This Race Needs a Soundtrack

I know that some runners scoff at listening to music on race day, but I like it. When I run for fun (so...on my daily runs), I run with music or a podcast because...well, it makes me happy. I wouldn't say it makes me zone out; often, good music on a run will help me zone in. I feel more in-tune (haha) with myself - not my body, pace, or gait, necessarily, but with my actual self.

I'm a little weird in that I like fairly slow music when I run. I listen to the same kind of music I listen to when I'm hanging out or writing; generally, I don't really like pop and more upbeat stuff, and because running-music is about amping up my joy, I stick with what makes me happy. Sometimes I even run to musical soundtracks (I especially love The Phantom of the Opera and Les Mis for races).

For A1A, I've been compiling a list of songs that help me feel fully in the moment when they come on my playlist, and I'm putting them together for race day.

The full list can be seen on the right.

This list is all over the place. I like my music to be earnest, emotionally intense, and climactic. This means I tend to like songs that have a steady build throughout and a major swell at the end. Really good songs will swell multiple times, usually during the chorus.

I don't have a particular order to these songs, because if one comes on I'm not feeling in the moment, I can always skip it. I'm not planning my miles down to the track listing or anything. But knowing I have a fresh, specifically curated playlist is helping get me hyped for race day!

Here is a link to the playlist I put together. There's probably some stuff in there that you may think how could anyone run to this?! but if you want to know what I like to listen to on the run, check it out below.

ABK