2012 Portland Marathon Preview and Playlist

Hello world, it’s Troy.  Tricia has done such an incredible job recapping our lives lately that it’s led my abandonment of blogging altogether as I slowly become reliant on her to do all the writing. However, I figured it was a good time to stretch my typing muscles and write something, as Sunday is the Portland Marathon and after a nearly two year hiatus from running (apparently blogging wasn’t the only area I became complacent in!) I’m going to be a participant.

I’m excited to attempt to relive past glories, which can be viewed here (2008) and here (2009), but am also wary that middle age has caught up to me and 3 months of average training won’t be enough to hit a sub-4 hour marathon.  We shall see.  Happily, I will have Madelyn and Tricia there to cheer me on at some stretch of the course (and cheer me on in spirit the entire time, I’m sure) and regardless of how the race turns out, I get to spend the following week with them at the beach, so I’m guaranteed to have fun :)

I'll be back sometime next week with my results, but in the tradition of years past, I'm going to post my playlist for this year's marathon.  The "rules" I've setup for the creation of the playlist is that it can't use any songs that have been on prior marathon/half-marathon playlists.  Having used 139 songs on the three prior playlists and another 59 this year, I think I'll be abandoning this arbitrary rule next year and just make a playlist of my running greatest hits :)

Here are links to prior playlists:
2008 Half-Marathon Playlist
2008 Portland Marathon Playlist
2009 Portland Marathon Playlist

Fortunately, now you can use Grooveshark to listen to just about anything, so I don’t have to find storage space for all the mp3’s, link them, embed them, etc.

2012’s Portland Marathon Playlist (with the usual caveat that there are some explicit lyrics scattered throughout here, so beware if that’s a concern…)

- Troy Olson, 2012

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2009 Portland Marathon Results -- The Best Laid Plans...

Well, the Marathon has come and gone, and I managed to survive another year. Here then is my recap of the day. I might as well start with my final time, which was 3 hours, 56 minutes, 22 seconds. Below are my splits and placements in the race, along with the results from my Garmin:

Blue line is my pace, Red line is my heart rate, represented as a percent of my max heart rate.

Now, to dissect this bit by bit.

First, this time is essentially the same as what I ran last year (3:54:33). Which goes to show that if you train for exactly the same amount two years in a row, you can expect to run an almost identical overall race. Of course, there were a few thing different between the two years, which I'll touch on later. But this time is way, way off from my hoped-for pace, which I touched on Thursday, which was a 3:45.

So, what were my explanations for this vast difference in times? Three things come immediately to mind.

First off, as I mentioned, that pace is simply NOT going to happen for me until I decide to train more. 12 weeks of so-so training can get me just under 4 hours, but not much better.

Second, I'm positive I could have shaved two whopping minutes off my overall time if I hadn't got stuck behind a giant wall of "slower" runners right at the start (and another minute if I could have foregone a bathroom break at mile 7...but that simply wasn't a choice I had). I didn't join the mass of people at the start line until about 5 minutes before the race started, and thus was in the group of 4 hour, 30 minute runners, who rightfully started off at a slower pace than I wanted to. Still, I was stuck behind them right at the beginning (it's hard to maneuver at this point), leading to a slower than wanted 9:15 pace over the first 3 miles.

Lastly, I'm convinced (yes after one race) that the run-walk method is not a viable method to break much below 4:00, as I did. As I speculated, you have to absolutely fly through the rest of the race in order to do it. I actually followed it pretty well for the first 20 miles and it seemed to work fairly well during that time, as my legs felt good and I was running a fairly nice clip (around 8:22). Still, in order for me to hit 3:45, I would have had to run close to 8 minute miles for the last 6 miles of the race, which is simply not something I can do and I'm laughing at myself for even thinking I could :)

Now, I will say that the run/walk thing a) is a good training method b) DID help me to not be nearly as sore as I was last year and c) did help me out psychologically, where I didn't feel like a wimp for walking, because it was in my strategy. So, overall I think that next year (or next marathon, whichever comes first) I'll train using that method, but perhaps race a little differently.

Enough of the negativity...what did I do well this year. Well, first off, I negative split the race, running the first half of the race in 1:58:56 and the second half in 1:57:26. I think this is a good accomplishment considering that the first half of the race is a little bit easier than the latter half. In addition I was actually able to walk without too much pain after the race and had a bit of energy to spare. Although at the end of the race I felt like my right hamstring was going to pop if I went any faster, for the most part I felt great throughout the race.

And that whole feeling better thing is nice -- last year I wanted to puke when I finished, didn't have much of an appetite for the day, and had over a week where my calves felt like someone took a sledgehammer to them. This year, thanks to a number of things (better stretching, not sitting in a car immediately after the race) I'm happy to report it's one day later and I'm feeling pretty good. Going down stairs hurts my quads a bit and my neck/shoulders are pretty tight, but beyond that, I'm doing good (which is important, since we leave for a sure-to-be walking intensive two-week vacation on Saturday).

I also have confidence that I CAN go faster, if only I can do some legwork in the future (and run more consistently). The Garmin chart above shows that I kept a very, very steady heart rate throughout, until the end of the race, when it started spiking down. Which I read as saying that my cardio is just fine, but my legs weren't up to the task for running any faster. Again, this likely comes back to my lax training. Still, it's nice to know I have a good heart :)

Interestingly, throughout the race, I didn't have quite the euphoria that I had last year. For a lot of the race I had a very business-like feeling to the endeavor. I'll attribute a lot of that to the fact that I knew what to expect, so there wasn't that exciting newness of the experience for me during the entire race. Knowing what was coming up around each corner did a lot to calm me down as I went, but maybe last year's faster pace was partly due to me being too stupid to know any better and being more willing to kill my body for a better time :)

Having the Garmin for the whole race was nice, even though it had me supposedly running a 26.4 mile marathon (I guess .2 miles of error over that distance isn't too bad) and I think that some of the paces were a bit off. It expectantly choked in the shadow of the big Portland building, but that only effected it for a few tenths of a mile, so no big deal. My walk breaks are a bit off from what I intended, which you can see by the spikes on the Garmin graph above -- the aid stations weren't every mile, so I typically didn't stop until I hit an aid station, thus lessening the amount of walking breaks I had.

As for a recap of the race, I've broken it down like so (approx. paces from the Garmin, since the stupid software that comes with it makes me add everything up by hand. Lame.):  

Miles 1 to 3 -- As mentioned, I could have ran faster here, but got off to a bit of a slow start. There is also a considerable amount of climbing here that I had forgotten about. 

Approx. pace = 9:30 min/mile  

Miles 3 to 7 -- started to get in a bit of a groove here, but not feeling terribly settled in how I was performing. I was also constantly looking for a set of porti-potties that didn't have a 15 person line. Thankfully, I found one at mile 7!  

