Philosophical 11/12/2011
 
Going to try and keep a steady beat of five mile runs. I did a fiver and a sixer during the middle of what was the busiest work week of my calendar year, so I'm going to hit it hard this weekend. I only did three yesterday, but the five-mile runs have felt right in this colder weather.

I find that I'm expending a lot more energy to pay the debt my body needed to generate additional warmth to combat the cold weather. I could keep doing seven or eight each week, but I think I'm going to run myself down and that's not what this goal is about.

1,000 in 366 is a lesson in endurance. If I can keep this up, I feel like I'll give myself additional confidence in a lot of areas in life: work, relationships, times of financial uncertainty, and so forth.

Plus, I'm going to be 25 in a few short months. That's still a very youthful age, but with the health problems I have had since high school, I have a different perspective on mortality, and I think proving that I can squeeze 1,000 miles out of this body in a year will serve my inner-biology well and liven a soul that's a little more aged than my age shows. Major surgery at age 18 would age anybody, wouldn't it?

I think my days of mild, headspace music are gone until I have some dainty blankets of white snow to trudge though on the sidewalks around me. The cold weather requires energy and motivation that I find by the bucket in hip-hop, so on a very blustery day this week, I created a hip-hop playlist called windy. Yes, this is a terrible title for said playlist, but it's my party and I can laze if I want to.

windy
Common - "Be (Intro)" - One of my most favorite hip-hop songs ever put on tape. It's not even three minutes in length, but there's an hour of heart there.
Talib Kweli - "Get By" - See above sans running time comments.
The Throne f/ Otis Redding - "Otis" - One of the best beats/samples in the game in 2011.
The Notorious B.I.G. - "Juicy" - Classic. If you don't know this song bar for bar, go do your homework.
Lil Wayne - "A Milli" - What happened to this Weezy? Get back on the syrup, because Tha Carter IV was a lazy effort in my opinon. Nothing terrible cutting or jaw-dropping like "A Milli," and not that I want another song just like this, but the power of a track was forgotten by Mr. Carter back in Rucker's in my opinion.
Eminem - "Rabbit Run" - Terribly literal for my purposes. No hook on this 8 Mile-inspired track, and it's a shame more people probably wouldn't put this in Em' top 10.
Nas - "Hero"
Nicki Minaj f/ Eminem - "Roman's Revenge" - RAH RAH LIKE A DUNGEON DRAGON!
Drake - "Headlines" - My favorite track from Take Care.
Dr. Dre f/ Eminem & Skylar Grey - "I Need a Doctor"
Twiztid f/ ICP - "All I Ever Wanted"
Yelawolf - "Brick in the Wall" - Can't wait for his new album!
Wu-Tang Clan - "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta F' Wit"
Bad Meets Evil f/ Bruno Mars - "Lighters" - Liking this song a lot this week. Saw Em, Royce, and Bruno perform this live at Lollapalooza this past summer.

November 9, 2011: 6.26 miles
November 11, 2011: 3.29 miles

Miles to Date: 135.48 miles

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Yeah, it's been a while.

There's one week out of the entire year of my work calendar that is incredibly hectic and demanding and I'm nearing the end of that chaos.

And it's not like I haven't been running during this utter dearth of blog updates - because I'm sure there's millions upon millions waiting with bated breath to hear if I dropped dead from running or not - because believe me, I have.

I kind of hit a rut after the fallout my body went through following the massive eight-mile run I did Halloween weekend. I tried to take some easy runs and even gave myself a couple days off, but I just couldn't quite get my legs under me. The weather getting colder is making my muscles a little less pliable than I would like too, but I'm eating better and trying to sneak more protein and carbs into my diet - because with very little dietary research, I'm assuming those are both good things to have so I have some semblance of fuel to not only run but get through my day with a sliver of sanity.

I'm going to come back with a vengeance and try to hit 200 miles before St. Nicholas Day (December 8th). I think it's a doable goal considering the weather and the fact that I got smart and gave my body some much-needed downtime.

I've got some playlist ideas running through the ol' noggin, but there's also Podcasts and actual albums to keep things interesting. I've been listening to a lot of Bill Simmons' The B.S. Report and Marc Maron's WTF podcast. He had Chris Rock on last week and Rainn Wilson today, so there's been some good conversation. I also might through some comedy albums in there - I just discovered how utterly gut-busting Bill Cosby's To Russell, My Brother With Whom I Slept is.

Today though, I caught a leak of Drake's Take Care and to fully intend on buying the physical copy of the album when it is released. It's hard to believe this guy has much more talent in an artistic sense than I have in...any sense. I mean, the dude is the same age as me.

