Pre-run angst
March 25, 2010I’m driving down to Tacoma for a long run, and I put in a CD: Pressure Chief by Cake.
Track 1 is about a crumbling relationship and how its demise is facilitated by modern transportation options.
Track 2 is about how telephones ruin our lives.
Track 3 is about pushy, ungrateful girlfriends with small cars and small dogs.
Track 4 is about a dime — really. It’s kind of a happy song. But track 5 is about carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless poison. And track 6 is about a fading rock star who doesn’t know when to quit.
Somewhere around this time, I realize that this album is not quite what I need as a pre-run pick-me-up. I switch to another CD, which happens to be Songs For Silverman by Ben Folds.
Track 1 is about growing up and realizing you don’t know as much as you thought, and feeling as though you need to fake it.
Track 2 is about a marriage that was a bad idea from the start.
Track 3 is about visiting the South and feeling isolated.
Track 4 is about fleeing a manipulative lover.
By now I’m nearly at Point Defiance Park and nearly in tears. Well, not quite, but I do need a mood-lifting song to get me going. What are my choices? Well, I think I have The Best of Bobby McFerrin in here somewhere…. OK, here it is….
“Here’s a little song I wrote. You might want to sing it note for note….”
Ahhh, yes — MUCH better!
My Track Record 
Personally, I would've put on "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves.
I'm all reggae before a race, then a little Linkin Park to get the blood flowing right before. It's amazing how much the soundtrack affects your mood! Thanks for giving me two CD's to strike off the pre-race list. 😉
Jem-I just think it's ironic that a group who's name is a fairly accurate description of one of the worst weather disasters in American history did a song, 20 years earlier, called Walking on Sunshine.