myTunes...urTunes

There was an interesting conversation over a couple of beers and a heaping helping of pulled pork the other night that centered around music. In particular, the conversation was focused on the importance of music in our daily excercise routines, whether we're out for a routine training run, or tasked with the chore of customizing entertaining and motivating playlists for a group of overprivelaged, exercised obsessed college juniors for their 7:15AM spin class. Music is an important part of our training routine, especially on longer runs. The secret is to find an eclectic enough sampling of music to adapt and conform to various terrain, times of day, mood, energy level, level of hangover, etc. Fifteen straight alternative tunes will give you a headache. An hour of straight hip-hop will leave you desiring some funk or maybe some freedom rock. Time and time again runners neglect their sensory needs by overloading on the same top-40 rhetoric for hours on end. People: do we do long runs every day? Do we run hills 4 days in a row? We must vary our music the same way we vary our workouts to be truly balanced, fullfilled, and most of all, to free our glutens. The following suggestions should be liberally sprinkled into your own playlists. They should not be abused, overplayed, or overly relied upon, but used as support for your existing musical selections. What follows is a categorical offering of various songs that, if used correctly, are guaranteed to improve your running satisfaction, and maybe your overall lives.

Old School Rap: The recommendation here is various tracks from A Tribe Called Quest, particularly from their 1991 album, "Low End Theory." Try the following tracks: Scenario, Jazz, Vibes and Stuff, and Verses from the Abstract. These tunes are methodically rythmical and the rap is smooth and easy on the ears. They'll leave you with a light, easy step, sure to free your glutens. If this works for you, check out "My Writes" by De La Soul, off their Art Official Intelligence album.
Latin: That's right, Latin. Por que me cuestionas asi? Soy el maestro y no mereces la atencion que les regalo. Check out the band Orishas, which is a cuban rap group that should not be missed. You will not understand a word (unless you are bilingual) but it won't matter. This will rock your world. Try the tracks "Represent" and "A lo Cubano" off their album A Lo Cubano. This is also great music to play during any bake sale.
Rock: If you've never been to New Orleans, you've probably never heard of Cowboy Mouth. Shame on you. They might just be the most entertaining band on earth. Front man Fred LeBlanc belts out the vocals while serving as the bands drummer. Check out "Jenny Says" off of their album Word of Mouth, as well as "Why ya wanna do me like you do?" off of Mercy Land. You will dig it.
Alternative: True story....while at a hole in the wall bar in Sedona, Arizona, many margaritas were thrown back with a musician who played a few tunes on the jukebox by a band called Kings of Leon. The band members are brothers who are sons of a Pentecostal minister and grew up traveling around the deep south singing in churches. Best way to describe them is Lynyrd Skynyrd meets the Black Crowes on acid. These guys rock. Check out the songs, "The Bucket", "Wasted Time", and "Four Kicks."
Blues/Funk: Ian Moore, this guy is one bad dude. Best way to describe his music is Stevie Ray Vaugh meets Stevie Wonder. This is definitely different, but you need different... Shake it up a little for God's sake! Download "Deliver Me" from his cleverly titled album, Ian Moore and it will keep your feet moving in a totally different way. By the time you're done, you will think you have the metabolism of a 12 year old. While you're there, check out the song "Satisfied." It is not a good running song, but beautiful and poetic and will make you think of someone special.
Foo Fighters: You heard right. Foo Fighters deserve their own genre of music because their so darn good. Seriously, Dave Grohl was the drummer for Nirvana before starting this band. The drummer! Can you name any drummers for any bands? Exactly. This guy is a genious. So, for great running, try the tunes "All My Life" and "Times Like These" off of their album One by One. Two other great, great tunes that are not so good for running, but absolutely need to be mentioned; the accoustic version of "Everlong "(find it on You Tube from the Howard Stern Show), and "Home" on their new album, Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace. It is not a good running song. It might even make you cry, which is generally not good for running....but we all need to cry once in a while and this song might just help you.

You were just served up 15 tunes across 5 genres of music that will make you a better runner, and a better person. You have iTunes, the $15 to make it happen....and you clearly have the time at work to download these tunes and follow the treasure map put before you. If you've read this far, here's a proposition for you. The first 5 people to leave comments get this playlist on a CD, saving you the aforementioned $15 (no we're not just going to give you the 15 bucks, you'll get the music and like it!). Our job is done. Rock out friends!