Approx. pace = 8:40 min/mile

Miles 7 to 15 -- At this point I really felt confident in my pacing, although it was becoming evident that I was going to have a lot of trouble hitting my 3:45 goal. The goal shifted to 3:50 right about mile 15 :) Still, I was gaining speed overall and staying at a good consistent pace all while saving up enough energy for the climb to the bridge. This was probably my best part in the entire race (and where I finally passed the 4:15 pace group).  
Approx. pace = 8:36 min/mile  

Miles 15 to 19 -- Ah, the climb up the bridge. I actually did pretty good for such a steep climb, but between the need to walk about half-way up and then not too soon after, this thing was a time killer. One thing I need to remember for next time -- when I text Tricia to tell her I am at "the bridge" I need to clarify that I'm at the St. John's Bridge (mile 16) and not the Steel Bridge (mile 24). She did get to finish line in time to see some really fast people finish though, although none were me :) (love you honey!). It was also in here that I passed the 4:00 pace group (which was a good sign that I would finish sub-4 hours).  

Approx. pace = 9:27 min/mile  

Miles 19 to 26.2 -- After that, I only walked maybe once or twice more and only for short periods, relying on the water/Gatorade on my belt. I flew at the downhill part, but not enough to gain too much time. The last three miles killed me physically. No matter how much faster I wanted to run, my legs were simply incapable. Again, I did fine in the downhill, but the last 1.5 flat miles had my hamstring feeling like it was going to pop, which scared the crap out of me (I kept yelling at it to just wait until the finish line to snap in half).  

Approx. pace = 8:37 min/mile

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Marathon Week - The Playlist

(I’m cross-posting this here and at Elusive as Robert Denby)

I've spent the week discussing my running of the Portland Marathon, which takes place this Sunday, over on my other blog. I thought I'd go ahead and post my playlist for the event here, since it's related to music and I haven't posted anything here for several days.

I've made playlists for the two races I've run prior to this, which I also wrote about and posted songs for. If you need some inspiration for your own playlists then go check them out as well:

Cascade Half Marathon Playlist
2008 Portland Marathon Playlist

If you read those, you can see I do actually put a lot of thought into what is playing while I'm running. For me, the key when creating these playlists is to remember that running a marathon is quite different from most workout activities in that you don't ever want to be going TOO fast. Thus I try to keep the music appropriately mellow until just the right moment. The other thing I look for is finding music that I can sing along to easily in my head (or out loud) since the music is a great way to take your mind off how sore your body is. I've also attempted to not reuse the same song twice on any of these playlists. The last two playlists used up 92 songs off of my running playlist (which does stand at 625 songs, so no problem of running out of choices). For me, favorite running songs ebb and flow as I get tired of listening to some and rediscover others.

Creating a new playlist does help me to find new song combos that spur me on to victory. And it's just more fun to create a playlist from scratch, instead of recycling. The playlist totals up at just over 4 hours and I intend on running somewhere between 3:40 and 4:00 for the entire race, so the number and length of songs is based around those goals. You can go ahead and hear the song by clicking on the little "play" button to the left of it (if it doesn't work, it's likely due to the fact that I have a limited amount of bandwidth available from the site that is hosting the music files).

Pre-Race:

I always like to have some songs to calm me down before the start, since I tend to be very amped up as I prepare to begin the race. Plus, I may get frustrated trying to get a satellite lock on my GPS beforehand (due to the tall buildings surrounding the start area) and a little ELO always calms me down. This is pretty much a sampling of 70's/80's soft rock hits that I enjoy singing along with (all are favorite karaoke choices). Yeah, it's cheesy, I know, I know.

0.1 Don Henley - The Heart of the Matter
0.2 Peter Gabriel - Here Comes the Flood
0.3 Warren Zevon - Desperados Under The Eaves
0.4 Supertramp - Bloody Well Right
0.5 Electric Light Orchestra - Strange Magic
0.6 Howard Jones - No One Is To Blame
0.7 Todd Rundgren - Can We Still Be Friends
0.8 Seals & Croft - Get Closer
0.9 Player - Baby Come Back
0.10 England Dan And John Ford Cole - I'd Really Love To See You Tonight
0.11 Ambrosia - How Much I Feel
0.12 Fleetwood Mac - Landslide

First 10 miles:

I split the race up into three stages, first 10 miles, second 10 miles, last 6.2 miles. The main idea during the first ten miles is to not go too fast, because it's at that point when it feels so easy.

Thus for the first part I stay with songs that are slow and wistful, keeping my mind calm and allowing me to stay on pace. I employed this tactic last year and it worked, but it will be interesting to see how it goes this year, as my pace goal is quite a bit faster. Hopefully my legs go the correct speed, even as my mind slows down. On a different occasion, these first 35 minutes of songs might put me to sleep. In this case I hope that is just enough to counteract the adrenaline rush from starting the race.

1. Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes
2. Bon Iver - Skinny Love
3. Bob Dylan and The Band - Knockin' On Heaven's Door
4. Sufjan Stevens - They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!!
5. Flight of the Conchords - I'm Not Crying
6. The Grand Archives - Sleepdriving
7. Jets to Brazil - Psalm
8. Super Furry Animals - Cityscape Skybaby

I then shift into a relatively more uptempo mix of songs, ending with the building crescendo of the Explosions in the Sky song. You'll notice that throughout the list I love songs that start slow and build to an loud or dramatic finish.

9. Hot Chip - Wrestlers
10. matt pond PA - Summer Is Coming
11. Elvis Costello - Party Girl
12. The Elected - Not Going Home
13. Mates of State - Blue and Gold Print
14. Explosions in the Sky - A Song for Our Fathers

I liked the idea of Hall & Oates sandwiched in between an Eagles/Beatles plus Modest Mouse/Rilo Kiley combo. This set finishes up the first 10 miles, with "A Better Son/Daughter" which dovetails perfectly into the start of the second 10 mile portion of the race.

15. The Eagles - Victim Of Love
16. The Beatles - While My Guitar Gently Weeps
17. Hall & Oates - Rich Girl
18. Modest Mouse - Missed The Boat
19. Rilo Kiley - A Better Son/Daughter

Second 10 miles:

Here is where things get more difficult, as the uphill climbs are in here, including the very difficult run up to the St. John's Bridge.

It's also at about the 16-20 mile point where you hit the crossing point of exerting the most energy and having the end of the race still feeling so far away. Starting the build-up are two songs, both of which have a gradual developing quality to them. The Death Cab song, builds to a crashing chorus of guitars in the last 2 1/2 minutes, while Arcade Fire culminates in a harmonious mish-mash of instrumentation.

