Follow-Up: Deep Down I'm Still a 13-Yr Old Girl

source: www.spreadshirt.com

It worked!  My mix CD (see this post) was a big hit (well perhaps a kind of one-hit-wonder since I'm the only person that hears it).

It more than got the job done on Saturday morning.  In fact, I may need to tone down my in-car behavior a bit...there were, perhaps, a few too many body and hand movements going on to safely be operating a car at highway speeds.  Thankfully that early on a Saturday morning not many others were around to care, lol.

So, I've got my new pre-long-run tunes all set.  They get my blood pumping and rev my adrenaline.  They make me happy.  

Q4U:  Did anybody else try some new music pre-run this week?  Did it work the same way for you?

Deep Down I'm Still a 13-Yr Old Girl

This is it, the post where it finally becomes apparent that deep down inside I've never matured past being a 13 year old girl.  LOL.  Okay, okay, really that's only (mostly) true when it comes to my taste in music.

Before a long run I like to try to get myself into a happy frame of mind, and music is the best attitude adjuster that I know of.  The best things for me are upbeat songs with a great beat to get me bopping or with lyrics that have me singing along at the top of my lungs to help me get pumped for the journey ahead.  That just makes me happy.  Embarrassingly, the songs that "get me there" the fastest are the teenie-bopper pop hits popular with pre-teens and teens half my age!

Here's my dilemma.  We've started 5am (FIVE. A. M.) Saturday morning long runs to try to beat the heat here in Texas.  And since I've got about a 25 minute drive to where my group meets, that means leaving my house by 4:30.   I'm not super-picky in my music selections, so normally the local mix station more than meets my needs for the minimal amount of time I spend in my car during the week.  However, when the DJ decides to play a slow song that early in the morning - that just doesn't work for me.  Which means I need to create....you got it...a MIX TAPE!!!!  Ok, really it's a mix CD (yes, my car is so old it doesn't have an input jack for playing MP3's - don't judge).

I started wracking my brain for songs.  And I came up empty.  Part of the reason I'm perfectly happy listening to the radio is that I have no idea who sings what songs or what the song titles are...smh.  So what's a girl to do?  Enter Google.  Search for "most overplayed songs of 2013/2012/2011/2010/2009.  I played YouTube clips of songs to figure out what they were and if it was a song that fit the bill then it made the list.  I added a couple of random ones that I actually can identify without help and came up with this list.  Prepare to be amazed/amused/horrified:

1. Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepson
2. Party in the U.S.A. - Miley Cyrus
3. Firework - Katy Perry
4. Edge of Glory - Lady Gaga
5. Single Ladies - Beyonce
6. What Makes You Beautiful - One Direction
7. Raise Your Glass - Pink
8. Dynamite - Taio Cruz
9. California Girls - Katy Perry
10. Smile - Uncle Cracker
11. All The Small Things - Blink 182
12. Footloose - Kenny Loggins
13. I Want You to Want Me - Cheap Trick

So there it is.  Lots of these are songs you'll hear at races - for the same reason that they made my list.  I know, I know. some people are reaaaaaaaalllly tired of these.  But they're exactly what I'm looking for at 4:30 on a Saturday morning - trust me.  Whether my group will appreciate me having me just heard some of these when we start out will be another story... ;-)

Q4U:  Does music help you get revved up for a run?  Do you have any songs that are "must-hear" for you pre-run?  Do you have any suggestions you think I should add to my list?

Grandma, What Big Ears You Have!

Actually, I have the opposite problem as Little Red Riding Hood's "Grandma."  My ears seem to be unusually small...

I recently purchased a new running earbud from www.onegoodearbud.com - a wraparound style.  I tried it on when it arrived, and noticed that the stereo part of the bud didn't fit well into my ear, and the wraparound plastic earpiece was loose.  Thursday night I decided to try to run with it anyway and see how it did.  I made it two miles, fiddling with it the whole time trying to seat it correctly, before it eventually fell out, and, frustrated, I had to finish without music.

I should have realized that I wouldn't be able to use a standard earbud after all the trouble I had finding my current pair (I eventually had to buy a set with multiple size eartip and wraparound attachments and use the smallest size for both).  For this morning's long run, I switched back to my current pair and loved how they felt - didn't even notice they were in, as usual.

I don't want to discourage anyone else from trying out the onegoodearbud style - it's just not working for me.  But I really like the idea of the onegoodearbud concept - so what's a girl to do?  I'm going to get the non-wraparound style and give that one a try.  I'm hoping that the soft rubber eartip will be smaller, or if it's not, maybe I can switch out the smaller eartip I have on my current pair for the new one.  I'll let y'all know how it goes!

Today's stats:

• 10 minute walking warm-up
• 5.5 mi run/walk; 1:10:44 min; 12:52min/mi avg pace
• Hit the 100 mile mark for 2011 today!  Later than I'd hoped, but a good milestone, none the less!

I Can Go the Distance!

Not a great start to the morning for me.  Just half a mile into today's long run I was thinking there was no way I could do another 10.5 miles, and was ready to throw in the towel.  As I was using a walk interval to contemplate how skipping this training run would affect my preparation for January, I realized that the song "Go The Distance" from Disney's Hercules, had started playing on my iPod, and these words were coming through my earphones, loud and strong:

I am on my way.
I can go the distance.
I don't care how far,
Somehow I'll be strong.
I know ev'ry mile,
Will be worth my while...
I would go most anywhere
to find where I belong.

It was like I had my own personal soundtrack telling me to keep going and that it would be worth it!  So I pushed on, determined to get those 11 miles finished.  And I did it!  Wuhoo!

Disney once again came through for me and provided some much-needed inspiration.  Funny, I have several times in the past almost deleted that song from my running playlist because it starts so slow, but stopped myself because it has such a strong finish.  Now I'm really grateful that I didn't remove it!

Today's stats:

• 10 min. warm-up walk
• 11 mi run; 2:25:28 time; 13:13 min/mi avg.

Double-Digit Day Was Double the Fun

After having large Thanksgiving meals with friends and family on both Thursday and Friday (Turkey Trot race report coming soon), the last thing I felt like doing was getting up early and running on Saturday morning.  Still, I had made plans to meet up with an old friend from high school who bravely agreed to join me on my long training run.  So we dressed warmly (since it was an unseasonably chilly 35 degrees) and set off on the Memorial Park jogging trail around 7:15am.  This run presented a couple firsts for me, the biggest of which was that it was the first time I've ever  truly run with another person - I'm usually a solitary runner.  It was also the first time I've ever done a long run without listening to music.  Forget running alone with music - I had a blast catching up with Elizabeth, and we completed an  awesome 10-mile run together.  Afterward, we finished up with a breakfast that included yummy food and lots of hot coffee...a great ending to a great morning.  So, even though I was dreading this double-digit day, doing it with a friend made it double the fun!

Saturday's stats:

• 10.0 miles; 2:11:10; 13:07min/mi avg