Monday, July 21, 2008

Buns O' Plenty

Earlier last month, I had discussed receiving the July 2008 issue of Runner's World, and this particular issue was published *just* for me - not really, but it seemed like it was. I had also mentioned an article that I would talk about later on, about music and motivation. It's more than a month later and now it's time to (somewhat) go over the article. The article discusses the perfect running songs. Studies have been done, and there was actually a guy in a lab who listed four songs because of their upbeat tempo, but "upbeat" is in the ear of the beholder. Great running songs share the same traits, which are simple beats, simple chords, simple messages. I wasn't exactly sure how to cite the article, since there was so much to the article, plus a lot of subtexts. Just read the article for yourself HERE. (Sorry, I was going to use several quotes from the article, then I realized I would be quoting the entire article.) There's even a segment on how to build a playlist. I have about 100 songs on my running playlist on my Ipod. The very first song is "Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling stones. That song has been first on my playlist since I've owned either an Mp3 player or Ipod. That song starts of slow and builds up to get me going. I also have a few quirky, sort of funny songs like "Baby's Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-lot, and "Girl All the Bad Guys Want" by Bowling For Soup. There's a couple of songs that I had on my Ipod (and are no longer on my playlist) are "Hey Ya" by Outkast" and "Breathless" By The Coors -- nothing wrong with the songs, they just became stale on me, and when I would get to those songs I'd have to skip to the next song. I'm always looking for new songs to add to my running playlist, even though I'm not running right now. The songs are good for vacuuming (with headphones), working out, and gardening. Here's part of my playlist:

Gimmie Shelter - The Rolling Stones
Lose Yourself - Eminem
Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down
Bring Me To Life - Evanescence
Livin' On A Prayer - Bon Jovi
Where Are We Running? - Lenny Kravitz
The Road and the Sky - Jackson Browne
Running Down A Dream - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
To Be A Lover - Billy Idol
What Is Hip - Tower Of Power
Respect - Pink
Celebrity Skin - Hole
Hash Pipe - Weezer
Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood - Kill Bill Soundtrack
Short Skirt/Long Jacket - Cake
Battle Without Honor Or Humanity - Kill Bill Soundtrack
Cliffs of Dover - Eric Johnson
Hot For Teacher - Van Halen
Out Here All Night - Damone
Mental Hopscotch - Missing Persons
Break - Heart
Girl All The Bad Guys Want - Bowling For Soup
Steady As She Goes - The Raconteurs
Handlebars - Flobots

Back when I used a Walkman, I often listened to Mozart for the Morning Commute when I pounded out the miles on the gym treadmill. I'm planning to add that into my Ipod and make a classical or instrumental running mix. I like diversity.

I like most genres of music, however I do like some songs more than others, and songs that I flat out don't care for.

Itunes has an interval running download that my husband likes: Lance Armstrong - Run Longer. You can have Lance in your head telling you when to speed up or slow down, OR just listen to the music separately without Lance in your head:

Island In The Sun - Weezer
Dance Inside - The All-American Rejects
Love It When You Call - The Feeling
Woman - Wolfmother
3's & 7's - Queens of the Stone Age
Yesterday to Tomorrow - Audioslave
Move Along - The All-American Rejects
155 - +44
Is It Any Wonder - Keane
Say It Ain't So - Weezer
Everybody's Changing - Keane
Loser - Beck
Sewn - The Feeling

In food news...

My daughter bought way too many packages of hotdog and hamburger buns for the party this past weekend. I'm not sure what to do with them all, and I personally don't eat a lot of bread, and when I do it's whole grain. These buns are just standard, the white bread type. Right now, what ever freezer space I have is filled with all of those buns. Any thoughts on what to do with all of that bread besides art projects of glue flowers or recipes for French toast? Right now we don't know any starving college students who would give anything for a few bags of buns. Everyone is home with their parents right now. I don't want to toss out the buns, either. What would you do with all of those buns?

Yesterday's song:

Addicted - Kelly Clarkson - Barbie2be

PEACE

5 comments:

Flo said...

I will have to read that article later. I have some songs that are really old that I just love to run to and some songs I just can't stand when I'm running.

Isaac Hayes

Anonymous said...

Love the list of running songs, I have some of them on my IPod too.

Hmmm, I'll have to think about your BUN situation a little further......

leslie said...

Gimme Shelter is song #2 on my running playlist and has been for the longest time. I love that we have this in common! (Battle Without Honor or Humanity by Tomoyasu Hotei is the first song, in case you're wondering.)

LOVE song lists, so thank you.

I'd toss the buns, so no suggestions here -- sorry!

barbie2be said...

sloppy joes? chili cheese dogs? toss them? frankly, i LOVE the plain old white bread buns. but then i also love mayonaise and dill pickle sandwiches so...

i have a walking playlist on my ipod. it works great for me because i have the slower warmup/cooldown songs at the beginning and end and the fast paced songs in the middle to kick me into gear.

Irene said...

Flo,
Winner! Isn't it weird how songs can either help or hinder your activity? There's a local commercial for the horse races here that I can't stand. Every time that commercial (song) comes on I change the station.

Evelyne,
That was just part of my list. :) I'm still thinking about different ways to use the buns.

Leslie,
Throwing away is not an option. There's so many and they weren't free, either. My daughter did make sandwiches for lunch today. On my Ipod, the song "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" shows up in Japanese script! Thanks for the info! I love to see other people's song lists just because I get great ideas. I do have "Running On Sunshine" on my playlist, even though I didn't list it. I got that song from you! :)

Barbie2be,
Since that post, my husband made PB&J, my daughter made sandwiches, and my son made toast... Perhaps the buns will go faster than I know. I also have a cool-down play list with slower songs. :)