I will say that while the cohesiveness of the two-thirds of the album I've listened to thus far is a giant leap ahead of Thank Me Later, the main focus is that Drake hasn't been terribly successful in sustaining a long-term, fulfilling relationship with a lady. It's worthwhile, vulnerable subject material but I'd like to see some expanded depth on his third album, which should be out by late 2012 or early 2013 if he continues working at this pace.

Overall though, great beats, and a good introspective album for running. It had a calming sense which helped me combat the cutting Midwestern fall winds I ran through on my 5+ miler today.

Question to self: How many more artists' albums will Nicki Minaj steal spotlight from? First it was her verse on "Monster" from Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Now, "Make Me Proud" on Drake's album. With the experience she's gained, I think she'll be incredibly selective and the

October 30, 2011: 2.10 miles
October 31, 2011: 4.58 miles
November 2, 2011: 3.11 miles
November 4, 2011: 5.39 miles
November 5, 2011: 6.06 miles
November 8, 2011: 5.38 miles

Miles to Date: 125.93 miles
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Catfish 10/29/2011
 
Today was the day. I debated it back-and-forth throughout the day after waking up from staying up late watching St. Louis somehow rise from September mediocrity to win the World Series in Game 7. My buddy and I stayed up and watched a horror movie after that, because it was rather horrific to see the Cards win the World Series. Unless someone is offering a billion clams, I don't see Albert leaving STL in the free agency.

But back on topic, today was the day I exited the running lull I'd been in. I had set a goal earlier in the week to do an eight-mile run: my longest run since my high school cross-country days. My previous "longest run" leading up to this was around 7.2 miles. Granted, I have this 1,000 mile goal for the next year, but sometimes you have to set benchmarks along the way to see achievements and successes in yourself to stay motivated and happy.

So I ran the eight miles today. I feel exhausted and achy, but I did it and in the moment, if I wasn't so hungry, I probably would've done nine.

I had my fiance drop me off at a local canal running path and on my loop back, a middle-aged gentleman caught up to me and chatted for about three-quarters of a mile. He runs triathlons and our conversation motivated me to do a half marathon (13.1 miles I believe) on Mother's Day next year.

I feel like I could actually do that now if I had to, meaning I feel like I could physically make it from the starting line to the finish line of the half marathon. Would I do it at a respectable pace?

Probably not...yet. I'll half to work on my pacing and determine what kind of mile splits I would want to aim for. I'll make it through my upcoming wedding and the following frigidity of the Midwest winter and then we'll see where I'm at, but that would be another one of those good small goals to shoot for that would ultimately lend itself to what I'm trying to accomplish by October 7, 2012.

But anyways, I did the eight miles in a pretty decent time. I think the iPod said my mile pace was around 9ish minutes/mile. I feel like if I did a half marathon, I'd want my splits to be between 8-8.5 minutes/mile. Did I just type a backwards velocity there?

I also learned a valuable lesson about how to craft future playlists. Short and sweet people, short and sweet! I made the final version of my eight-mile playlist and it was over 90 minutes in length. Time wise, that was several songs too long. I found myself at the end tracking to The Nuge's "Stranglehold" and Avenged Sevenfold's Sweeney Todd-esque "A Little Piece of Heaven." Don't worry though, I managed to sneak Macca's "Ebony and Ivory" in as I rounded the corner onto our street for the last couple hundred meters of my run.

Unless I have a firm theme in mind for a playlist, I firmly believe in rewarding myself at the end them with a song that's really poppy, chill, or ironically different that the mood of the rest of the playlist. Like, on this one, I had super energetic and uplifting hip-hop, hard as nails metal and rock, and a few epic sonic treks that clock in well past the desired length intended for radio play. So playing "Ebony and Ivory" is kind of like a little comic nudge at the end to remind me to snap out of the endorphin hallucinations of my run and...smile. [Insert your favorite emoticon here]

Here's the playlist from today, amended for the viewer with the songs I actually listened to. This is the shorter version I should've created from the beginning:

8 mile: full length feature
Eminem - "Lose Yourself"
Tyler, the Creator - "Yonkers"
Wu-Tang Clan - "Triumph"
Outkast - "B.O.B."
B.O.B. f/ Haley Williams & Eminem - "Airplanes, Pt. 2"
Lamb of God - "Contractor"
Van Halen - "Everybody Wants Some!!"
A Perfect Circle - "The Outsider"
Dragonforce - "Through the Fire and Flames"
Superjoint Ritual - "Stealing a Page or Two from Armed and Radical Pagans"
Ted Nugent - "Stranglehold"
Avenged Sevenfold - "A Little Piece of Heaven"
Paul McCartney - "Ebony and Ivory"

Oh, I called this post "Catfish" because I had an awesome meal of fried catfish at a restaurant with my fiance after I got cleaned up from the run.

