I completed my third half marathon of 2010 and of my life! I am so excited to post my recap  — next week. I mean, it seems a little soon to post a race recap for a race I haven’t even washed my hair from yet. Also, I am waiting for the official race photos. As you might know, there is little I like more than staring at good pictures of myself for hours on end. So, we wait.
But while I am being selfish and making you all wait a week for a post full of pictures of myself, I won’t leave you totally hanging. Without giving too much away about my race, I will tell you that my music pushed me. It motivated me; it started me off strong; it gave me a happy miles 4, 5 and 6 (especially 5!); it got me through a great deal of pain; it helped me finish strong.
This was, without a doubt, the best race playlist I ever created. Up until recently, my running music had been feeling stale. I’d been using the same songs for months and I needed a change. Thanks to some really great friends, Core Fusion classes and a wedding, I was able make a playlist comprised almost entirely of songs I had never used in a race before. The freshness and awesomeness of the songs was exactly what I needed. This playlist is so good that I haven’t been able to stop listening to it — even after spending ALL of last week tweaking the order and songs.
DIVA HALF MARATHON TOTALLY AWESOME PLAYLIST, YOU GUYS!
Not to bore you, because this might excite no one but myself, but I’d like to describe some highlights from the list the entire list. Learning to Fly, first of all, is the perfect first song for a race. It isn’t too fast, it is extremely inspiring and the very first line is “Well I started out down a dirty road. I started out, all alone.” AMAZING. Following that up with 1901 was an excellent choice as well.
When the Day Met The Night – my favorite line of any song ever of all time is quite possibly “Well he was just hanging around then he fell in love and he didn’t know how but he couldn’t get out.” Try running to this song without shouting that line out loud. Just try.
Black and Gold, just awesome. It kind of surprises me every time I hear it because it is just so good. Hard to Concentrate is another one like When the Day Met The Night, it just kind of fills me with hope that someone might love me that much one day. Beggin’ – try to run to that one and NOT do a little head dance while running. Just try. And Home — my favorite song right now, period. Lifts me up when I run and when I don’t run and when I remember it exists as an example of perfection in music. And the chorus is perfect for running singing. Same goes for I Wish That I Could See You Soon. Whenever the girl goes “do you” in response to the guy, I can’t help but shout along with her. Another great one to sing along with is Breakin’ the Chains of Love.
Sunlight, Animal and Trees are powerful songs that are fun to sing along with — or, in my case during the race, mouth along with. Hard. All The Girls and F**k You are LIKE PARTIES IN MY EARS! Fun, exclusive parties that make me more awesome than everyone else.
Cardio 6 is this techno-y song from Core Fusion Cardio that I had to practically climb mountains and beat up people and cry and scream and beg and jump through mud and walk over fire to get into my possession. I finally got my hands on it but no one knows the real name of this song, not even Shazam and VCast Song ID. If you’d like a copy, let me know and I will email the file to you.
Riverside (Let’s Go) has funny lyrics, like this one: Me plus you that equals better equations. We must do subtraction of your clothes.  You can’t help but laugh, even if you are in your final miles of a half marathon and your knees are in so much pain you feel like you might quit. Also, it an awesome techno beat. Other great songs from Core Fusion Cardio include DJ Got Us Fallin In Love Again, Move For Me, It’s All Good and, especially, Can You Feel It. ACTUALLY — SUPER ESPECIALLY DYNAMITE. I love that song so much. How can one song be THIS MUCH FUN?! Sexy Bitch might be a CF Cardio song too. Not sure. Either way — love them all.
Breathe Me, Shooting Stars and Remind Me are all great to run and zone out to because you can just get lost in your thoughts. Those songs, along with Black and Gold, are all from my favorite Core Fusion Yoga class.
And what is a race without mashups? I’m in love with my choices for this race: Juicy Dollars (so good), Pon De Foley (thanks LBD!), Mr. Boom Boom Jones (needed to get my Counting Crows in), United State of Pop 2009 (so. much. FUN.) and Absolutely Tik Tok (which I don’t even remember hearing).