20. Death Cab for Cutie - Bixby Canyon Bridge
21. Arcade Fire - Neighborhood

A recent favorite listen for me has been the electronic duo, Ratatat. Besides, all playlists need more synthesizer, so they get the call here.

22. Ratatat - Falcon Jab
23. Ratatat - Seventeen Years

Random assortment of songs goes here...no specific rhyme or reason for this grouping, just an assortment of songs I like, slotted in order of rising tempo.

24. David Byrne and Brian Eno - Life Is Long
25. Bob Dylan and The Band - The Weight
26. Okkervil River - Lost Coastlines
27. Mew - The Zookeeper's Boy
28. Aereogramme - Conscious Life for Coma Boy
29. Rogue Wave - Every Moment
30. Drive-By Truckers - Where The Devil Don't Stay

Here seemed like a good spot to break things up with a trifecta of 80's songs...how could you NOT be inspired after hearing Corey Hart, John Parr, and the Speedwagon!

31. Corey Hart - Sunglasses At Night
32. John Parr - St Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)
33. REO Speedwagon - Time For Me To Fly

Around this point I'll be heading towards the climbing stage of the race, so I've put in songs specifically designed to get me through that...not that I can exactly tell you what quality it is that makes these songs capable of doing that, but they do all have a similar sounding style to them.

34. The Dismemberment Plan - What Do You Want Me to Say
35. We Are Scientists - Ghouls
36. Mates of State - Get Better
37. Say Anything - Belt
38. Coldplay - Violet Hill
39. Spoon - The Way We Get By
40. A.C. Newman - There Are Maybe Ten Or Twelve

Last 6.2 miles:

It's a flat-out sprint to the finish line from here on out.

I start it out with two of my favorite songs of the last year, followed by a stupid, fun parody of bad novelty songs, and finishing up with two of my all-time favorites. I also tried to find a way to fit Pink Floyd's "Dogs" in right here, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make a 17 minute song fit. Which makes me want to have next year's list have all 10+ minute songs and see how it turns out.

41. Conor Oberst - Slowly (oh so slowly)
42. Frightened Rabbit - Keep Yourself Warm
43. Flight of the Conchords - Doggie Dance
44. Elvis Costello - Watching the Detectives
45. Bruce Springsteen - Backstreets

The next stretch begins with the melodic Snowglobe song, includes my favorite track off of Cursive's most recent release (shocking -- it's another song that builds to a bombastic conclusion), and finishes with a great Who song that perfectly incorporates synthesizer and piano with Roger Daltrey's signature voice to create an awesome song.

46. Snowglobe - Rainbow
47. Band of Horses - Islands On the Coast
48. Wolf Parade - Language City
49. Cursive - What Have I Done
50. The Who - Love Reign O' Er Me

70's Stadium Rock! I feel that Foreigner, Styx, and Journey pretty much typify this moment in rock history. In fact, they seem to be pretty much interchangeable...just look at the pictures of the bands for proof:

51. Foreigner - Jukebox Hero
52. Journey - Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)
53. Styx - Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)

Then I'll end the race with three more of my favorites that have been staples of my training runs, coasting through the finish line to the adulation of thousands.

54. The Wrens - Everyone Chooses Sides
55. Drive-By Truckers - Let There Be Rock
56. Wolf Parade - This Heart's on Fire

And there you have it, another year, another playlist. Back on Sunday night or Monday morning with an update on how I did...

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Marathon Week - The Plan

Today, I'm going to discuss my pacing strategy for race day.

I've likely already mentioned it, but I'll reiterate the fact that I haven't trained at the highest level in the lead-up to the marathon. However, it's not like I did much better last year and I ended up doing just fine. I won't go into all of my training, because it's kind of boring, but in general, I tried to do an interval run, a medium pacing run (about 5-6 miles), and a long run (anywhere from 13-20 miles) each week. Some weeks I did better than others, many weeks life got in the way of running. But, here I am, ready or not.

Last year I set two goals for the race. My ultimate goal was to finish in 3 hours, 45 minutes. If everything went right and I ran at my optimal pace, I could have done this (at least I thought I could). I made sure to set a more easily attainable goal of 4 hours, as well. This was nice because by about mile 15 I knew that wasn't going to get that 3:45, yet it didn't discourage me too much, since I still could push to break the four hour mark (and which I did -- my final time was 3:54:33).

My muscles tightened up a LOT near the end of the race last year. In looking for remedies for that, I came across the well-known Galloway "run-walk" method. Now, this has as many proponents as it does detractors, so it's not a guaranteed method. The basic concept is that for certain number miles or minutes you run, you then follow it with X minutes of walking. When training, a sample would be to run for 6 minutes, walk for 1 minute, and repeat. I should point out that I didn't specifically train this way, although I was always mixing in walking with running, just not in as structured a manner. I did test it out for two of my long runs and found that it did help me feel fresher as the mileage increased.

For a race, many people change this concept to "run 1 mile, walk 1 minute," thus lining up the walking at the aid station and giving you time to take in whatever aid you need. Again, different theories are out there on whether this method actually helps you run a better marathon or not. It is supposed to make it so you don't feel as sore when you finish the race, which was a huge problem I had last year. I'll let you know on Monday if that's the case or not.

One upside I like is that it gives you short, concrete markers to strive for, as it makes it feel as i you are racing toward each mile marker, capped off with a short walk, which is psychologically easier than breaking things up into larger chunks.

Of course, the downside is that walking is obviously slower than running. Thus, to hit my goal, I'll have to counter the walking by upping my pace during the running sections. This is where I'm skeptical of this method, but we'll see how it goes. I really don't lose THAT much time if I walk fast, and really I don't see it as any different than when I took 1-2 minute walking stretching breaks at random intervals last year.

Okay, with all of that out of the way, here are my goals for this year. First off, if all else fails, I will run another sub-4 hour marathon and be happy. I know I can do that regardless, so it's not really a goal I'm setting, per se, but it is my fallback and a result I wouldn't complain about. However, if I can run my optimal best race ever, I think I can get to 3:35.

Yeah, as I write that I realize it sounds crazy, but oh, well. My real goal is to hit 3:45, which I think I can do and is what my per mile times are based on. I plan on using the run-walk method for the first 20 miles of the race, at which point, all bets are off and I just run as fast (or slow) as I can.

Fortunately, this year I have my Garmin to run with, so I can much more easily keep track of my pace throughout and decide if I want to speed up or conserve based on where I am (last year I just had to guess). Thus, the per-mile times below have some wiggle room built in and total up to 3:40 -- if I hit ALL of them, I'm way ahead of schedule, but I'm sure there will be some slowing down in there.

Below is my hoped-for pace on each mile -- the run pace is how fast I'll have to run during the running portion, while the overall pace works in what the pace will be for that entire mile with the 1 minute of walking incorporated in. As I mentioned, after mile 20 I intend on running only (and may push that up earlier in the race if I feel like it), so the overall pace matches the run pace.

