RUN EMZ (Throwback Training Tunes - Emz Edition)

Not much that I could say today that would be more important, meaningful, or physically impressive than what Emily will be undertaking less than 24 hours from now.  For the few that don’t already know about this, starting at 6AM Friday morning she’s doing a 24-hour treadmill run to raise money for the Sojourner Center, which supports victims of domestic violence.

Check out her blog today for a news story about the run.  Yes, she is a TV star as well as a running star.  If you have the means, please make a donation as well.  Great person, great cause.

‘The Stairs’ – INXS (1991) Today’s only entry to the Throwback Tunes is a longtime favorite of mine from one of my favorite bands.  As far as training songs go, this one has a long, slow, building intro, followed by some surprisingly thought-inspiring lyrics.  Originally written about living in a busy city, I think it says a lot about human interaction, and our desire to find our place in the world.  It’s a great song for starting out a run, or for when you need some inspiration during a run on a slightly deeper level than a driving bass-line or catchy guitars.  There are several lyrics in here that I think apply well to what Emz is doing, and really anybody that tries to connect with and help other people, and in turn helps themself.  My favorite verse, and one that I’ve borrowed from in the past for a blog title:

Climbing as we fall
We dare to hold on to our fate
And steal away our destiny
To catch ourselves with quiet grace

Go Emily!  24 hours of making the world a better place.

You’ve freaking got this.

Throwback Training Tunes vol. 6 - 1982 edition

Back to the early 80s with today’s addition to the playlist. Great song by one of my favorite bands.

Building a playlist with running songs from each of the last 20 years of the 20th century (1980-1999): 

• None of the songs in this list can be in any of the existing playlists on my iPod. As much as I love all the blogging runners and running bloggers out there, this list is for me too.
• Mainstream to alternative, well-known to abundantly obscure, anything is a potential candidate
• I’m test-driving anything I post with a listen during at least two training runs
• Trying to link to a video or audio-clip of the song

Prior Throwbacks:

 

‘Ceremony’ - New Order (1981)
‘Look to the Sky’ - The March Violets (1986)
‘Mama Said Knock You Out’ - LL Cool J (1990)
'Three Strange Days' – School of Fish (1991)
'Enter Sandman' – Metallica (1991)
'Rearviewmirror' – Pearl Jam (1993)
'A Murder of One' - Counting Crows (1993)
'Looking Through Patient Eyes' - PM Dawn (1993)

 

Today’s Throwback:

 

'Don’t Change' – INXS (1982) – I’m a big INXS fan, and have had lots of their songs in and out of playlist rotation while running over the years. Since I’m such a fan, I had to work very hard to separate putting them on my iPod because I like them versus having them there because I consider them good ‘running songs’. In a nice bit of serendipity, it turns out that probably my favorite INXS song of them all also turns out to be a great running song on its own merit. I’ve listened to this song on every run since I started this exercise, and still like it as much as the first time. Definitely gets the blood pumping.