Beats, rhymes and life

Real quick:

First-time marathoners concern themselves with many training issues, ranging from stretching, the right foods to eat, salt intake, pacing and resting, dehydration, and injury, among others. I’m a first-time marathoner . . . and I concern myself with none of these things. Other than the potential chance of dying, my only problem with running/training is sheer boredom. I’d rather sit through a Catholic wedding or watch a Merchant-Ivory film than run four miles. No wonder most hardcore runners are pretty much insane. Anyway, there are two main reasons why the, it feels likes, 28-month training season was somewhat enjoyable for me: (1) I ran with two very good friends (one talks; the other is silent support; but when he says something, it is bound to be important, and we listen) and (2) I trained with a brand new iPod Nano (I splurged on one instead of joining CARA). With the Nano came the Nike+ training package, and even though it isn’t highly accurate, it has a sturdy amount of features that allows me to monitor the timing of the run and gauge, sort of, the mileage (about a 1/2 mile off on medium runs and 3/4 off on long runs). I didn’t really do a good job of calibrating the device, so I’m not giving it a thumbs down (or up), but for $40, it might be something to think about before buying a $600 GPS watch. I bought it because I didn’t think I would ever be three-days away from running a marathon, probably nursing a hangover from the KU vs. ISU game on Saturday, spending that saved “watch” money on Hitachinos and making fun of all the marathoners for wasting their summer (wait, I do that now). But for some reason, and with the help of Kris and Starrin KP-Bentley-Hussein-Obama, I am ready to, well, cross the finish line and get it over with so I can get some sleep for god’s sake. I kid. It will be fun!

Music is very important to me, and I’ve always trained with my Nano. I leave one ear piece in, while the other is wrapped around my hand like I am using it to conduct an interview. I think I always have the volume pretty high because Starr sometimes asks what I am listening to (more like, “WTF are you listening to?”) and I can’t hear out of my left ear anymore. Surprisingly, I have used the same set list for every training run. I might’ve added or deleted a song every once and awhile, but I have listened to the same 70 songs, in the same order, for 6 months. Now, I ran a couple of weeks back with two very good “core” friends (Sara and Dave), and Sara brought her iPod along, allowing us to have a conversation about what songs are essential to a marathon set list. We share similar tastes, and even though I’m starting to believe she is going to leave this country and move to France (for the music), we had some of the same song ideas. A set list is very important; however, after running the 20-miler, the “arrangement” of the songs is key. I somehow, unintentionally, arranged 5 or 6 songs that came on around the 13-mile mark, which gave me a sudden burst of energy, causing me to insert my other ear piece, focus on passing the pack in front of us (see Starr’s previous post), and turn on the P-burners (i.e., go a lot faster) until crossing the finish line. And I felt great. Right now, I am concentrating on where to arrange certain songs, moving the harder songs from front to back (I used the loud stuff to wake me up at 4:30 in the morning) and the softer, uplifting songs from back to front (some I haven’t even gotten to since we haven’t ran over four hours). I rather start out all happy and enjoy the scenery and cheering crowds (going slow) with certain songs and use the hardcore beat songs for the big finish.

70 songs: exactly 4 hours and 54 minutes. I’m a nerd, so I have a rule where a set list shouldn’t repeat the same songs or artists, unless the musicians are NIN (two concerts this summer, so I am hooked) or the Wu-Tang Clan. And no Eye of the Tiger or Jock Jams. If I run out of songs before the end, I won’t be disappointed, as long as I finish. In the end, I’m just worried about being bored.

My not-in-order set list (wear a helmet because it might blow your mind):

Intro – The xx
Melt! – Flying Lotus
Silent Shout – The Knife
Where’s Your Head At – Basement Jaxx
Hey Boy Hey Girl – The Chemical Brothers
Indo Silver Club – Daft Punk
The Crystal Cat – Dan Deacon
March of the Pigs – NIN
Positive Contact – Deltron
Public Service Announcement – DJ Danger Mouse
Deep Space 9mm – El-P
Daytona 500 – Ghostface Killah
Silver Screen Shower Scene – Felix Da Housecat
99 Problems – Jay Z
Wolf Like Me – TV On the Radio
Hellz Wind Staff – Wu-Tang Clan
Run (I’m a Natural Disaster) – Gnarls Barkley
Dead Souls – NIN
Feel Good Inc. – Gorillaz
Comin’ Back – The Crystal Method
Deathtrap – Gravediggaz
What New York Used to Be – The Kills
Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka – Heltah Skeltah
Who Can Say – The Horrors
Triumph – Wu-Tang Clan
Get Innocuous! (Soulwax Remix) – LCD Soundsystem
Obstacle 1 – Interpol
Fumbling Over Words That Rhyme – Edan
StarF@ckers Inc. – NIN
Chin High (Manuvadelics Version) – Roots Manuva
Tourist – Japanther
What You Know About – Two Fingers and Sway
Paper Planes – M.I.A.
Hung Up – Madonna
Hold the Line – Major Lazer
Remix!! – Plastic Little
Atlas – Battles
Funky Sh@t – Prodigy
Go With the Flow – QOTSA
Idioteque – Radiohead
Discipline – NIN
All Caps – Madvillian
Nowhere Again – The Secret Machines
The Way I Are – Timbaland
1979 – Smashing Pumpkins
Council Estate – Tricky
This Must Be It – Royksopp (Fever Ray)
My Friend Dario – Vitalic
Q.U. – Hectic – Mobb Deep
The Rat – The Walkmen
Zero – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Uzi (Pinky Ring) – Wu-Tang Clan
Time to Pretend – MGMT
The Hand That Feeds – NIN
Vibrationz – Javelin
Make Her Say – Kid Cudi
Cars – Gary Numan
Ambivalence Avenue – Bibio
Spread – Andre 3000
All My Friends – LCD Soundsystem
Swing Tree – Discovery
Deadweight – Beck
Praise You – Fatboy Slim
Paranoid – Kanye West
All These Things That I’ve Done – The Killers
Crystalised – The xx
Halcyon & On & On – Orbital
List of Demands (Reparations) – Saul Williams
Arbeit Nervt – Deichkind
Go Round Payola - Jahdan Blakkamoore