Miles	Overall Time	Run Pace	Overall Pace w/ 1:00 walk
1	0:08:15	8:15	8:46
2	0:16:40	8:25	8:55
3	0:25:25	8:45	9:13
4	0:33:46	8:21	8:51
5	0:41:59	8:12	8:43
6	0:50:16	8:17	8:47
7	0:58:39	8:22	8:52
8	1:07:02	8:22	8:52
9	1:15:25	8:22	8:52
10	1:23:48	8:22	8:52
11	1:32:11	8:22	8:52
12	1:40:36	8:25	8:55
13	1:48:59	8:22	8:52
14	1:57:22	8:22	8:52
15	2:05:45	8:22	8:52
16	2:14:07	8:22	8:52
17	2:22:48	8:40	9:00
18	2:31:18	8:30	8:59
19	2:39:44	8:25	8:55
20	2:48:07	8:22	8:52
21	2:56:30	8:22	8:22
22	3:04:52	8:22	8:22
23	3:13:01	8:08	8:08
24	3:21:37	8:36	8:36
25	3:29:50	8:12	8:12
26	3:38:13	8:22	8:22
26.2	3:39:59	1:46	1:46

Looking at those, it does assume I equally split the first half and second half of the race. That's important to note, since the race is definitely setup to have everyone positive split (running the first half faster than the second half) due to a bunch of hills right after the halfway point, leading to the climb towards the St. John's Bridge. I ran the last five miles quite fast last year and still only managed a 2 1/2 minute positive split.

I've JUST finished my playlist selections and am just putting them in the proper order. I'll have that up tomorrow for all to see.

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Marathon Week - Things I've Learned

As I noted yesterday, I've only run one and a half marathons. However, I feel I've learned a great deal from those two experiences, experimenting with different things in both, which I'd like to share.  

Pre-race

The night before both races, I had a good-sized Italian dinner. It's worked well. I think it wouldn't hurt to store up even more carbs by eating that way for the three days prior to competition, which I hope to do this year. I always drank sufficient water and stayed away from caffeine and alcohol the days before. The hardest thing for me is getting to sleep the night before.

The big dinner DOES help, but I like to stay up late and having the anticipation of getting up early and racing the next day doesn't help to calm me down. So there is always that issue (haven't found a real solution).  

Race day morning

First off, the last two races have found me about 30 minutes away from the location of the race's start. This year, we are staying in downtown Portland, so I'll only be about 10 minutes away from the start line. That will make a big difference, as I'll be able to sleep in a bit more and get ready more casually.

I always take a shower, even though it seems pointless, just to wake myself up. I went ahead and had my morning cup of coffee both times prior (just one, as opposed to the 5-6 I typically have in the morning...). I feel that one cup won't hurt and my body kind of demands it. Yes, I know I am an addict. I made sure to drink plenty of water and had a bagel and a banana.

I think this year I may eat a bit more in the hotel room, and leave 30 minutes prior to the race start. Leaving then also allows me to NOT have to wait in line for the porta potties to pee, as I'll have the comfort of my hotel room bathroom. Last year, this was a big issue, as I almost had a badder explosion waiting in the very, very slow line for the Honey Bucket.  

Stretching

I stretched both times right before and after the race. I think that more consistent stretching should help a bit, which is why I'm stretching twice-daily for the 2-weeks leading up to the race this year.  

Race food/drink

Prior to the half-marathon, I had never run more than 10 miles at once, thus I was able to make it on my training runs (just barely) without any food or drink. It may not have been the best way to go, but I could do it. During the half-marathon there were NO carbs on the course and I didn't bring anything with me. Lesson learned here, as I about passed out with a mile to go.

Eventually, while training for the marathon, I decided to try out Gu gels and Sports Beans (jelly beans with electrolytes), which helped a lot. Taking those demanded that I drank water, though, or else I'd get a terrible upset stomach. So, I bit the bullet and got the ultra-dorky, but extremely useful Nathan Speed-4 Water Belt.

I ran with that in the marathon, despite there being sufficient aid on the course, but am glad I did, as it allowed me to take my Gu and beans when I wanted to and wash it down with water/gatorade at any time. I've since given up on the Sports Beans, as they were kind of hard to choke down (which a lot of people say about the Gu, but it doesn't bother me to much). I also learned last year to never again take the Liquid Gold stuff they offer as aid, as I believe it was mostly responsible for the horrible stomach ache I had after the race.  

What to wear

When you sweat after one minute of exertion, like I do, the less the better. I wore long sleeves underneath for the half marathon (which took place in January, so brrr), but still stuck with just shorts. Even though it was drizzly, windy, and 50 degrees, I stuck with just a shirt/shorts combo for Portland and am glad I didn't add any layers. I'm more shocked than anything that you will always, no matter what the weather, see guys wearing no shirts. That just seems to be an invitation for getting sick.  

Talking/singing 

You can't talk to me during the race, I simply will ignore you. Yeah, I'm a jerk like that. I put on my noise-canceling headphones for that reason (only during the race -- training with those is just asking to be run over by a truck). However, I will sing. It's actually more just me mouthing the words with strange, breathy noises escape from my mouth, but in my head I've got a full-blown concert going on.

So if I start moving my head with the beat, you'll know why. My playlist is something I take great pride in, as I try to time it to the different paces and emotions that take part at different times in the race. I think I've done good in both races at having a playlist that meets these criteria.  

Pacing

One mistake I have made both times is getting off to too fast of a start. This year, I have a Garmin and a pacing plan, so I will force myself to keep to my planned pace for the beginning of the marathon.

A tip -- just because you assume you should be faster than someone by looking at them, doesn't mean that you need to pass them at mile 6. Just stick to your own plan. I am going to experiment with my pacing this year, incorporating about 1 minute of walking at each aid station, for the first 20 miles. In order to hit my goal time, I'll have to run the rest of the race a bit faster, but as I've been testing this out in my training runs, I've noticed I had a lot more energy to do that when I get a quick walk in there.

It also helps psychologically, always giving you a goal of pushing for just that next mile marker, which can help during miles 14 through 20. I'm also hopeful that it will make it so that my legs aren't totally useless the week after the race. The hardest part of doing this has been coming up with my expected paces, but I think I have that somewhat solved, which I'll get to later this week.  

Post Race

A tale of two races -- after the half-marathon, I wanted to eat everything they had at the finish line. I was famished due to not eating on the course. At the marathon it was the exact opposite, as I had a ball of glucose based goop floating in my stomach, making me want to throw-up and giving me horrid gas pains.

