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.

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.

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.