October 28, 2011: 3.02 miles
October 29, 2011: 8.05 miles

Miles to Date: 99.31 miles
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The Lull 10/27/2011
 
How appropriate that Metallica releases the biggest 'lull' album of their career in a few days (their Lulu collaboration with Lou Reed) when I hit what I knew was coming: the runner's lull.

Here in the good ol' Midwest, the weather was teasing the impending arrival of winter; the nape of winter's neck being revealed if you will. But like the tease of a seductress, we would get a day or two in the 70s. So here I am going between wearing cut-off tees and hoodies and I didn't have to really deal with the weather yet.

But this week, I've finally had to layer up on my expeditions, and like it or not, the colder weather does relieve you of some of your gusto, whether you like it or not. It's mentally draining and while I can honestly say I don't put much stock into what other people think - you know, besides putting what I think out there for you to read in the hope that you think I'm cool - but here's the time of year when drivers and passersby are starting to look at the skinny bearded guy with confusion and in the case of some soccer moms and truck-driving yahoos, disdain.

So between being looked at as slightly duck-odd and being cold and suffering from a sheer dearth of energy - I'm still struggling to eat enough, as a diet change this radical is hard to get used to - I've hit the lull.

I was able to dupe myself out of the lull for a few days with some hour-long podcasts about the NFL Week 8 games and lines and NBA lockout - thanks to Bill Simmon's The B.S. Report - but I needed some real motivation. I decided that I need to combat this lull with my longest run to date: 8 miles.

Now I know what you're thinking and yes, I did include "Lose Yourself" from the Eminem film 8 Mile. After seeing Eminem perform the song with his live band in the encore of his Lollapalooza-headlining set this summer, I decided that if you had to pick one song to really represent what Eminem is and the emotion he conveys that has made him so successful for so long, "Lose Yourself" is the one. There's something truly majestic about the symphonic crescendos in the hook and the outro bit.

So yes, for my upcoming 8-mile run, I included a song from the movie 8 Mile. Call it literal. Call it uncreative or predictable on my part, but I will not apologize.

Here's a prequel playlist that is the bare bones of what will be a longer playlist for the 8-mile run I aim to do this weekend. I used it today for a 4.5 miler, but I only got to the Parliament song sadly. I'm just too fast!

8mile: the prequel

Eminem - "Lose Yourself"
Tyler, The Creator - "Yonkers" - Great beat. Juvenile song but great beat.
Wu-Tang Clan - "Triumph" - My Wu-Tang Clan kick is alive and well. My goal this weekend is to listen to both sides of the Wu-Tang Forever album and Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).
Outkast - "B.O.B." - In my opinion, resides in the top 25 songs all-time. There isn't anything else like it.
Lamb of God - "Contractor"
Van Halen - "Everybody Wants Some!!" - Yes. I know Van Halen is planning a new release with Roth. That makes me say "no" but this song will forever make me say "yes."
A Perfect Circle - "The Outsider"
System of a Down - "Question!"
Superjoint Ritual - "Stealing a Page or Two from Armed & Radical Pagans"
Nine Inch Nails - "The Big Come Down"
Parliament - "Flash Light"
Nickelback - "Rock Star"
Warren Zevon - "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner"
Ted Nugent - "Strangelhold" -
Paul McCartney - "Ebony and Ivory" - Is there anything more satisfying than ending a run with Sir Paul? I think not.

October 23, 2011: 3.24 miles
October 24, 2011: 5.72 miles
October 26, 2011: 6.08 miles
October 27, 2011: 4.52 miles

Miles to Date: 88.24 miles
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So with the upcoming nuptials and general hustle and bustle of life, I haven't blogged in quite a few days. Plus, I caught what I think was a 24-hour mild stomach bug that left me a little drained and bereft of the energy required for a true distance run. I've found that having been at this goal and conditioned my mind to longer runs around 5-7 miles long, I have a hard time just doing a quick 2-4 miler. Good in theory but it leaves me drained after doing it a few days in a row. Gonna' have to vary up my mileage to keep my legs under me.

So for my playlists this week, I tried to keep with the 'headspace' theme where the music it's terribly intense. It's more of me wanting songs that are varied in style but still keep me from mental fatigue. Lest we forget, the act of running is really just putting one foot in front of the next at a fairly rapid rate.

I also like to keep a little irony in the mix. Like, let's throw "Turning Japanese" in the heart and let future me deal with that. Gotta' keep myself on my toes.