This year, I'm hoping my tummy reacts a bit better and I can enjoy all the treats they give you at the finish line. After that -- a full breakfast is needed (once the gas subsides, in that case) and then, a nice nap. Of course, by that point, everything tightens up. I used The Stick last year to massage my muscles, which did help quite a bit, so I think I'm going to buy one at the pre-race Expo this year.

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Portland Marathon Week - Intro

Only 6 days are left until I embark on my second running of the Portland Marathon, so I've decided to take the week to talk about what lies ahead in this endeavor. I know, most people would rather have me blog about Madelyn than hear me go on and on about myself, but there's little news on that front, so you're stuck with me!

Just a little history on the whole marathon running thing -- for those who don't know, I've run a total of one half-marathon and one full marathon. I bring that up so that you know no matter how much I pretend like I know what I'm doing, I'm by no means an expert. Also -- no, I'm not trying to qualify for Boston or anything like that. I do this to a) give me some exercise during the year, b) because I actually enjoy running (some would call that masochistic), and c) it's fun to have a sporting activity that challenges me and lets me compete, even if it's just against myself.

You can read all about my past experiences with running in these two posts:
2008 Cascade Half-Marathon
2008 Portland Marathon

You can also read about the intensive process that is picking my playlist for these runs, in these two posts:
Half-Marathon Playlist
Marathon Playlist

So, what does that leave me to write about this week...tomorrow I'll tackle what I've learned from past running experiences, Wednesday I'll look at my race day prep (and just how OCD I get over it), Thursday I'll go over how I've been training and my expectations for this year, and Friday I'll post this years sure-to-be awesome playlist that will spur me on to my personal record.

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Portland Marathon Results

I managed to finish the Portland Marathon yesterday in 3h:54m:33s!

This was a little better than my low-end goal of 4 hours, but quite a ways away from my ultimate goal of 3:45. Oh, well. Honestly, I'm not sure how I possibly could have run the thing in 3:45 anyways, so I was plenty happy with my time.

Here are my splits and some details of my run:

First off -- the weather. It was drizzling on and off all morning, which wasn't too difficult to deal with. Then, somewhere between miles 12 and 16 (it all kind of blurs together) the skies opened up and it just poured. As you can tell by my finishing picture below, it never let up too much for the remainder of the race. Apparently, this is the first time it has rained in all the years of the marathon. Glad I could be a part of history.

Overall, I finished in the top 25% of all participants, which makes me very happy. Also, not that it's relevant, but I apparently also managed to finish ahead of 88% of the female runners (these are the stats they made available to me). I was in the top 37% of all males, which was also where I placed amongst all males aged 30-34. My takeaway from that -- there are some really fast people my age.

The most amazing thing to me is that when the first place finisher completed the race, I was at MILE 17! That just seems unhuman to me. The might want to check to make sure the winner wasn't a robot.

Looking at my splits you can get a pretty good idea of my thinking throughout the race. I started out thinking I could hit 3h:45m for the overall race (which equates to an 8m:37s mile pace). I figured if I kept up my 8:50 per mile pace I could make up the rest in the last 5-6 miles (more on that fallacy later).

Obviously, the picture below proves how fast I was running, because Tricia and the camera couldn't keep up with me (this is around mile 5).

That pace wasn't a problem for the first 14-15 miles (including a stupid bathroom break that wasted one minute of my time!).

However, all bets were off once we hit the St. John's bridge at mile 16/17. The climb there was a killer and took about a minute off of my time. I decided at that point, however, not to use up all my reserve energy, since I knew there were 10 miles left, and ran at a much slower pace all the way up to the bridge.

The uphill portion there made the next 4 miles a little tougher than I had expected, as it sapped a majority of my energy. I was sure to take a stretching break every 2 miles or so (the amount of people around me who's legs were obviously seizing up at this point was very high), but I was running on fumes at this point. And my times show this -- at the 21.1 mile mark, I had slowed to a 9:02/mile pace.

Then came mile 21 and I saw my chance to be awesome. Here we had the beginning of a 3.5-mile downhill run (it's about a 120 foot drop in elevation over that distance) and it was at this point I knew I could makeup some time.

Thanks to my training on the mean streets of West Salem, you get used to running down hills, so I sucked things up and prepared to sprint towards the finish line. And I am still shocked at how easily I ran the last 5 miles, as I was able hit a 8:37/mile pace during that interval. There's nothing quite as fun as passing hundreds of people on your way to the finish line :)

And finally, as I was running down Naito Parkway and up Salmon for the last tenth of a mile, I turned off my mp3 player and simply listened to the cheering of the crowd near the finish line, which is an awesome experience in itself.

After crossing the finish line, a rush of emotion came pouring out and I suddenly felt like I was going to cry (the good kind of tears, not the sad kind). I didn't cry, but the mix of my body trying to figure out what I just did to it and the euphoria of finishing such a fete had me emotional at that moment. Trying to put something like that in perspective is difficult when you've not done it before. I'm still excited about simply completing the marathon, let alone with how good I did.

Afterwards, I had some chocolate milk and orange juice, plus some fruit. I couldn't really put down much solid food at that moment, most likely due to all the Gu and glucose based drinks that were sitting like a brick in my intestines and making me quite gassy. I was more than likely mildly dehydrated too (although I took aid at 90% of the stations that offered it + I had water and gatorade on my belt). The walk to find Tricia felt like it took more effort than the marathon did, but it all felt worth it when I saw how excited she was for me. Apparently, she even let out a cheer for me as I was getting ready to cross the finish line :)

After that it was time to shower back at the hotel, stretch, stretch, and more stretching, and then (once my tummy recovered a bit) go get some non-liquid food (thank you Cup and Saucer Cafe).

And that's that. So, does this experience make me more likely to do this again? Yesterday evening, I would have said no (soooo tired and soooo sore). But as I go through it all and write about it, I realize I did enjoy myself and I did get a giant sense of accomplishment from it. So there is most likely another marathon in my future, though I'm not sure I'm ready to make it even a twice-yearly thing (the marathon is actually quite fun -- it's the training and discipline before it that is so difficult). So, perhaps Eugene in '09 or else I might make Portland a yearly occurrence.

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Playlist for the Portland Marathon

(I’m cross-posting this here and at Elusive as Robert Denby)

Unfortunately, there is no internet at our apartment until Monday...at that time I'll write a more substantial blog post about everything that has been happening in our lives, along with the unveiling of a new, exciting blog.

Until then, I figure I need to get a post up about this weekend's Portland Marathon. This is going to be my first full marathon (I ran a half-marathon back in January, which you can read the results of here) and like I did at that time, I am going to post my running playlist for the day (the half-marathon playlist can be found here).

My goal for the marathon is 4 hours, even. According to the half-marathon time I ran, I should be able to run this in 3:45:00...but my long runs don't lead me to believe that is true. However, we'll see what adrenaline and competitive spirit do for my time. I didn't expect to run as fast as I did back in January either, so who knows.

