports psychologist than 17-year-old high school runner. "I always try to push it in the middle to make it where they're hurting more so they don't have that push at the end."

Graham is his best at hilly courses, which says it all for the runner. Hall, in his 14th season as Chargers coach, said Graham trains harder than any athlete he's ever coached.

"We knew he was going to be a special runner, but no one can predict that someone's going to make it up to national level or even the top of the national level," Hall said. "He's got all the ingredients, so it's no surprise either."

New goals

Graham said he didn't consider himself to be nationally elite until he finished ahead of some of the runners he had been reading about at last summer's Foot Locker Nationals. He finished 20th out of 40 runners from across the nation, causing him to raise his goals.

Now he wants to finish in the top five.

Breaking the 15-minute mark in the 5-kilometer cross country race is rare territory, but Graham is a threat to do just that at the NCISAA championships on Oct. 28. The N.C. High School Athletic Association, where all public schools compete, has never seen a runner break that mark in a 5K championship race.

Graham's personal record is 15:06, set at the same place as he will be running the Foot Locker South qualifier and NCISAA championships - McAlpine Park in Charlotte.

McAlpine is a fast track - its course record is 14:46.

"I feel like, right now, if I were to run a race at McAlpine, I could definitely run under 15," Graham said. "I'm the kind of runner who wants to take the pace that hard and make sure it's not easy so the sprinters at the end who are feeling fresh can kick past for the win."

Hall said he didn't think Graham would have to break the 15-minute mark to win. He could lead wire-to-wire, with few other runners capable of pushing him to such a low time.

Besides, Graham will be racing the same course less than a month later - on Nov. 26 - to determine if he can return to Foot Locker's national competition.

Graham hopes to win both races.

"He really loves running," Hall said. "This is something that he's got a special gift for and he can take it as far as he wants to."