Music

What are you listening to?

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I have a very visceral reaction to music.  The first time I ever heard Waka Waka by Shakira, I welled up and got all teary.  I think I was also going through a breakup and  I also get like hyper-emotional when I work out, so it may just be that but whatevs.

The other day, I was riding to dinner with the husband-to-be and one of those cheesy countdowns of the top 5 songs was on.  I typically only listen to the Beyoncé CD in my car, most specifically Yoncé/Partition, but I decided that Queen Bey could use a break.

I heard this song.

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And I kind of started feeling weepy.  I make no bones about the fact that I am 25 shit 26 years old, and a full-fledged Directioner (Zayn is the best, and the movie was hilarious and fantastic).

This song was immediately added to my running playlist, no questions asked.

Now here’s my question for you.

What song have you recently added to your running/workout playlist? 

What was your workout tune of 2013?

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Fitsugar posted this sweet list of the “Top Pop Workout Tunes of 2013,” and I’ve brought it to you!

  1. “Timber” — Pitbull, Ke$ha
  2. “Roar” — Katy Perry
  3. “Safe and Sound” — Capital Cities
  4. “Blurred Lines” — Robin Thicke, T.I., Pharrell
  5. “Pompeii” — Bastille
  6. “Work B**ch” — Britney Spears
  7. “Demons (Remix)” — Imagine Dragons
  8. “Best Song Ever” — One Direction
  9. “The Monster” — Eminem, Rihanna
  10. “White Noise” — Disclosure, AlunaGeorge
  11. “Don’t Save Me” — Haim
  12. “Get Lucky” — Daft Punk, Pharrell
  13. “Slow Down” — Selena Gomez
  14. “Under Control” — Calvin Harris, Alesso, Hurts
  15. “Wake Me Up” — Avicii
  16. “Mirrors” — Justin Timberlake
  17. “Burn” — Ellie Goulding
  18. “Wild” — Jessie J, Big Sean
  19. “Applause” — Lady Gaga
  20. “Can’t Hold Us” — Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
  21. “I Love It” — Icona Pop
  22. “We Can’t Stop” — Miley Cyrus

So, I find these kinds of articles totally interesting, because I love my pop, and I love love matching up to see how many of these I hit in my workout playlist.  Funny enough, when I went back and checked my Spotify, I’d hit a really good number of these.

So, as a total side note,  for those of you kind of new to figuring out the easiest way to do your music on your treadmill or long run, Spotify, is the total jam.  I discovered Spotify like 3 years ago.  Basically, when you do the free version, you have access to every single song you can think of across the world for free.  I pay about $9.99 a month to access Spotify premium, which allows me to access the songs when I’m not connected to WiFi, and it’s been really awesome for me, not only to create sweet playlists for me to race to, but also to create and explore new music for me to bring to my Zumba classes.  Because I can switch which country I’m based out of too, I can pull new Latin music for my classes from the top songs from Mexico, Cuba, and Spain.  It’s pretty sweet!

But I digress.

SpotSpotify was kind enough to sum up my year, and as you can see, there were a few songs I couldn’t get enough of, especially when racing and working out, including Pegate Mas, Balada, Kiss You (for all you 1D fans), Blurred Lines, and the ever classy F*ck You by Lily Allen.

So,

What were your workout tunes of 2013? 

 

JT

Image | | cheriarmour

JT

When a truly good CD comes out, I skip the iTunes thing and buy the CD. Gavin DeGraw, Beyonce, Amy Winehouse – all CDs I had to hold in my hands. As a present for me, I made a special trip to Target (which I usually avoid in order to skirt the issue of wrecking my budget), and picked up JT’s album. Sigh. That boy is perfect.  And it’s going to come out that he was black at one point in his life.  Mark my words.

Marathon countdown, 7 days.

| cheriarmour

I still haven’t heard back from my friend at the New York Post. Rude. Call me back, dude, don’t be a turd!

Anyhoo, I haven’t blogged in like two days. Miss me? Ugh, I missed you too, sexy thang.

I’m like a week out from my marathon. My training is done. I did my last long run today in some beautiful Carolina pre-spring weather.

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And I’m starting to plan for my week for this marathon. So my plan of action for the next seven days?

–Fiber. Gotta stay regs, right? Don’t want any surprises on the course.