Paper Planes is another one that always shocks me by how good it is, and Son’s Gonna Rise is the perfect song for your last mile — the lyric is also my mantra on my RoadID — In a mile you’ll be feeling fine. Although to fit it on my RoadID I had to revise it to read: INAMILEYOULLBEFEELINFINE. Amazing to hear this when you are struggling towards the end. Just repeat that to yourself — in a mile you’ll be feeling fine. Of course, I loved hearing The Final Countdown during my last mile because, yes it was my final countdown, but also because I got images of GOB (from Arrested Development) in my head doing his ridiculous openings to his magic shows. The Final Countdown is his theme song. And it is a great song to push you to the end.
[Source]
I always time my race playlists perfectly somehow so that no matter what time I finish and whether or not I PRd or had my slowest race, I ALWAYS finish the race during the last song on my playlist. Don’t ask me how I have this strange and useless talent, but I do. So as soon as I heard my running staple, which I tacked on at the last minute, Say Hey (I Love You), and also saw the finish line, it was just so fitting. I do have to note that I enjoyed the songs during the first 6 miles much more than the rest because once I start feeling pain, I stop noticing what song is playing until it is midway through — if I even notice it at all. That said, the songs during the last couple of miles, where I forced myself to push through the pain and speed up to finish strong really helped. More on that next week during my race recap.
I learned the majority of these new songs from my brother’s wedding CD (all tracks on album Matthew & Mallory), Rachel, Bess, Core Fusion Yoga, Core Fusion Cardio and Andrea from exhale Boston. I love finding new running songs — which brings me to my next point.
Last week I received an email from a reader named Brian. The subject of the email was “This is awesome”, so immediately I knew I would either be reading something great about my abilities as a blogger, or spam. It was the former, although the latter might not have been so bad because I get some pretty funny spam sometimes. Like this one: This post is so amazing, I almost spontaneously conceived a child just from reading it. Just incredible.
Alas, Brian was not spam. He is just a guy training for the NYC Marathon this coming November who came across my blog and really liked the idea of my Running Songs page — but he had the idea to take it one step further:
Your running songs section is an awesome idea, and I was wondering if you had space for anyone else to add their favorite running songs? Everyone’s got their favorites, and I feel like we could create one kick-butt list.
UH YEAH! Love this idea!
SHARE YOUR RUNNING MUSIC ON DSB
So, I am putting out a call to all of  you to share your favorite running songs with me. I will create a separate page for readers’ running songs suggestion (and keep my own Running Songs page for myself). If you have a blog, I will link your list back to you.
So here’s how this will work. Comment here or email me a list of your favorite running songs. Feel free to include any other details you think is important — like, “good songs for hills” or “fast beats” or “dirty, explicit, vulgar songs that simultaneously shame and amuse me.” Or no details at all. Whatever you want! Once I get some submissions, I will add to the Readers’ Running Songs page, and we can all learn new workout music and waste spend even more money on iTunes.
33 comments on Half Marathon Playlist/Share Your Running Songs
4Pingbacks & Trackbacks on Half Marathon Playlist/Share Your Running Songs
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[…] seriously, she created like the best half marathon playlist of all time! CHECK IT OUT, preferably on a pay […]
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[…] 2010 at 10:39 am As I type this post, a full week after the race, I am still listening to my race playlist! I really just love the songs and the order of the songs and I am probably getting to the point […]
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[…] smile. Hard to Concentrate — learned it from my brother’s wedding CD, included it in my Divas Half Marathon race playlist, love it so much. Turns out I like RHCP more than I thought. Sun Comes Up, John Legend, awesome. […]
Robyn
October 5, 2010 at 1:47 pm (14 years ago)I’m a big fan of “Magic” by B.o.B. and Rivers Cuomo for running. Other faves include:
“No You Girls” by Franz Ferdinand
“Ruby Soho” by Rancid
“Sex on Fire” by Kings of Leon
“That’s Not My Name” by the Ting Tings
“Anthem” by Superchick
“Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson (always makes me feel like such a badass)
“Everybody Wants You” by Damone
“Outta My Way” by Damone
“Get On Your Boots” by U2
“Harder to Breathe” by Maroon 5
“I Don’t Feel Like Dancin'” by the Scissor Sisters
“Jet Airliner” by Steve Miller Band
. . . to name a few. 🙂 Oh, and pretty much anything from the ’80s will work — I wouldn’t have survived the 2-mile hill in the middle of my marathon (no exaggeration here) if I didn’t have “Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by Whitney Houston bumping through my headphones, among other songs.
