Fight Sluggish Feet: A Long Run Playlist

I had mine engraved: "Life is short. Carpe diem."

I’m just finishing up training for my first half marathon, so I’ve recently put in some fairly long runs – well, probably not that long to you marathoners out there.  21k was my longest training run, and a few of my runs were in the 2 1/2 hour range (I’m pretty slow).

I know some runners don’t like to run and listen to music, but I LOVE my iPod.  The right music gets my feet moving faster, distracts me from the pain in my lower body, makes it easier to maintain a steady pace, and makes me feel happy to be out there.  The wrong music makes me itch to pull out my iPod to skip the song, slows my cadence, and makes it feel harder to run.  Guess I’m consistent with the results described in this article.

Running to favourite music isn’t enough for me.  I need upbeat songs that are as fast or faster than my running cadence; otherwise, I run slower, and if I run any slower, I’ll be walking!  Over the summer, I slowly added songs to extend my playlist, replaced some songs that were dragging me down, and found some new ones that helped me increase my cadence.  Here’s what I ended up with:

• TiK ToK – Ke$ha
• When You Were Young – The Killers
• Higher Ground – Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Not Afraid – Eminem
• Dynamite – Taio Cruz
• Airplanes (feat. Hayley Williams of Paramore) – B.o.B Airplanes
• Epic – Faith No More
• Cooler Than Me – Mike Posner
• Rude Boy – Rihanna
• OMG (feat. will.i.am) – Usher
• Sweet Child O’ Mine – Guns N’ Roses
• Notion – Kings of Leon
• Viva la Vida – Coldplay
• The Boys Are Back in Town – Thin Lizzy
• Gold Digger – Kanye West & Jamie Foxx
• Love the Way You Lie (feat. Rihanna) – Eminem
• Alejandro – Lady GaGa
• The Hand That Feeds – Nine Inch Nails
• Learn to Fly – Foo Fighters
• Hollaback Girl – Gwen Stefani
• Evacuate the Dancefloor – Cascada
• Miss Murder – AFI
• The Boys of Summer – The Ataris
• The Look – Roxette
• Walk Like an Egyptian – Bangles
• Kickstart My Heart – Mötley Crüe
• Low (feat. T-Pain) – Flo Rida
• Since U Been Gone – Kelly Clarkson
• Sex On Fire – Kings of Leon
• Rude Boy – Rihanna
• Joyride – Roxette
• If U Seek Amy – Britney Spears
• Bang Bang (feat. Adam Levine) – K’naan
• Devil Inside – INXS
• Won’t Back Down (feat. P!nk) – Eminem
• Black Horse and the Cherry Tree – KT Tunstall
• Bleed It Out – Linkin Park
• California Love – 2Pac, Roger Troutman & Dr. Dre
• Enter Sandman – Metallica
• Girls, Girls, Girls – Mötley Crüe

What songs are on your running playlist?  Which get your feet moving just a little faster and keep you running a little longer?  Or do you not like to run to music?  Why not?