If you happen to be out there, I'll be easy to spot, because against my better fashion judgment, I'm going to wear my water belt during the race. I've been comfortable with it during my long runs, though, so it seems like a good choice to keep wearing it.

Unlike last time, I don't have time to explain the reasoning for each and every song's inclusion and placement in the list (besides, my commentary in the last post comes off way more stupid sounding when I read it 10 months later), but I'll make comments as I deem them necessary. I'm having trouble making this list "flow" perfectly, as it's very difficult to seamlessly integrate four hours worth of music together.

I also went in not wanting to use any of the songs I used in the half-marathon, just to keep some variety in my running music. The basic idea I'm going in with is that I need to do two consecutive, paced 10-mile runs, followed by a 6.2 mile speed run. At least that is the mentality I am going to use during it, and it's the mentality I used while creating the playlist.

Pre-Race: As I did last time, I wanted to have a couple of songs I could listen to pre-race so I don't get either too lethargic or too wired. Soft rock and 80's music tends to be neutral to my brain, so that was what I went with for this time (and ending on a Beatles' song, which isn't here nor there, it's just a fun song).

0.1 "Eye in the Sky," The Alan Parsons Project
0.2 "Can't Get It Out of My Head," Electric Light Orchestra
0.3 "True," Spandau Ballet
0.4 "Give a Little Bit," Supertramp
0.5 "Rocky Raccoon," The Beatles  

First 10 miles: The key for my first ten miles is to simply not go fast. I have to be sure to stay around 9:00/miles or else I'll poop out too quickly. I figure the key to that is to keep myself listening to slower, mellow music (that I can easily sing along to as well) and match my pace to that. The next approximately 90 minutes of songs try to accomplish that feat.  

1. "Samskeyti [Live]," Sigur Ros  
2. "Give What You Take," Mojave 3  
3. "Color Of Your Blues," Money Mark  
4. "I Want to Know Your Plans," Say Anything  
5. "Drop And Anchor," Mates of State  
6. "Cat Heaven," Jets to Brazil

The next four songs kind of fit into a classic rock theme -- beyond that there really isn't much of a thematic element to this first 10 miles worth of songs.  

7. "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)," The Band
8. "Wish You Were Here," Pink Floyd  
9. "Late For The Sky," Jackson Browne  
10. "Hurricane," Bob Dylan  
11. "Corazon," Bishop Allen  
12. "Dream Works," Snowglobe  
13. "Measure 3," matt pond PA  
14. "The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room," Flight of the Conchords

Things sloooowly pick up a bit with Ben Folds/Jenny Lewis/The Jayhawks/Wolf Parade here, each song having a slight build (yet still having a slow cadence) for the time when I'll first be lagging a bit in the run.  

15. "Narcolepsy," Ben Folds  
16. "Rise Up With Fists!!!," Jenny Lewis  
17. "The Man Who Loved Life," The Jayhawks  
18. "Fine Young Cannibals," Wolf Parade  

Second 10 miles: The second 10 miles is the hardest (in my limited long running experience), so I've placed a few more faster paced songs (pretty much all except the first three and the last one) to keep me going during this time. I should also note that this is the time in the run when I'm bound to start singing the songs out loud, so I apologize for my horrible singing voice, should you hear me.

19. "At Least That's What You Said," Wilco  
20. "One Day Like This," Elbow  
21. "Glosoli," Sigur Ros

The Sigur Ros song has an building, uplifting feel to it, so that's why it gets to lead into the more upbeat choices.  

22. "Man Out Of Time," Elvis Costello  
23. "House Is Not a Home," Field Music  
24. "A.M. 180," Grandaddy  
25. "Mind's Eye," Josh Ritter  
26. "Wrong Choice," The Lovely Feathers  
27. "Getting By," The Rentals  
28. "Don't Make Me a Target," Spoon  
29. "Lion's Teeth," The Mountain Goats  
30. "Happy," The Wrens  
31. "Stadiums And Shrines II," Sunset Rubdown
32. "Humans," Islands  
33. "The Siren Sings," The Anniversary  
34. "A Gentleman Caller," Cursive  
35. "To the Dogs or Whoever," Josh Ritter
36. "Go To The Mirror!," The Who
37. "Float On," Modest Mouse

We end with a song to get me focused for the final 6 miles...so a short respite from the faster paced music for a half-mile or so...  

38. "Suckers!," Super Furry Animals  

Final 6.2 miles: Nothing special here, just songs I enjoy listening to that will keep me engaged in spite of the fact that my legs will be in agonizing pain (maybe an overstatement).  

39. "Blanket And Crib," Okkervil River  
40. "For Real," Okkervil River  
41. "The Song Remains The Same," Led Zeppelin  
42. "Slowly, Through a Vector," Say Anything

Since last time I had Goblin in my playlist, and I chose to not duplicate anything, I went with Justice's re-mix of the Tenebre theme.  

43. "Phantom," Justice
44. "Phantom Pt II," Justice

I couldn't find a place for a 10+ minute song in the playlist, so 9:33 will have to do. I decided to go with Springsteen in honor of his future Super Bowl appearance.  

45. "Jungleland," Bruce Springsteen
46. "Carry the Zero," Built to Spill
47. "If The Brakeman Turns My Way," Bright Eyes

Girl Talk gets a suite of songs to wind things up...  

48. "Here's The Thing," Girl Talk  
49. "Don't Stop," Girl Talk  
50. "Play Your Part (Pt. 2)," Girl Talk

And three fun sing/hum-along songs to end it. These three have randomly struck a chord during my runs the last month or so, for no apparent reason.  

51. "Evangeline," Matthew Sweet  
52. "Spectacular Views," Rilo Kiley  
53. "Is This Music," Teenage Fanclub

And with that, I'm done. It's actually 4:05:06 of music (not including the pre-race songs), so there is a good chance I won't need all of it, in which case it turns into victory music :)

Tune back in on Monday to find out how I did and probably hear me whine about how sore my legs are, plus a whole bunch of other stuff. See you then...

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Half-Marathon results!

As I'm sure everyone knows, I ran in the Cascade Half-Marathon on Sunday.

My goal going in was to run the 13.1 miles at a pace of 9-minutes per mile (total time of 1:57:54). That's what I've been "training" at...although I don't think I really trained as good as I could have for this.

Regardless, at the end of the day I destroyed my expectations and ran the race in 1:47:05, which is an 8:11/mile pace. That was good enough for 160th overall (out of 397) and 15th in my age group (male, 30-34). Not sure how great that is, but I was ecstatic over it and felt like I did awesome -- which is what really matters to me anyways (of course, I AM competitive).

