Soundtrack for My Sanity

Okay, so I never ever ever thought I'd be one of Those People. You know the ones: they act like exercise is fun. Maybe you're one of them. As though sweating and gasping for breath is not only good for you (which it is, of course), but also enjoyable (whatever). They look forward to muscle stretches and aches, to leg cramps and stomach cramps and ruddy faces and stinky pits.

There is a reason I carry extra weight--and have for a long time, on and off, but mostly on. I like hostess treats and real Coke. I enjoy a creamy sauce on my salty meat. I like vegetables and fruits, but I also like butter and pie crust. Perhaps all this would be acceptable and not show up in record time on my belly/arms/chin/thighs/etc, if I liked exercise. But also, I am not one of Those People.

At least I wasn't. Until recently. You may recall that I started running, even though no one was chasing me. I think I have always secretly wanted to be one of Those People, and most of them are runners. I equate their affinity for running with the inexplicable love of tomatoes and olives that some people display. People who like tomatoes LOVE them, they wax eloquent about them. I have always wanted to like tomatoes--I have tried them over and over again, without success--so I could love a healthy food like that. Make 'em into a sauce or heat them up mixed with other items (disguising them), and I will eat them. But alone, raw, cold? No. I digress.

Back to the running. I've struggled. I used a lot of excuses not to do it as often as I should. Got really off track when we moved to VA in late August. But now I am back on it. And, dare I say it, I actually like it. A lot. The weather has been outstanding since we moved here, and I LOVE being outside, running around the lake, into the woods, through the neighborhood, where I very fortunately do not know anyone. When it's a little chilly, I love it. When it's hot, I love it. When it's rainy, I love it. Ohmigosh, I have become one of Those People!

Caveat: I am not at all good at it. I am not fast. I take walking breaks. I recently was baptized by bird poop as I ran, a pretty good indicator that I wasn't moving much faster than a parked car. Since I run for time, not distance (so far), I have no clue how far I am going, but when I drive my running route--which is probably a little longer than my footpath distance with the curves and all--it's about 3 miles. I have now achieved the 30-straight-minutes-of-running goal, which conventional wisdom indicates I should now be able to run a 5K (3.1 miles).

Also, it's not a pretty picture when I do this. When I sweat, I smell like stale popcorn. My pits are insanely wet, my chest is bright red, my face is lobster-like, my back sweats, my hands swell. I use big fat padded headphones, circa 1989, because ear buds fall out of my ears. They work just fine, thank you, but they look 100% ridiculous. I have ZERO desire to run with others. Which brings me to the title of this post. Running is now, officially, my sanity. My Me Time.

Just for fun, and to see if anyone has other suggestions, I thought I'd share my Running Playlist, comfortably stored on my rhapsody app on my iPhone (which I wear on my arm, adding to the above-described pretty). Some of these are songs that I would not normally listen to in real life, but I like them all in this context. I am generally a folk-rock/classic rock kind of gal, mellow, sing-along songs. But Iris Dement & John Prine are, frankly, not very motivational. So I dug deeper, channeled my inner-angry-girl and found some music with evergy. Some are warm-up, cool-down and the rest move-your-booty motivational. So here it is:

Warm-up:
Beautiful Day-U2
Hey Soul Sister-Train
Bring Me To Life-Evanescence

Move it:
Headstrong-Trapt
Suddenly I See-KT Tunstall
So What-Pink
Thanks for the Memories-Fall Out Boy
Empire-Queensryche
American Girl-Tom Petty
My Life Would Suck Without You-Kelly Clarkson
How Far We've Come-Matchbox Twenty
American Idiot-Green Day
Born to Run-Cowboy Mouth (Springsteen cover)
Dirty Little Secret-The All-American Rejects
The Distance-Cake
Get on Your Boots-U2
Go-Blink 182
Goodbye to You-The Veronicas

Cool Down:
Pump It Up-Elvis Costello
All These Things That I've Done-The Killers
Call Me When You're Sober-Evanescence
Dreams-Van Halen

Despite my new membership in The Club of Those People, I will try to refrain from acting like others are insane for not buying my crap. Sedentary lifestyles can also be fun and rewarding. I'm not too far gone to remember that. Life's too short to force yourself to like tomatoes. The important thing is to keep trying new things.

Whatever. ;-)