Music Makes Every Run Better

Whenever I go running, I fire up my iPod, turn on my music, and get moving.  Sometimes I listen to an audiobook if it’s a real page-turner, but usually my feet move best to certain tunes.  On my last run, I realized that my running playlist is actually one of the main reasons that I always make it to the end of the course.  The songs don’t necessarily make me run faster, but they do help me stick with it and keep going.  I become immersed in a song, and the feelings of achy muscles or tired lungs mostly go away.  When I have a great song in my ears, I can run anywhere.

Many of the songs are probably not what you would expect to see on a pump-up-and-run playlist (Celtic music, alt rock, electronica, among other more traditional fitness fare), but these particular songs have a way of filling my head and making me forget that I’m exercising.  They help the tough part of working out seem easy, and I feel as if I’m dancing along to the finish line.

This is my personal running playlist:

Mirrors – Justin Timberlake

Madness – Muse

Let’s Dance – Craig David

Siulil A Run – Celtic Woman

Just For Now – Imogen Heap

Don’t Stop Believin’ – Glee Cast

The Mummer’s Dance – Loreena McKennitt

Little Wonders – Rob Thomas

Undressed – Kim Cesarion

Be Without you – Mary J. Blige

Animal I Have Become – Three Days Grace

Eleanor Rigby – The Beatles

Not A Bad Thing – Justin Timberlake

And the latest addition (I just added this yesterday):

One Last Time – Ariana Grande

Some seem pretty strange, huh?  They work wonders for me though!

What are some songs that you have on your running playlist?  Do you ever run and/or exercise without music?