–Tina Fey. Justin Timberlake. At the suggestion of more than a few friends after I told them how much I enjoyed Kathy Griffin’s bio, I downloaded ‘Bossypants’. So far, hysterical. And I know I’m not supposed to laugh, but when she imitated old black folks, I nearly fell over, 6 miles into today’s run. I also discovered how friggin phenomenal Justin Timberlake’s station on Pandora was, and if you have a bad word to say about ‘Suit and Tie’, please excuse yourself from this entry presently.

–Water. Liquids. Gotta hygrate. Hygration is key. Water, Hatorade, water, and water.

–Complex carbs. For sustained energy. So I can’t slam a piece of lasagna and three slices of pizza the night before and expect for things to go my way.

–Sleep. No napping during the day in hopes I can sleep full nights. I’m not running anywhere on three hours of sleep. It just won’t happen.

–Shade of nail polish. Duh. I’m not running around, my hands lookin a mess. You crazy if that’s what you think I’ve worked for.

-And finally, makeup. Waterproof liquid liner and mascara. Make fun of me all you want, I’m a scary lookin person under this.

Besides solidifying my victory dance, ::cross cross, catdaddy::, what have I forgotten?

Music to Move By (Monster Post)

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As I was driving home from my parents’ post-Christmas, NPR featured a story on the best songs of 2012.  I was interested because it kinda tied in to this post, on the music that moves you.

Let me disclaim this post by saying when you run or lift, DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT under any circumstance, work with your headphones on full blast.  There are creeps running around who look for folks who aren’t paying attention who would gladly hurt you.  It’s also a good way to get injured – sometimes when you’re listening to your favorite song, it’s easy to miss the first twinge that could signify the start of a worse injury.  When you put your earbuds in, lower it a few notches so you can pay attention to what’s going on around you, kay?

Also, I alphabetized this list for you.  SO MAKE IT WORTH MY WHILE AND READ IT!  That said, this monster post is a compilation of the best songs of 2012, the suggestions of some runner friends, and what I have on my playlist that makes you want to get up and move!

James Brown – Living in America
80s Music – General genre
ACDC – Thunderstruck
Anything by Muse or Girl Talk
Anything from Space Jam
Beastie Boys – Sabatoge
Beyonce – Get me Bodied
Chaka Khan – Ain’t Nobody
Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Diddy Dirty Money – Last Train to Paris
Duran Duran – The Wild Boys
Dyland y Lenny – Pegate Mas
Eminem – Lose Yourself by (The version featuring the Selected of God chorus)
Eminem – Til I Collapse
Eric Prydz – Call on Me
Imagine Dragons – It’s Time
Kanye West – Power
Karmin – Brokenhearted
Ke$ha – General genre
Killers – All These Things That I’ve Done
Lady Gaga – Bad Romance
Lecrae – Hands High
Lil Mama – Lip Gloss
Major Lazer – Anything Goes
Muse – Uprising
N.E.R.D – Rock Star
P!nk – Blow Me (One Last Kiss)
POP – French Montana
Public Enemy  – Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
R. Kelly  – The Worlds Greatest
Rage Against the Machine – Bulls on Parade
Rich Boy – Throw Some D’s on It
Robyn– Show me Love
Sean Paul – Birthday Suit
Soulja Boy – Speakers Going Hammer
T.I – Top Back Remix
Taylor Swift – We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
The E.N.D. (entire album) – Black Eyed Peas
The first Wu-Tang Album
The Roots & John Legend – The Fire
Timbaland – Carry Out
Wale  – Slight Work, Legendary
Ying Yang Twins – Dangerous

Muse and Eminem are trends.  Get on that, man, apparently these guys fuel a lot of workouts.

One Direction gets their own section on here.  Live While We’re Young is the kind of tune that will take you from 5-15 miles in a matter of minutes.

**As an aside, if you find yourself horrifically bored, try this!

Get the free Pandora app.  The only annoying thing about it is that there are some ads, but when you’re running for like two hours, SafeLite ads don’t seem so crazy.

Set the app to the Katy Perry Station.  You will be entertained for DAYS.  Not kidding, it’s the best!  Kimmy (my dear sister) also says the Big Sean Station is poppin.  Whatever gets you moving, hopefully you’ve added a few new tunes to your list!**