Running Music



Martini Magic



Some days running is easier than on other days.  Sometimes I just get in the zone and know that I’m going to have a good run.  Other days....not so much. However, I have noticed that if there is a good song playing on my ipod shuffle, it always makes my run a little bit easier.  So my thoughtful daughter Amber downloaded songs onto my ipod shuffle that she thought I’d like (being more technically inclined than I am with all these newfangled gadgets).  Here are some of the songs she downloaded for me:   

1. Chumbawamba (Pissing the Night Away)

2. Beer for My Horses (Whiskey for My Men)

3. It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere

4. Whiskey Girl

5. Margaritaville (But there's booze in the blender/And soon it will render/That frozen concoction that helps me hang on)

6. Friends in Low Places ('Cause I've got friends in low places/Where the whisky drowns/And the beer chases my blues away/And I'll be OK.)

7. Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off, and,

8. Tequila! 

  Are you seeing a pattern here?  Yes, they’re all drinking songs!  What the hell?!  Do I give off that vibe?  Or is it her vibe?!  LOL, I don’t know, but I do have fun running to some of these songs.  We did have may have had quite a few parties when she was growing up, and yes, alcohol was may have been involved quite of bit, a lot, on occasion, so I can see where this might be coming from.  

In all seriousness though, the music can motivate me and either make or break my run.  I have other songs on my ipod shuffle that don’t motivate me in the least, and in fact has the opposite effect, making me struggle to go the distance.  I try to skip those.  Songs that have tempos that match my pace and have a beat that matches my down-step are the best.  It’s like the beats per minute in a song match my steps per minute while running.  It’s like having my own personal pacer for company. 

Music is especially helpful to alleviate boredom when you do most of your running on a treadmill like I do.  Since we live up in the mountains and I need a babysitter minder for safety outside, in addition to new snow dropping nearly every day during the winter, the treadmill is the most viable option for me.  I don’t hate it. 

So why does party music make us happy and motivated?  Maybe it’s the reminiscence of fun times with old friends, balmy summers and a cold drink in my hand that takes me to that happy place and makes me want to run.  After all, music makes people want to dance, why not run?  I’m just sayin’........drinking songs, for whatever reason, can be motivating.  ♩♪♫♬. 

BTW Amber, you forgot a few!  How about, I Love This Bar, Family Tradition, White Lightning, Whiskey River, Straight Tequila Night, Jose Cuervo, One Scotch One Bourbon One Beer?

Just sayin’........♩♪♫♬

There are some purists out there that enjoy running in total silence.  Some people say that music doesn’t motivate them at all, that the silence, putting on the miles and listening to the sound of their own heartbeat is what motivates them.  Seriously?!  LOL, I love silence myself when I’m outside enjoying nature, but when I’ve got miles to put on, and it’s hard, hot and sweaty work, give me some good upbeat music any day.  ♩♪♫♬.  Of course there are safety factors when running with headphones; traffic, verbal warnings, muggers....

10-10-10 AKA Marathon Madness

Barking Mad

What is the significance of 10.10.10?  While I’ve heard that it represents divine intuition and ambition that makes you feel motivated, it must also represent some kind of full-moon madness.  I don’t know if tonight is a full moon, but I don’t feel like howling at it, unless it’s with mad, hysterical laughter for what I’ve just done.  Or I guess I should say half-moon “marathon” madness, because surely I didn’t just sign up for a half marathon of my own free will!?  When I can barely even run two miles! 

So I’ve just got to blame this madness on 10.10.10.  This is another one of those “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast” moments. 

Why, Why, Why, do I always think I can do everything? 

I'm just saying.... I must be barking mad. 

She's a Member of the Zipper Club

Today is my baby’s 28^th birthday – hard to believe that 28 years ago today, I was in immense labor pain and lamenting the fact that I ever wanted children awaiting the birth of my bouncing baby girl.  Happy Birthday, Amber!

But her early life wasn’t so easy.  She was born with two holes in her heart (ventricular septal defect), which grew larger as she did, and required surgery when she was a year old.  Even though she was a cardiac kid, she wanted to run from the beginning.  In her hospital crib, still hooked up to tubes and wires, she ran and fell, ran and fell, from one side of the crib to the other, laughing her head off because she was wobbly and kept falling down.  She learned how to run, before she learned how to walk again, and she did it with such joyous abandon.  She never looked back.  T-ball, little league, gymnastics, soccer, 5K’s, 10K’s, mud runs, marathons and bull riding (the mechanical kind), she’s up for it all!  As you can tell, I love and admire her a lot!  She doesn’t give up.      

Cooling Off at the Mud Run

She joined the Zipper Club, a non-profit, support network for heart patients and their families.  Her only lamentation is that she doesn’t have a vertical zipper scar, but a horizontal zipper scar.  I told her that whichever way she looks at it, she has a zipper.  Hers is sideways, so what!  At the time, it was a new procedure that the cardiac surgeon (Dr. Lamberti) called the Bikini Cut, designed so that she could wear a bikini and most of the scar doesn’t show.  So the first thing she shared at Show-and-Tell in Kindergarten was her scar.  Yep, she lifted her dress right up in front of the class and shared!  She wants her battle wounds to show, LOL. 

The Mud Monster

Un-duct-taping the shoes after the Mud Run

Amber recently finished her first marathon – the Rock n Roll Marathon in San Diego, and did pretty well considering she made some first-timer mistakes; doughnuts for breakfast, no extra socks, no emergency tissues, and her biggest mistake, pouring water into her shoes because of the heat, and causing massive blisters. She still has scarring four months later. 

So next year, she wants me to run the half-marathon while she runs the full marathon.  She figures we’ll finish about the same time.  Plus, I train at 9200 ft. elevation (so very little oxygen up here!), so running at sea level in San Diego should be an advantage for me.  I envision us running, about to set a record for the Guiness Book of World Records for the fastest half marathon / marathon for a mother and daughter team.  A man runs up to me and tells me that we’re really close to setting a record, and says, “Maam, I’ve been sent here to pace you so you can beat the current world record.  Just follow me and keep up.”  And I sprint off behind him (not the real me, the skinny, healthy, fast me), more than up for the challenge.  You know, sort of like in the movies, when someone’s needed to save the world, and you’re the only one who can do it.  Of course Amber is right on track and doesn’t need a pacer, and we meet near the finish line and cross together, arms linked, with the crowd cheering us on.  Hey!  No laughing!  I can fantasize whatever I want.  This is my blog!!!  Have you never read Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll?!!!  The White Queen says to Alice, “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”  Well, me too!!! (Thanks for the quote, KelliJ.)

Now back to reality.  If I can ever get past my two-mile hump, I might just do that half marathon next year. 

Happy Birthday, Amber!