30-minute running playlist

I need to get beyond week 5/6 of the couch to 5k plan, but I’m so proud of myself for running 20 minutes nonstop, I am in a bit of a rut.  Having reached the five minute walk warmup, 20 minute run, five minute walk cooldown stage, which honestly doesn’t need much in the way of podcast monitoring (though having someone automatically tell you when to walk/run when there are multiple intervals is a godsend), I did up my own playlist for a 20-minute run with 5 minute walks at either end.  I’ve run to it now for about three weeks, and it’s so daffy I thought I would share.

“I Wish” – Victoria Beckham, Soundtrack – Bend It Like Beckham:  Surprise – an ex-Spice Girl in vertiginous stilettos gets us walking.  I really love the soundtrack to Bend It – it’s all ear candy.  This track’s synthesized ra-tat-tat gets me walking.

“Independence Day” – Melanie C, Soundtrack – Bend It Like Beckham:  “There’s a reason why Sporty Spice is the only one who doesn’t have a fella.”  Maybe, but this is a sweet, soaring tune that gets me past that first, “Groan – time to stop walking,” mode.

“Inner Smile” – Texas, Soundtrack – Bend It Like Beckham: Um, yeah.  I promise, this is the last song off of that disc.

“There’s a Girl” – The Ditty Bops, The Ditty Bops: It’s got a good beat, and you can run to it.  Not to mention sly lyrics that still make me chuckle and a great surf-guitar solo.

“Amigone” – The Goo Goo Dolls, Dizzy Up the Girl: This is where the run gets hard – a long, shallow grade upward (that killer kind: the one you don’t notice at all if you’re walking, but try and jog it and feel the pain).  The drumming on this track is all punk, relentless as a metronome, and it drags me up that hill.

“Sin Wagon” – Dixie Chicks, Fly: Natalie Maines’ yodeling wail, the sharp fiddling of Martie Seidel, and the rat-tat of the rhythm section gives me a second wind as I get the reward of going back down the hill I just came up.  (My route takes me down trails behind our house, and I do a lot of backtracking to avoid roads, since I usually have the dog with me.  If I were to trace the route on a map, it would look like spiky branches or a deer’s antlers).

Yes, we just went from folk-pop to punk to country.  Told you it was daffy.

“Mr. Blue Sky” – Electric Light Orchestra, Greatest Hits: Don’t tell me you don’t have a secret crush on this song, I won’t believe you.  Yes, ELO is cheesy.  Yes, lyrics like “running down the avenue/see how the sun shines brightly” is a cheesy way to finish out a run (especially since at around 7 a.m. when this song usually comes on is about the time when the sun is actually up this time of year), but it does make me smile, and more than that, its brightness, the fact that it’s the last running song, and the COWBELL get my feet moving even faster.  Right around the time when “Mr. Night comes creeping over” is when the cooldown begins, and off we go to the Bops again…

“Bye Bye Love” – The Ditty Bops, Moon Over the Freeway: …and Amanda and Abby’s sweet harmonies on this tune walk us home for the first cup of coffee.  30 minutes, almost exactly.  And today, it was 2.58 miles, and I beat my personal best time for the mile.  Go, me.