All of the results are here: http://www.wvroadrunners.org/cascadehalf/half08.shtml

The race-day pictures aren't up yet, so I'll post those as soon as I can. In the meantime, here are some taken by Tricia (who ruled for helping me out so much in getting prepared for the race over the weekend).

Some random thoughts on the half-marathon:

• It was a good course for my first major run, since Turner is nice and flat. It makes a big difference on the knees between running on nice flat, wide-open road versus hilly West Salem and running on and off of sidewalks.
• The playlist worked out really well. However, since I was so far ahead of my expected pace, I did have to skip a song or two. I made sure that songs like Rockford Files or The Martyr came in right when I wanted them to, though.
• I did a fairly good job of pacing myself. However, at the turnaround point (6.5 miles in -- that much took me about 54 minutes) I actually sped up a bit since I still felt like I had tons of energy. Well, my lungs had absolutely no problem with me doing that, but my legs begged to differ. By the 10 mile mark, the legs were getting sore and were mad at me for increasing the pace. If it weren't a race, I would have taken that time to rest, but it was, so I didn't. By the last mile I just kept thinking about the Great Harvest bread that was waiting for me at the finish line and my legs agreed that we could finish the thing out without stopping.
• It also helped to continuously find people I felt like I should be faster than and try to run past them. That worked fine until the last two miles, when I was pretty much all alone, with no one 100 feet in either direction. I think I ended up catching up to someone at the end, but the people I had my eyes on catching at mile 12, well, that never happened. (From the times it looks like some people caught up to me as well...I didn't have the energy to care to look behind me at the very end).
• The recovery process is quite a new experience. From the pleasant thighs-rubbing-together chafing to the extreme tightness throughout my calves and thighs, it is a learning experience just figuring out how to not be sore all week long. I had a massage on Monday, which was an excellent choice. But I'm still sore today (Tuesday) and could use another massage.
• As for what's next -- Heather and Joylyn brought up the Eugene Marathon. That's in May, so I might try to give that a shot. After that, I'd like to do the Portland Marathon in October. I'm seriously having trouble figuring out how I can run twice as long as I just did. I'll probably have to be much more strict on my training schedule so that my legs can handle all 26 miles. I need to find time to fit in some recreational cycling along with the running, but I think I'll be able to handle both. Not bad for a old man.
• Overall, it was a fun experience and I got a great feeling out of finishing the race how I did. I was worried that I might finish, feel like I did all I could, and then not want to run again -- but the opposite is true. I now want to see just how good I can get and compete with myself to get a little bit better the next time out.

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Half-Marathon Playlist

(I’m cross-posting this here and at Elusive as Robert Denby)

I am going to be running in the Cascade half-marathon on Sunday morning (it will be my first half-marathon). For such a special occasion, I have scrapped all of my previous running playlists and created my ultimate half-marathon playlist. My guess is that this should easily knock off AT LEAST 2 minutes per mile of my time, because I will be so motivated and inspired.

Honestly, there isn't a lot of truly inspiring music on here. It's mostly just stuff that I can bob my head to and easily sing along with (or hum to, in a few cases). That's usually good enough to enable me to ignore the shooting pain streaming through my 30-year old knees and concentrate on placing one foot in front of the other.

I'll also preface things by saying this playlist probably wouldn't work for most people -- not a lot of upbeat, poppy music on here and no workout standbys like "Living on a Prayer" or "Welcome to the Jungle" -- but I find most of the stuff helps me keep my pleasant 9-minute mile pace quite well. And it all makes me happy, which is really the point, isn't it?

For those of you who want, the songs are playable from the little play button next to each one. So listen along with me and enjoy.

ON WITH THE LIST!

Pre-Marathon

Before the race I wanted to have four songs that would get me in the right frame of mind for a pleasant 13 mile run. Also, I'm anti-social and don't want to talk to anyone, since they might screw up my rhythm. Thus, I picked these 20 minutes of songs. It goes from overwrought wuss rock (Air Supply) to monster ballad (Damn Yankees) to anthemic, euro-hair rock (Europe) and finally to sweet, sweet stadium rock (The Who).

0.1. "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All," Air Supply. How could I begin with any other song...truly brilliant. Have I ever mentioned that Wyatt and I attended an Air Supply concert...oh yeah, I have.

0.2. "High Enough," Damn Yankees. This song takes me high enough, er, to run fast. I swear, I can get through this post without putting up a video for each song...but I can't get through this post without showing Ted Nugent in his wraparound shades. (Click here for the video)

0.3. "The Final Countdown," Europe. Who doesn't get excited when they hear this song. I always wanted to have this be my entrance music back in my 4-on-4 basketball days. I am a sucker for any song with an extended synthesizer riff...which leads to
0.4. "Baba O'Riley," The Who. ...the song with the best synthesizer riff ever. Probably a song that annoys a lot of people now, due to its overuse in movies/tv.

Half-Marathon

And so it begins! I kind of broke these into five different phases of the run. The goal was to make sure I don't go to fast to start, use some more subtle, slower songs at the beginning of the playlist. Then some that build a bit in the middle, followed by ones I'd want to run fast to at the end. I also tried to fit certain bunches of songs in 9-minute multiple, so I could easily check my pace. I didn't end up accomplishing that so much...but songs 1-19 DO come in at exactly 72 minutes (8 miles). So, it works out nice.

1. "Fight Test," The Flaming Lips. I'll have plenty of adrenaline to start, I'm sure, and I hate being slow, so I thought a good way to mellow me out would be to pretend I was floating on a cloud for the first song. Or tripping out on acid. Either way, a good way to soothe my way in to the race.

2. "Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner," Warren Zevon. Sadly, most only know Warren Zevon for the song "Werewolves of London," which has kind of become a parody of itself over the last 20 years. However, he also wrote some great darkly interesting songs like this one, about a mercenary who comes back from the dead to avenge his death. Well, that's what it's about on the surface -- more than likely it's an allegory to the cynicism that had taken hold in the late 70's contrasted against the revolutionary spirit of the late 60's. Sound good?

3. "The Party," matt pond PA. Nothing terribly exciting here, but another nice mellow song to start out with.

4. "So Many Ways," Mates of State. Remember how I said I was a sucker for a synthesizer. Well, that comes in to play here again. Still sticking with nice mellow, pop music. I should be just coming up to the 2-mile mark at this point.

5. "Hopeless," The Wrens. Hopeless starts mellow and builds to nice crescendo (right around 2:40, the second time through the chorus). I've had this as the lead-off song for my running playlist for quite some time, so it's a definite favorite.

6. "The Ice of Boston," The Dismemberment Plan. Another personal favorite that might not work great for others, but I seem to enjoy running to. I think it actually all started when we were in Boston and I randomly had this song come up on my playlist while we were on a run. It seemed meant to be. Another song that builds to a nice pace and has a nice constant beat.

