5 Early Morning Miles and a NEW #1

Open Up Your Eyes -- Tonic
Shame on You -- Indigo Girls
Home Sweet Home -- Carrie Underwood
Don't Drink the Water -- Dave Matthews Band
Glamorous -- Fergie
Father Figure -- George Michael
What You Wish For -- Guster
Poker Face -- Lady Gaga
*Always be My Baby -- Mariah Carey
**See You Again -- Miley Cyrus
Just Like a Pill -- Pink
Old Enough -- The Raconteurs

This morning's lesson: I need to stop being so crazy-psycho regimented when it comes to my running.

My goal is to run a minimum of 20 miles per week. I only like to go on three runs per week, if possible, for two reasons: 1, My legs tend to get beaten up so I'd like to minimize the number of days I pound them into the pavement and 2, If I I work out longer and harder, I can work out fewer days. That leaves free nights for baking and watching Barefoot Contessa.What could be better than that?

So my mindset always tends to be that if I can't go big (6 miles or more), then I shouldn't bother, because then I'll have to make up for it later in the week, and blah blah blah, STOP THINKING AND GO.

I set my alarm early this morning to run a 6-8 miler. At 6:15 I snoozed. At 6:25 I re-set my alarm for 7:30. And then at 7:30 I woke up annoyed at myself.

But then, I thought....you know, you could throw on some clothes and run for 45 minutes and still make it to work (kind of) on time...Do it. Do it. Go. Do it. It's so absolutely better than nothing, you idiot. Do it, moron. Go.

And I did! And I feel fab. And I ran an extra 5 minutes, anyway.

I'm aware this reads very silly, but runners are crazy beasts and we tend to get caught up in the rhythms of our heads and our thoughts. Here's to more shorter runs and happier mornings.

*Oh Mariah. I've missed you! Welcome back to my runs.

**WHOOP! New #1! Pop perfection.

7.5, Almost a New Champion

Paper Planes -- MIA
I Could Break Your Heart Any Day of the Week -- Mandy Moore
Give Me Novacaine -- Green Day
Got You (Where I Want You) -- The Flys
Bleed It Out -- Linkin Park
*Trouble -- Pink
The Best Of What's Around -- Dave Matthews Band
Take Me Home Tonight -- Eddie Money
Ulysses -- Franz Ferdinand
No You Girls -- Franz Ferdinand
Feel Good Inc -- Gorillaz
Jesus Of Suburbia -- Green Day
Fill It Up Again -- Indigo Girls
Girlfriend -- Matthew Sweet
I Just Want The Girl In The Blue Dress To Keep On Dancin' -- Mike Doughty
Mistaken For Strangers -- The National
The District Sleeps Alone Tonight -- The Postal Service

One upside of the gloomy weather -- the nice cool sprinkle that's been falling on every run for the past two weeks. I won't miss carrying an umbrella everywhere I go, but I will long for a heat that's not oppressive and migraine-inducing. I know it's coming soon.

Just in case anyone doubted it, the gradual incline of Union Street, from Nevins to about Court, is oh so much more fun while going down. I usually find myself running back home up that hill, but today I took another route to Park Slope. During my glorious decline, I remembered not to enjoy it TOO much; the easier it is going down, the harder it is going up. I can will Brooklyn's streets into changing, you know.

*This almost displaced Eddie Money over there on the sidebar. Pink is an awesome running buddy. But then Mr. Money kicked in and I was pretty much singing out loud. He's still king for now.

Who'll Stop the Rain?

Umbrella (feat. Jay-Z) -- Rihanna

Red Rain -- The White Stripes

After The Rain -- Nelson

Rain King -- Counting Crows

Only Happy When It Rains -- Garbage
The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) -- Missy Elliott

Lord Let It Rain On Me -- Spiritualized

*Blame It On The Rain -- Milli Vanilli
So. Central Rain -- R.E.M.
Weatherman -- Kris Delmhorst
**Don't Drink the Water -- Dave Matthews Band
I Come From The Water -- Toadies
***Beauty Of Gray -- Live
Shades of Grey -- Billy Joel
Grey Street -- Dave Matthews Band
Summer Long -- Kathleen Edwards

*Gotta blame it on something.

**Surprising powersong. I got into a groove when this came on. My knees stopped hurting, my breath slowed; I felt like I was skating, arms wide, world passing by slowly.

*** Bah. I really liked Live in high school. And now I just really... don't. Active dislike than neutral, even, which is strange because I'm obviously not one to outgrow or shun the music of my youth. But I don't even enjoy them anymore in a nostalgic Collective Soul/Soul Asylum/Wallflowers kind of way. It all seemed so deep and mystical in 1994, which just embarrasses the hell out of me now.