Bess
October 5, 2010 at 2:06 pm (14 years ago)You know that I have been eagerly awaiting this post and happy to see a lot of my favorites on there. I of course love the idea of having readers share favorite running songs.
Here are some of mine:
“Satellite” by Kram
“No Pause” by Girl Talk
“Bodies” by Savoir Adore
“Happy Up Here” by Royksopp
“Possum Kingdom” by the Toadies
“Are Friends Electric” by the Dead Weather
“40 Day Dream” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
“Everybody Got Their Something” by Nikka Costa
“Get Down” by DJ Quik
“G-d Is A DJ” by P!nk
“Paid for My Doorbell” by Party Ben
“Kids” by MGMT
“Me Against the Music” and “Stronger” from Glee
“Miss You Much” by Janet Jackson
“Freedom 90” by George Michael and “Everything She Wants” by Wham
“Nights on Broadway” by the Bee Gees
“I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)” and “Out of Touch” by Hall and Oates
melissa
October 5, 2010 at 2:11 pm (14 years ago)yes, very very incredible! love
Ashley
October 5, 2010 at 2:32 pm (14 years ago)Great playlist! I’ll have to put that list together for myself soon. I can’t wait to hear about your race….do I really have to wait a week?!?!
I’ve been running to podcasts by DJ Corey Craig recently. They are amazing and really keep the energy pumping.
betsy
October 5, 2010 at 2:43 pm (14 years ago)I love Gob!
We have a lot of the same songs. Some other songs I like:
Queen – Don’t Stop Me Now
Cut Copy – Far Away
The Gap Band – You Dropped a Bomb on Me
Anything by the Clash
Mallory
October 5, 2010 at 3:57 pm (14 years ago)Great post! I love that so many of our wedding songs were in your head during the half marathon! Also, now you can technically say that you ran a marathon and a half! IMPRESSIVE!
Also, I bet you could set up the readers’ running songs page and have it so people can constantly add their songs without you having to add them.
Angela @ A Healthy Fit
October 5, 2010 at 4:13 pm (14 years ago)The Final Countdown is my ringer on my phone. I always dance like GOB when I hear it.
Dori
October 5, 2010 at 4:15 pm (14 years ago)OMG THAT IS SUCH A GREAT IDEA I WANT IT
Dori
October 5, 2010 at 4:23 pm (14 years ago)And… DONE!
melina DiPaola
October 5, 2010 at 9:33 pm (14 years ago)PLEASE email me cardio 6!!!!!!!
xo
Aj
October 6, 2010 at 12:54 am (14 years ago)THANK YOU for your list…I’m in the process of creating 2 playlists (1 for my partner’s commute and 1 for our 3rd half – also of 2010 and ever!). This is a great combination of songs I know and love and new stuff. I didn’t know there was a remix of Sia’s “Breathe Me” – that was on the first mix R ever made me and since then it reminds me of the last scene of Six Feet Under…I’m so excited for all this music-spiration!
MelissaNibbles
October 6, 2010 at 8:13 am (14 years ago)Very good list and I love that you take the time to explain your feelings behind each song. I haven’t been running much lately, been doing a lot of walking though. I like listening to the Mumford And Sons album on my walks.
Dori
October 6, 2010 at 8:16 am (14 years ago)LOVE Mumford and Sons! Love love love love.
Allison
October 6, 2010 at 3:45 pm (14 years ago)I normally listen to pop and hip-hop but now, I also added a few tracks from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog: “My Eyes,” “My Freeze Ray,” “A Man’s Gotta Do,” “Slipping,” and “Everything You Ever.” So many awesome songs here!