7. "LA," Elliott Smith.

8. "Speed Lab," John Vanderslice. Now I'm about 3 miles in to the run, so I'm picking a few songs that kind of sound the same, so I'll keep a constant pace. Nothing revolutionary in the batch of songs, just songs I like to listen to. Starting with two indie singer/songwriter types...Elliot Smith and John Vanderslice.

9. "Start Again," The Electric Soft Parade. And now some British neo-psychedelic music here...it's like Oasis and The Verve never went away. "Start Again has been another mainstay of my running list for a while, so I kept it in. As with synthesizers, I'm always a sucker for that "talk box" voice thing. Except when Cher did it.

10. "A Part of the Woods," matt pond PA. More "chamber pop" from matt pond. Still staying with the easy listening stuff.

11. "Can't Stand It," Wilco. One of my favorite structured songs...moves from style-to-style while still being very balanced. Fun.

12. "Lemon Yellow Black," Jets to Brazil. Emo before emo meant what emo means now...right? I think there is some kind of long standing debate about that term. It does have that emo styling -- softly spoken moments interspersed with crunchy (or grungy?) guitar riffs. Thanks to Blake Schwarzenbach's raspy voice, though, it loses the whininess that's often associated with this type of music.

13. "Lawyers, Guns And Money," Warren Zevon. I love this song for four reasons: 1) It just feels so 80's 2) It was the theme song to that lawyer show that was on Fox which starred Victor Garber (Jack Bristow from Alias). The show sucked, but Garber and the song ruled. 3) "The shit has hit the fan". Wonderful line to get in to a song. 4) Any song that references lawyers in any way makes me think of Tricia...so that's always good. And this puts me JUST short of the 6 mile mark. In my running experience, this is where I start to get a little sore/tired/hungry/etc. So I need the one song that bridge the gap between these difficult times and can always put a smile on my face.

14. "Rockford Files," Mike Post. 

With that we move to the songs for miles 6 through 8, which for me are the toughtest. I need upbeat, poppy songs, and I've got 5 good ones.

15. "Circling the Sun," The Orange Peels. Bright, happy power pop. Wheeeeeeee.

16. "Car Wash," The Heavenly States. More power pop. Wheeeeeee again.

17. "Song for Myla Goldberg," The Decemberists. Another nice, sunny, happy song. That should help to offset the un-nice, un-sunny, un-happy weather.

18. "Hold Me Now," The Polyphonic Spree. Infectiously happy song. It almost seems phony, it's so happy. But I still like it. From Wikipedia:

"The band generally consists of a 10-person choir, a pair of keyboardists, as well as a percussionist, drummer, bassist, guitarist, flautist, trumpeter, trombonist, violinist/violist, harpist, French horn player, a pedal steel player, theremin player, and an electronic effects person."

I'm glad there is a place in this world for a dedicated theramin player (although I guess there must be few out there or we wouldn't have haunted house music)

19. "Underdog," Spoon. Again, simple, happy, good beat. Yay. After those 5 songs, I'm very inspired and excited about finishing. I'm also 72 minutes in to the race, which should put me at the 8 mile mark. As my legs start getting tired, I think it's time for some prog-rock!

20. "Profondo Rosso (Main Title)," Goblin.

21. "Tenebre (Main Title)," Goblin. The greatest horror movie inspired prog-rock band of all time - GOBLIN! Just look at those guys and tell me they don't rock. Plus, they are Italian. They have done music for many of Dario Argento's films (these two songs come from the films "Deep Red" and "Tenebre," respectively), as well as the music for the Italian release of Dawn of the Dead. Since I'm not pretentious enough to critique prog-rock, here is what one reviewer had to say.

"[Profondo Rosso] is an impressive exercise in dynamics, building tension as it moves back and forth between a quiet, intricate riff doubled on acoustic guitar and keyboard, with a full-blooded variation of that theme led by surging, gothic-sounding organ."

I couldn't find a similar snippet for Tenebre, but do you really need it. As a great man once said about music

"Now, when I listen to a really good song, I start nodding my head, like I’m saying ‘yes’ to every beat. Yes, yes, yes, this rocks. And then sometimes I switch it up like "‘no, no, no, don’t stop a rockin’"

That really doesn't apply to a song like this at all, does it? Have I written enough about Goblin now?

22. "Hoppipolla," Sigur Rós. After prog from the 80's and 90's, we get prog from the aughts. Well, less prog and more post-rock. Whatever. This is a song that actually is quite uplifting, even if I have no clue what the words are.

Now, I am in the stretch run. Time to finish up strong.

23. "Waiting For The Sun," The Jayhawks. Some country rock with a nice wistful, harmonic sound. Typical country song uplifting lyrics too, about a guy who lost the woman he loves and now hopes for something better, without actually expecting to get anything better. You just need to accept what life gives you. Seems kind of nihilistic to me...I'll probably end up quitting the race at this point, due to this.

24. "The Fitted Shirt," Spoon. A song about manly men who wore properly fitting clothes. And probably a lot of Old Spice. Ah, the good old days. As most Spoon songs go, it's sparse and simple. Another song that randomly found its way on to my running playlist and has become a standby.

25. "Sweet Marie," The Anniversary. Another song that is structured well...I like how the keyboard comes in when it does, before the drum beat. Sounds neat. Is it obvious I'm not a music reviewer? Add female vocals in a rock band to a list of things I'm a sucker for. That's one of the reasons I like The Anniversary.

26. "I'll Believe in Anything," Wolf Parade. Right from the guitar and drum intro you can tell this will be a good song. Great melody as it builds to the guitars crashing in at the end. This song always makes me want to run faster...which is exactly what I need to be doing at about this point. 

27. "The Execution of All Things," Rilo Kiley. My weakness for Jenny Lewis helps make sure it gets on the list. I'm wondering as I type this if a different Rilo Kiley song would have worked better, though...hmmm.

28. "Boys, You Won't," The Wrens. My favorite Wrens song. In their live show, they give fans drumsticks and have them come up on stage and drum along with the band. Neat, huh. And just as the song fades out in a nice, soft fashion, we go to...

29. "Wake Up," Arcade Fire. Yeah, maybe this is cliche, but the beginning of this song always makes me happy. The rest of the song is really irrelevant to me, because the "ooooh, ooooh" part is all I want to hear. That's 15 musicians harmonizing at once, don't you know!

30. "The Martyr," Cursive. Since I'm at the last song, I figure I need to just run really, really fast to the finish line. "The Martyr" is the perfect song for that. It's pretty much 3 1/2 minutes of build up to Tim Kasher screaming out "the maaaaaaaaartyr," but that works for me. Hopefully, I don't scream the song out as I'm running (which is actually the case for most of these songs).

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