Getting in the zone

I had a productive day at school today.  I made sure that there was very little idle or wasted time so that I could leave my office knowing I had accomplished some of what I came to work to do.  I thought this would help get the week started on the right foot.  Then, as I was getting ready to leave for the day, I put my hand in pee.  I blame the poor lighting in the bathroom and my need to make sure that the paper on the seat is really, really on the seat before I sit down.  But still, it was super gross.  Though it could have been worse.  I could have sat in pee.  And I'm honestly having trouble with the whole putting-my-hand-in-a-stranger's pee thing, so I probably would never recover if I had made rear contact.  Dealing with that type of issue would probably require a full Silkwood shower and I honestly don't think I have enough soap. 

As is my custom, I decided to run off my troubles.  I was a little tired today, but I was determined to get on the treadmill after taking a few days off from running (And writing.  See! Back on track in two, count 'em, two departments!).  After my year of leg injury, pain, and lost strength, I'm starting to see some improvements, which has me looking towards actually running something competitive again.  But I'm not going to say what I think I'd like to participate in out of fear that I might jinx the whole thing.

As any runner might tell you, after stamina, mental preparedness, and getting into a good routine, the soundtrack is essential to the distance runner's success.  And while no one with any taste in music would probably take my suggestions, I was thinking about what makes a good running mix.  For me, it has to be uptempo, with a decent base line.  Basically, I need a little bounce to trick me into thinking I'm bouncing along as well.  It also helps if what I'm listening to is a slightly embarrassing party anthem.  Take, for example, this particular song: 

 

As I know from experience, it is terribly embarrassing for a 28 year-old to be caught driving around with the windows down blasting this song at full volume.  But it's completely appropriate for my iPod*.  

Then there's the song with the steady pace, that's kept me running before, like this one:

You might be asking, "How do you transition between Miley Cyrus and Eminem?"  The answer is that you really can't.  Plus, it's running music.  It's not like I'm trying to send myself a special mix-tape message full of hidden meaning and longing. 

And even though it's probably strange to talk about Eminem and Mariah Carey within three sentences of each other, well, celebrity tension be damned, because I like running to this song, too:

I also enjoy the classics.  Like this one:

Or this one:

I also like to run to this song because I've always thought the Bangles were pretty badass.  Kind of like her**:

And those kids from Glee have an infectious sort of enthusiasm about them.  

So, I'm a little all over the place.  But I also might have done some editing to exclude the truly embarrassing stuff.

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* I listen to the single version that mentions Jay Z (who Miley reportedly doesn't listen to, but I do) and doesn't include a Michael Jackson tribute.
** I've had some trouble running to this song recently.  Once I figured out that the Sunday Night Football song sung by Faith Hill was set to the same tune, I couldn't hear "I Hate Myself for Loving You " the same way.  I like Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and I like football.  I'm iffy on Faith Hill.  But I don't like all those things together.  But since I can't control myself, I'm going to share it anyway.