I Ran (So Far Away)

I've never really been an athlete. In high school gym class, my girlfriends and I would hide out in the bathrooms during weight training or stroll around the track while reading magazines. I played rec league softball in college, but mine was more of an organizational role-- sure, I caught a few balls, hit a few, but I was never a clutch player. And prior to this summer, I'd never run a mile in my life.

But now I'm sort of a runner. Okay, so I took most of August off. And most of September. And really only started running again last week, during which I accidentally underestimated the distance of a particular route and wound up running through East Atlanta in the dark of night. Bad news. Point is, I took up running back in June, and after sporadic training and my first 5K at the end of July, I guess I can officially say I'm a runner.



A lot of people like running because you don't need any equipment-- a pair of shoes and, presumably, clothing, but other than that, you can travel light. I need more than that. Without my iPod strapped firmly to my arm, I'm useless. Being alone with my thoughts is nice and all, but I can do that while lying in bed at night. If I'm supposed to be propelling myself forward at warp speeds in a big circle for the sake of exercise, I need tunes.

I consider myself to have pretty great taste in music. It suits me, at least. But I can't run to Iron & Wine, and Mumford & Sons really doesn't get my blood pumping. You know what does? Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous, pure pop nonsense.

My running playlist features such gems as Ke$ha's "Your Love Is My Drug." Paris Hilton's "Stars Are Blind." Britney, The All-American Rejects, Cobra Starship, and more than several Taylor Swifts. My "power song" on my Nike+ is Christina Aguilera's "Keeps Getting Better." There's something about an auto-tuned, up-tempo Top 40 number that makes me run harder, better, faster, stronger.

So what am I complaining about? Nothin'. I can't really bring myself to feel guilty about these pleasures. The running shoes go on and the girliness comes out, but hey, whatever gets me through that next mile, right?

What do you listen to when you work out? Surely you've got something on your playlist that can out-embarrass mine. If not, maybe you can recommend something a little less ridiculous for me. Ideas?