So anyways, here's a playlist called Charlatan Gin Rummy.

Charlatan Gin Rummy
The Pharcyde - "Passin' Me By"
Radiohead - "Idioteque"
The Verve - "Bitter Sweet Symphony" - I felt like a Nike commercial while running to this song. How corporate!
Kid Cudi - "Day N Nite (Nightmare)"
Everlast - "What It's Like" - Sampled his new album on Spotify recently. Didn't hear anything as awesome as this song, so I decided to relive the past.
Wilco - "Wilco (The Song)"
Slipknot - "Vermillion, Pt. 2"
Sublime - "Chica Me Tipo"
The Delphonics - "Funny Feeling" - Hard evidence to the talents of the legendary Delphonics. I need to get more music by these guys.
The Vaselines - "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam"
The Smashing Pumpkins - "United States" - An almost 10-minute epic that is one of the shining moments of Billy and Jimmy's Zeitgeist album I saw them tour on back in 2007.
Vapors - "Turning Japanese"
Slipknot - "The Virus of Life"
Nine Inch Nails - "Dead Souls" - Felt like Eric Draven running through the fiery streets on Devil's Night... Go watch The Crow immediately if you haven't seen it. They remake that movie and I riot. Just saying.
Thievery Corporation - "Lebanese Blonde"
Soulfly - "Tree of Pain"
Slipknot - "Danger - Keep Away"
Coheed & Cambria - "Welcome Home"

I also came up with a rather eccentric mix the other night called brunette. I named it after one of our new Chicago Blackhawks named Andrew Brunette, as I was creating this playlists while watching my Blackhawks topple the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night. Look closely for the hockey influence that served as a pick-me-up in the middle of a cold Friday night run I did:

brunette
Daft Punk - "Derezzed"
The Glitch Mob - "Derezzed (The Glitch Mob Remix)" - So, so good. Saw them perform this song live to open their Lollapalooza set this summer.
Mos Def - "The Rape Over" - A micro cover of Jay-Z's "The Takeover," which sampled "Five to One" by The Doors, who samples lots of illicit things in their time.
James Brown - "Get Up Offa That Thing" - James Brown was awesome. Part of of a funky two-part punch to begin my second mile.
The Time - "Jungle Love" - Big up to Jay and Silent Bob. OH EE OH EE OHH! I THINK I WANNA' KNOW YA, KNOW YA!
Aerosmith - "Water Song/Janie's Got a Gun"
Suicidal Tendencies - "Institutionalized"
Slayer - "South of Heaven" - Aaron's official mid-run pump-up song.
Rush - "Red Barchetta"
Stompin' Tom Connors - "The Hockey Song"
Primus - "Tommy the Cat (live)" - Say babay!
The Roots f/ Erykah Badu - "You Got Me"
Metallica - "Jump in the Fire"
Nine Inch Nails - "March of the Pigs"
Lamb of God - "Pariah"
Lupe Fiasco - "Put You on Game"
Kiss - "Cold Gin"
James Brown - "The Payback"
Gnarls Barkley - "Run (I'm a Natural Disaster)" - It's in the name.
Every Time I Die - "Wanderlust"
Clint Mansell - "A Swan Song (For Nina)" from Black Swan


October 18, 2011: 7.37 miles
October 21, 2011: 5.02 miles
October 22, 2011: 6.24 miles

Miles to Date: 68.68 miles
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Did a quick run after work today. More than anything, it was to test the incoming cold Midwestern fall weather that's finally rearing its ugly head. I was running in shorts and a cut-off tee less than a week ago, so now, it's time to switch to hoodies. I refuse to wear workout pants outdoors until absolutely necessary. Those that know me well know that I have an entire drawer of nothing but tall athletic socks in almost every color, and I'll wear those sons o' guns loud and proud until they prove futile. I recommend your local mall's Journeys store if you want to rock tall socks like me.

Went without a playlist today. Monday runs are exclusively dedicated to ESPN's Bill Simmons' podcast The B.S. Report. Each Monday, Simmons and Cousin Sal from The Jimmy Kimmel show break down the upcoming week's NFL matchups and they compete to try and predict the Vegas lines for each game. A very good listen each week in my opinion! Sometimes Podcasts help you space out during a run and break up the monotony of some of the same music each day.

I also dig Marc Maron's WTF podcast in which he interviews stand up comedians twice a week. He just posted an interview with Norm McDonald, whose work I thoroughly enjoy. His last special that was on Comedy Central was amazingly irreverent.

