My Running Music

It is 1980-something, and we are finally approaching the end of the school year and headed into summer. We have a cross country meeting, and Coach Sheehan gave us a spreadsheet to keep track of how many miles we run each day. This way, we should be all ready for cross country season in the fall. Sometimes I would run on the route we had for cross country practice. But, to mix things up, sometimes I would run at the school. Two laps around the soccer field and football field would be a mile. Booooring!!!!! To kill the boredom, I would put on my Sony Walkman, and listen to music to keep me going. I would either listen to a rock mix tape that I made, or I would listen to the trusty ole Rocky IV soundtrack.

These days, I carry a 160gb iPod. Now, within a minute, I can create an instant playlist right on my iPod! I don’t listen to the iPod during races. I only wear it when running on my own. I can listen to music or podcasts. For those who don’t know, podcasts are basically talk shows that you can download to any device. I will cover podcasts in another article. There are only a handful of podcasts I can listen to while I run. So, I usually listen to music. Here is a random sample of some songs from my running playlist. As I mentioned, I was in high school in the ’80s. So this list is pretty ’80s heavy. I love these songs because they are great rock songs and/or have inspirational lyrics.

“Don’t Stop Runnin'” by Y&T

Not to be confused with Journey’s “Keep on Runnin'” (which also happens to be a great song to run to), this is a great rock song that really gets me moving – and it’s not just because the word “runnin'” is in the title. This is a kiss-off song about somebody that was rejected by a girl, then became succesful. When the girl comes running back to him, he tells her to keep on running.

“Freewheel Burning” by Judas Priest

This hard rock song has a very fast tempo, and really makes me pick up the pace. You can’t run slow to this song.

“Iron Eagle (Never Say Die)” by King Kobra

I love these power pop-rock songs of the ’80s, which can normally be found on movie soundtracks.

“I Was a Teenage Anarchist” by Against Me!

Now we have a more current song. This is a great punk rock song. Not only is there a good beat to the song, but I love the lyrics:

Do you remember when you were young and you wanted to set the world on fire?

This song does make me feel young again, and gives me a spark to keep on going.

“The Last Fight” by Bullet for My Valentine

Sticking with the newer songs, this an extremely up-tempo hard rock song.

“Live Wire” by Mötley Crüe

Now for some old school Mötley Crüe. I love all their music from their first two albums. This one is from their debut, Too Fast For Love. It is a very cool heavy metal song. There is one thing it could use though…More Cowbell (and yes, this song does have cowbell in it)!

“Run to the Hills” by Iron Maiden

It doesn’t hurt that this song has the word “run” in the title. This song is just flat-out classic ’80s heavy metal.

“Invincible” by Pat Benatar

I love this song by the queen of rock.

“Play With Me” by Extreme

Who would have thought that a song that basically just lists childrens’ games would be so much fun?! This is yet another great rock song. The guitar is so fast. And this brings me back to the movie from which this came, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. It is played as an awesome montage in the film.

“Walk” by The Foo Fighters

This song is great for cooling down after a run, or warming up, leading into the run. The tempo isn’t as fast as the other songs until towards the end. And the lyrics are perfect for me:

Learning to walk again
I believe I’ve waited long enough

I could just substitute “walk” with “run”. Or it could mean that I’m grabbing a hold of my life and turning it around after getting so out of shape.

“Let Me Be Myself” by 3 Doors Down

I like 3 Doors Down a lot, and this is a perfect cool down song. Very inspirational.

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Do you listen to music while you run or exercise? If so, what type of music? Or do you listen to podcasts? Coming up in the near future, I will tell you about the podcasts I listen to. Until then, I’ll see you out on the Rhode!

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