~Allison
Fit&Fab Living
Tina @ Faith Fitness Fun
October 6, 2010 at 4:02 pm (14 years ago)Sounds like the marathon was an overall good one. 🙂 And I love the idea of everyone sharing their favorite workout songs.
One of my favorites is “Pour Some Sugar on Me”
Andrea (@ Puppy Dog Tales)
October 7, 2010 at 12:09 pm (14 years ago)God, I’m so old…I don’t recognize half of these artists. Aye!
LC @ Let Them Eat Lentils
October 7, 2010 at 1:04 pm (14 years ago)Congratulations on your race!! Capers are the #%$* btw. They come in cans and are briny little balls of goodness.
I am an itunes aficionado so I’ll be checking these out stat. I know it’s cheesy but Chris Brown Forever is still my favorite running show. It has such good highs and lows.
Alison (Ali on the Run)
October 8, 2010 at 1:01 pm (14 years ago)Oh gosh, I could go on for days about my favorite running songs! Here are some of my standbys that ALWAYS get me pumped: http://aliontherun.wordpress.com/my-music/
Great post! I can’t wait to download all these new songs. And congrats on the half!
Raya @ Raya Runs
October 8, 2010 at 5:15 pm (14 years ago)LOVE this post!! Running music is as important to me as toilet paper. Some of my favorite running songs at the moment are “Animal” by Neon Trees, “Dare You To Move” by Switchfoot, and of course an alltime favorite is “Fighter” by Christina Aguilera.
Joe
October 11, 2010 at 8:28 pm (14 years ago)I think the last time you did this I found a few new songs. Of course anything after 1998 is very new for me.
Angela
October 12, 2010 at 9:40 pm (14 years ago)what a great playlist! i definitely need to find that BEP/Counting Crows mashup, thanks for sharing!
i must admit, cheesy music and running for me go hand-in-hand. if you looked at my iPod, it really is shameful :p
Sheyna Buck
October 31, 2010 at 4:44 pm (14 years ago)Hey, just found your list after googling running playlists – I love it that you also run to the dramatic, creative, humorous music! Thi entire blog is FANTASTIC!
All of my favorites were pretty much already on here, within some suggestion or another, but here are some others that are fairly high in the “cheese” factor:
St. Elmo’s Fire
Land of 1000 Dances
The Rubberband Man – the older version
Music for a Found Harmonium by Penguin Cafe Ochestra… from Napoleon Dynamite.
You can call me Al and Loves me like Rock by Paul Simon
I Want to Break Free by Queen
A Fifth of Beethoven from the Saturday Night Fever Sdtrk
Walkie Talkie Man by Steriogram
Sirius by Alan Parsons Project
Searching’ by the Hollies
Tonight by TobyMac
Jazz Machine by Black Machine
One Day Robots Will Cry by Cobra Starship
Rebecca
September 18, 2011 at 11:26 am (13 years ago)Do you mind emailing me cardio 6? I was looking around for a good Half Playlist for my half this November and was so happy to find yours. It’s AMAZING!! Can’t get enough of Michael Franti and Edward Sharpe so was super excited to see them in the mix 😀
Pei Mustard
November 12, 2012 at 4:10 pm (12 years ago)Awesome blog! Do you have any tips for aspiring writers? I’m planning to start my own website soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you propose starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many choices out there that I’m completely confused .. Any ideas? Many thanks!
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July 11, 2014 at 12:27 am (10 years ago)I don’t know if it’s just me or if perhaps everybory else encountering
problems with your blog. It appesrs as though some of the text within your
posts are running off the screen. Can someone else please comment and let me knoow if this is happening to them aas well?
This might be a problem with my webb browser because I’ve had this happen before.
Apprefiate it
Jessica
September 9, 2014 at 2:51 pm (10 years ago)The link Readers’ Running Songs page doesn’t work. 🙁 Other than that awesome article!
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September 22, 2014 at 3:41 pm (10 years ago)I love content like this… it certainly is a refreshing change from all the bullsh!t getting written on the web now. Keep up the good work.
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ReceBeats
July 28, 2017 at 1:00 am (7 years ago)What a Perfect Playlist to motivate yourself ! Thanks for share