I had to take a hiatus from running when I was dealing with the respiratory ick (and then a bout of flu – or something like it – does one really care what it’s called when one feels as if they were run over by a truck? No, I thought not). To celebrate my return to it (and to acknowledge that I had grown weary of the last playlist and had sort of mucked with it and ended up playing one song over and over again because it got me going due mostly to novelty, which was wearing off), I cobbled a new one together. It’s not quite as long as the last one, but since I’m more or less getting my groove back, I’m only doing about 2/3 the distance I was at formerly (“And that’s OK,” I keep telling myself more or less firmly. No, that whole “reality” thing isn’t going over so well, why do you ask?).
Anyway, mostly because I think this might amuse my more musically-minded friends, here it is:
We Used to Be Friends – The Dandy Warhols: A theme song to a neo-noir teen mystery series. Yep. It’s a nice walking pace for my warmup, and I think it’s really catchy. Some might detect a certain girl-power theme to a lot of my running tunes, and they wouldn’t be wrong.
Gunpowder & Lead – Miranda Lambert:Â Ahem – did someone say girl power?
Read About Love – Richard Thompson: Irony? What irony? I haven’t an earthly idea what you’re talking about…
Help Me, Suzanne – Rhett Miller: I picked this up on a Paste magazine sampler disc – it’s got a nice mid-run beat that reminds me not to blow out too early.
Don’t You Evah – Spoon: This is when I start to get a little tired, and this tune gives me mental images of Keepon. It’s hard to let your pace flag when you’re imagining a curious, bebopping Peep:
She’s My Man – Scissor Sisters: If it’s hard to let up when you have a mental image of Keepon, it’s even harder to feel tired to this song.
Fill Me Up – Shawn Colvin: A nice bouncy walk home (well, by then I’ve usually blown myself out by running pretty hard to the Sisters, so I’m not so bouncy. Tosh is usually still bouncy enough for the both of us, though).
Any favorite exercise tunes?
I don’t know any of those! I still can’t even water walk because of my knee, but I have a set of pain music. Rock & roll with a steady backbeat and I put the headphones on and after a few minutes, I can just ride the beat into oblivion.
Woo yay! You just reminded me to book tickets to Spoon later this month. Thanks.
Oh, and I like exercising to Blondie. Call Me in particular. Keeps me bouncy. And Goldfrapp is good, sexy and with a strong beat but not too fast. But I do struggle finding good songs to run to, because of my pace (slow) and my breathing rhythm (three strides per breath). Not so many perky bouncy songs in waltz time, I find. I’m going to try out your playlist.
Robynn, I’m a pretty slow runner, too – now that I’m doing shorter distances, 2 miles working back up to 3 miles, I’m letting myself run a bit faster in places because I know I don’t have to have the reserves for that extra mile, but I’m still no speed racer. My breathing rhythm is usually 2 paces in, 2 paces out.
Call Me is a good suggestion – anything that opens with a fast fill from the drums is going to re-rev a tired engine!