1,026 Miles And Beyond

April 14, 2012

In the fall of 2008 I started using Nike + iTunes to keep track of the miles I ran using my iPod. Seemed like a perfect fit for me, because for as long as I can remember I had Nike running shoes. I also started making the leap to digitizing all my music via iTunes.

For Nike + iTunes to work, you had to purchase the transmitter that fit in the base of the latest Nike running shoes and the receiver which plugged into the bottom of your iPod. This worked as sort of a high-tech pedometer to track your miles, and I found it was usually accurate to within 400 yards or so.

Jump to 3.5 years later, I have an iPhone 4s with the Nike + GPS app that tracks my runs via GPS and couldn't be happier. My entire music collection is now safeguarded in the iTunes cloud and the only music actually stored on my iPhone is my run playlist.

Music has always been an important part of my life and running was no different. I still remember running with a Sony Walkman loaded with a cassette run mix. Funny, when I first started using the iPod I would sometimes misspeak and refer to my iPod as my Walkman.

For me, the songs and their sequence in the run playlist has always been key. I found it's best to start out with something with a slower, but good beat and have the playlist get progressively faster and louder.

I still don't know why, but for the last 15-20 years the first song on my run playlist has always been "Keep On Movin'" by Soul II Soul. I hear it and it's calming yet also gets me ready to run.

In my younger days I would just start running after stretching. Now I find it best to walk for a short distance before starting my run. I also walk about the same distance after my run and follow that with stretching.

While my running routine has changed so has my run playlist, save for the first song. I never kept track of all the different variations over the years, but like the mainstay first song there have been a few standbys I use at the end of my run.

I don't have a set song that I finish running to, instead I have a handful of songs that I flip to depending on my mood. One long standby has been U2's "Where The Streets Have No Name" and of late specifically the version recorded Live at Slane Castle (see video below). This is also my Nike iTunes Powersong, which means that at any time I can hold down the iPhone button and this song will start playing during my run.

Other songs I may use at the end of my run include:

Control - Puddle of Mudd
Go Faster - The Black Crowes
Eminence Front - The Who
Who Are You - The Who
Shoot To Thrill - AC/DC
Thunderstruck - AC/DC
Kickstart My Heart - Motley Crue

Lately there have been two songs that I added to my run playlist that have been helping me get the job done.

No Speak No Slave - The Black Crowes

The other song, which I think may have gotten lost over the last few years and is actually a good song is... How Far We've Come - Matchbox Twenty.

I won't examine this or that about it, but will suffice to say this song makes me run very, very fast.

Here's my entire current run playlist as of today 4/14/2012:

Keep On Movin' - Soul II Soul
Girl They Won't Believe it - Joss Stone
Parallel Lines - Joss Stone
Saint Of Me - The Rolling Stones
Maybe I'm Amazed (The Voice) - Jordis Unga
Doctor My Eyes - Jackson Brown
Drive All Night - NeedToBreathe
No Speak No Slave - The Black Crowes
How Far We've Come - Matchbox Twenty
Control - Puddle of Mudd
Go Faster - The Black Crowes
Eminence Front - The Who
Who Are You - The Who
Shoot To Thrill - AC/DC
Thunderstruck - AC/DC
Kickstart My Heart - Motley Crue

Right now I'm running a little over 3 miles each run. My longest is 9 miles I ran a couple years ago.

I've been easing my way back in after some injuries and also hitting my Bowflex, which I think is helping make a difference.