My new (temporary) best friends - Mac & Nano

I'm running alone these days; running pal is recovering from surgery (she's fine thank goodness!) so I'm left to my own devices for awhile. After sleeping through too many 6am runs, I decided to get cranking and get some of my mojo back with music.

Enter Mac & Nano and the iTunes store. Runners have been using iPods since their arrival but I just got my iPod Nano a few weeks ago, and oh goodness, I'm in love!

I learned that I can google just about any song and find out its "bpm" - beats per minute. I now know that 145-165 bpm's are just about right to get me up to my mid-run speed. Some of my all-time favorite songs fall within those bpm's: Van Morrison's "Wild Nights" is perfect, as are "Da Doo Ron Ron" (old 60's hit), Linda Ronstadt's "Heat Wave", "One Fine Day" (another 60's gem), the Dixie Chicks' "Hole in my Head". But the best by far is Mitch Rider's "Devil with the Blue Dress" a real up-tempo barn-burner for me. When I find my self dragging through the last few miles of a run, Mitch Rider's rendition of Devil with a Blue Dress lifts me up and somehow I forget my tired legs as I run singing to no one "......devil with the blue dress blue dress blue dress, devil with the blue dress on!"

For hills - especially when running up Killermanjaro - "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" by Green Day is good, but the best songs to pace me up that darn hill are Bob Segar's "Old Time Rock & Roll" - a perfect beat to keep me "putting one foot in front of the other" (thanks Daddy for this all time memory!) till I reach the top, and "Turn the Beat Around" (Vickie Sue Robinson's version).

Warm up tunes are also a must. Dire Straits "Walk of Life" Fleetwood Mac's "You Make Lovin' Fun" and "Say You Love Me" and then "Do You Love Me" by the Contours (ah, the 60s were great!) pace my beginning walk down to our beach access parking lot where I begin my runs. It's about a 15 min walk from my house and by the time these songs have played, I'm ready to run.

For my cool down, the absolute best song is "Hallelujah" by Rufus Wainwright. It's a bit slow, but I like singing "hallelujah" after finishing my long runs! :D

I'm not a fast runner. My best PR was a 13:15 mile. But I finish, and with this music, I can pace myself well until runner-gal partner returns.