5.5 Down the Boardwalk

*Never Let You Go -- Third Eye Blind
Not Big -- Lily Allen
Ruby -- Kaiser Chiefs
Disturbance At The Heron House -- R.E.M.
Black Star -- Radiohead
Beer  -- Reel Big Fish
Please Don't Stop the Music -- Rihanna
Do You Really Want Me -- Salt n Pepa
Kryptonite -- 3 Doors Down
Not The Doctor -- Alanis Morissette
Know Your Enemy -- Green Day
Glamorous -- Fergie
Take Me Home Tonight -- Eddie Money
**Laughing Out Loud -- The Wallflowers
*Right Here -- SWV
Walk Away -- Kelly Clarkson
Behind These Hazel Eyes -- Kelly Clarkson

Again, with the heat! I had another stop n' start run on Sunday, but this time I'm not too down on myself because I was directly under the sun (at 11:30 a.m.) the whole time. Running down the boardwalk through Coney Island and all of its summer madness was a nice change. And this time,  I didn't trip on a loose board in front of the sunbathing crowds and skin my knees (they all told me to sue the city).

You know, for all of my bitching, I'm just never satisfied. When I run through city streets, with their twists and turns and stoplights and inclines and declines, I always wish I could just run straight, flat, and uninterrupted. But whenever I get that opportunity (the boardwalk is 2.5 miles long), I just get bored. Out-and-backs are dull.

*These were nice lil' beachy songs.

**This album brings me back to high school so fast and so hard that it makes me uncomfortable.

10K and MJ

*Will You Be There -- Michael Jackson

Man In The Mirror -- Michael Jackson

ABC -- Jackson 5

I Want You Back -- Jackson 5

**Cry -- Dan Wilson

Breathless -- Dan Wilson
Do You Really Want Me -- Salt 'n' Pepa
Accidentally in Love -- Counting Crows
Monkey -- Counting Crows
Die Alone -- Ingrid Michaelson
Comedown -- Bush
Genie in a Bottle -- Christina Aguilera
Regret -- New Order
Strange Condition -- Pete Yorn
Supernatural Superserious -- R.E.M.
If I Am A Stranger -- Ryan Adams
Waiting For You -- Seal

*I'm sure a bunch of the runners I passed last night had MJ blasting, too. And yeah yeah, out of all the songs to pick, Free Willy?! I hadn't heard it in years, so it was a nice nostalgia moment when it came on.

**I started listening to Dan Wilson after we saw him open for the lovely and amazing Kathleen Edwards last year at Irving Plaza. For the majority of his set, his familiar voice was driving me batty -- who WAS he? Where had I heard that voice before, damnit?? Then he wanted to tell us the line that inspired the hit we might know, a line that wrote the rest of the song about the birth of his child.

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."

OH YEAAAH!

His solo stuff is filled with the intimate, melancholy love songs that make you happy and sad all at once. I love it.

I Think You're Smart, You Sweet Thing

I'll Believe In Anything -- Wolf Parade
*Got You (Where I Want You) -- The Flys
**World Spins Madly On -- The Weepies
Uncle Tom's Cabin Warrant
Sweet Surrender (live) -- Sarah McLachlan
Somehow, Someday -- Ryan Adams
Please Don't Stop the Music -- Rihanna
Disturbia -- Rihanna
Consolers Of The Lonely -- The Raconteurs
Electrolite -- R.E.M.
Finest Worksong -- R.E.M.
Let's Go Crazy -- Prince And The Revolution
Such Great Heights -- The Postal Service
***That's What You Get -- Paramore
Don't Look Back in Anger -- Oasis
Closer -- Nine Inch Nails
I Could Break Your Heart Any Day of the Week -- Mandy Moore
Possession (live) -- Sarah McLachlan

*3 runs, 3 playlists! Sometimes I remember a song I haven't heard in years, download it, proclaim it "zomg, the best song EVAR," and then get sick of it in a week. So we have about 2 days. But seriously, though, this is an awesome song. The best part is the second verse, second line, when he goes "oh HE-eyyyyyy." No, no! The chorus is the best part. ZOMG, best song EVAR! Katie Holmes, you used to be the best muse...

**Such a beautiful little song. I love when this comes on when I'm on a super-busy street like Livingston, in the middle of Fulton Mall, during rush hour. I'm taking high little steps to avoid tripping, and I'm weaving around smokers (oh how MANY SMOKERS) and shoppers and carts and bikes and cabs, and no one wants to move aside to let me pass.  The Weepies make it all go in slowmo, like some music video, and I zip through the madness.

***Thanks, Rock Band, for the playlist inspiration.

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.

8-mile Rainbow Mix

Red Herring -- Kris Delmhorst
Orange Crush -- R.E.M.
*Yellow -- Coldplay
Yellow Brick Road -- Kris Delmhorst
**Hitchin' a Ride -- Green Day
J.A.R. -- Green Day
Blue Orchid -- The White Stripes
Violet -- Hole
***Rock and Roll Heaven's Gate -- Indigo Girls
It's Alright -- Indigo Girls
Black -- Pete Yorn
Fell On Black Days -- Soundgarden
Mr. Brownstone -- Guns N' Roses
Here I Go Again On My Own -- Whitesnake
18 Wheeler -- Pink
All For Love -- Color Me Badd

*Why did everything go downhill after this album? What an absolutely fantastic song, and what a far fall.

**I almost went with Pearl Jam, "Green Disease" here, but then remembered how much that song, well, sucks.

***Thanks, Haley, for the suggestion. LOVED it.

9 miles, A Belly Full of Chicken Mole, Ugh

Don't Let It Bring You Down - -Annie Lennox
Begin The Begin -- R.E.M.
Old Enough -- The Raconteurs
Sell Out -- Reel Big Fish
Divorce Song -- Liz Phair
Never Again -- Kelly Clarkson
**Waiting For Tonight -- Jennifer Lopez
The Infanta -- The Decemberists
Let's Dance -- David Bowie
Breathless -- Dan Wilson
***Shine -- Collective Soul
No Excuses -- Alice in Chains
Sleep To Dream -- Fiona Apple
When I Come Around -- Green Day
Know Your Enemy -- Green Day
E-Pro -- Beck
King Of New Orleans -- Better Than Ezra

** I know. I know.

*** In high school, like everyone else, I used to keep a blank tape in my boom box and record mixes from the radio. I taped this song one day off of either Y-100 or 94.9 Zeta or any other of the stations on which it played 80 million times a day. Some wacky DJ must have been bored, because during the guitar riff that leads into each chorus, right before the "yeah," he played an automized voice saying,

"P-Pardon me, a-are you Hispanic?"

The hell?

So I still hear that, 15 years later.

Also, I kind of felt like I was in a commercial for a Christian Rock CD when this one came on today. It got so bad during the, "hey yeah, hey yeah, heaven's little light gonna shine on me" breakdown at the end that I had to go on to the next one.