Running Songs for January

While sitting in my cage cube for 9 hours today, I decided that I wanted to talk more about running this year. The food talk is not going away but I want to incorporate some running talk too. I have a couple of races planned in the next couple of months and I have been running up a storm lately to prepare. I have realized over the past several weeks that the music I listen to is everything while running. A good song will make me run faster, take my mind off the pain, and break up the boredom. I have always appreciated music but I have a new found obsession with making running playlists and finding running songs.

At the beginning of every month I am going to share with you my top songs of the month. I make a new playlist every week or so. I find that I can very quickly become bored and burnt out on a song. The songs that I have listed are my favorite songs at the moment. I woulg go crazy if I listened to all of these songs for the next month every time I ran or hit the gym but I am sure that my future playlists will include a couple these.

10. Run It by Chris Brown I know, know, Chris Brown didn’t have the best year but the boy does have a few good songs. This is one of his better hits (no pun intended). It is great to run to a song where the lyrics say run over and over.

9. Run this Town by Jay Z featuring Rihanna and Kayne I like to listen to this song at the beginning of a run. Again, a song with run in the lyrics makes running a lot better. And it is just so darn catchy.

8. Remember the Name by Fort Minor This is one of the best songs I have found to keep my motivation up. It is great to listen to towards the end of a run when I just want to give up and take a nap on the side of the road.

7. Since U Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson We all love this song. Men, women, children, babies, dogs. We all love it, right?

6. Down by Jay Sean featuring Lil’ Wayne I think one of my best moments of 2009 was discovering Lil’ Wayne. Seriously. I am obsessed with him. I love when this song coincidentally begins to play as I run down a hill. Too bad we will have to wait a year for Lil’ Wayne’s next collaboration. Prison will do that to you, kids.

5. Gold Digger by the Glee Cast This song has been around for a little while and is overplayed. But the Glee version is awesome. Aside from short, tattooed rappers, my second favorite discovery of 2009 was Glee. The show puts a smile on my face and so does this song during a long run.

4. Can’t Stop by the Red Hot Chili Peppers A perfect running song when you know you can’t stop.

3. Meet Me Halfway by the Black Eyed Peas I am so glad that Fergie stopped doing her own thing (she was great as a solo artist but I missed the Peas) and the group got back together. This song has a great upbeat tempo that keeps me running like a gazelle.

2. Till I Collapse by Eminem I am beyond obsessed with this song. It is one of those songs that can be really motivating.

1. What is your top song of the month?