Making tracks: tunes to run to

Image by composita from Pixabay

Image by composita from Pixabay

We all have an encouraging, motivational friend who gets us up and out when we need a bit of a prompt. I’m not naming mine (tracy) but I can say that I met her in Singapore, where she got me running; that she then moved to a different country but motivated me from afar; and that she’s now living nearby again and continues to encourage me to explore, learn, and enjoy life. We do fun things, happy things, interesting things, have good times together, our two families.

That is, until a new group chat pinged onto my phone yesterday with the sinister title ‘FAMILY MARATHON’.

‘No,’ I said, before I’d even read it, but I was duly ignored, and the chat commenced.

Thankfully It’s not what I thought. The anonymous friend (tracy) has encouraged us to sign up to a group mazza where we all take a bite out of the painful running pie. We can divide it up any way we like, so for our family, Mr Fairy (who adores running) has suggested he takes a brave 22k, with me and the boy doing 10k each. Piece of cake, he says.

Here’s what happened during my last 10k

Here’s what happened during my first one

Not pretty at all, and it’s not got any easier. These days I manage a measly average of 3 per run, and the thought of a 10 makes me dry heave. But two things helped me think of the event in a more positive light:

a) Mr F helping me download a program that tells me, idiot-style, how to train between now and 29 June,
b) the boy helping me finally access our online family music group, so I can ditch the retro Shuffle and have a massive playlist on my phone. From about 4pm to 11pm last night I had fun searching up top running tunes, sculpting a fine and rousing pavement-pounding soundtrack.

I’m actually very happy about the run today, especially as I tested out my playlist this morning, when the boy and I stepped out for our first training lap round the park. I really can’t imagine why he hung back as I lip-synched to my best tunes, and electric-guitar-jumped over puddles.

Yes, t***y, running with me is going to be all kinds of embarrassing, just wait til June.

There’s still space for more titles on my playlist. What’s your top running tune and why? Answers in the comments, please.