I'm thinking that since I've been listening to a lot of Wu Tang and Aesop Rock lately, I need a change of pace. I think it's going to be a headspace type of mix for me tomorrow on what I think is going to be a lengthy hour+ run. Cool down run Wednesday and day off Thursday while mom visits and I get some car repair work done after work.

Something tells me I'm going to put some 80s songs on this mix. I know I'll regret it later, but it's just too tempting at the moment. Must go drink more water...NOW!

October 17, 2011: 4.64 miles

Miles to Date: 50.05 miles
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Need food now! 10/16/2011
 
So I can't stop eating. According to the ol' iPod, I've been burning upwards of 700 calories per run. Being only 150-ish pounds and not really eating a ton each day, I'm starting to wear down. I'm going to make an earnest effort to consume more calories on a daily basis. The key for me is going to be to consume good protein - not a ton of red meat - and a lot of fiber and grains. I don't want to wear my body down and be susceptible to illness this fall and winter, so it'll be important that I take my vitamins and eat lots of fruits and veggies. I've been trying to get more sleep too, but with work giving me an all-time high of stress at the moment, that's been rather hit or miss.

I did break a personal best for distance this past Friday. Not since high school cross-country had I run more than six miles at one time. We're talking 6-7 years ago here. After work on what was a super blustery Friday, I pushed through and put in a seven mile run. My fiance watched as I stretched very prostrate on the living room floor after that one. I'm going to take my friend Mary Kate's advice and engulf my legs an ice bath sometime this week. My calves have been on fire for the last few days and if I'm going to keep this up, I'm going to need to recover a little quicker.

I had a few good runs with a hip-hop/ rap playlist I made. It'll be the first of several movements of a playlist series I'm calling beats. Here's the first volume.

beats (movement 1)
UGK f/ Outkast - "Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You)" - Loved this song ever since I saw Katt Williams enter to it his Pimpin' Pimpin' comedy special. Very good to start a mile off to. Andre 3000 really needs to get back in the game on a more consistent basis.
Lil' Wayne f/ Travis Barker - "One Way Trip"
Beastie Boys - "Just a Test" - Best and most underrated track on the Beastie's 1998 effort Hello Nasty
Lupe Fiasco f/ MDMA - "Coming Up"
Bad Meets Evil - "Loud Noises"
50 Cent f/ Eminem - "Patiently Waiting"
Tech N9ne - "F*** Food"
Common - "Break My Heart"
The Roots - "It Just Don't Start"
Dead Prez - "Be Healthy" - Vegans and soul food enthusiasts: This be your anthem right here. I love Dead Prez's sheer unfiltered message of freedom and really need to get more of their music. I saw them on the Rock the Bells Festival in 2008 and they were great.
Gorillaz f/ De La Soul - "Feel Good Inc."
Kanye West f/ Brandy - "Bring Me Down"
Limp Bizkit f/ Method Man - "N 2 Gether Now"
The Notorious B.I.G. - "Ten Crack Commandments"
X-Ecutioners f/ Linkin Park - "It's Going Down"
The Pharcyde - "Otha Fish"
LL Cool J - "Rock the Bells"
Outkast - "Player's Ball"
Mos Def - "Casa Bey"
N.W.A. - "8 Ball"
Nas - "One Mic"
Saul Williams - "Black Stacey"
Mos Def - "No Hay Nada Mas" - My official cool down anthem for the autumn. A mellow Spanish flow by Mos Def, "No Hay Nada Mas" translates to "There's No More." How literal! My Spanish education in college pays off in the real world!

October 14, 2011: 7.17 miles

October 16, 2011: 5.19 miles

Miles to Date: 45.41 miles
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While I've been back into distance running for a little over a year now, I haven't intensified and managed a goal since my high school cross-country days. Perhaps I won't feel too slow and out of shape at my brother's XC meet this Saturday at the Illinois XC State Finals course that I never got to compete on.

Not that I'm bitter or anything, but let's just say that I intend on bringing my running shoes and a set of workout clothes to do a few miles at Detweiler Park on Saturday after we finish some brief engagement photos by the autumn trees. An almost-25-year-old can still dream... Man, I need a 5K or something.

I'm heading to bed shortly. Looking forward to reading Moneyball after that spirited Brewers win tonight to tie up the NLCS. Made the first of several movements of a hip-hop/rap playlist that I'll share after my run. If the body isn't too sore, I'm planning on doing 7 miles tomorrow. Weather permitting of course.

G'night.

October 13, 2011: 5.81 miles

Miles to Date: 33.06 miles
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And a respite 10/12/2011
 
I'm taking my first day off running since I started my goal of 1,000 miles in a year last Friday. In that time, I've covered just over 27 miles. I'm hoping to crack 30 tomorrow on a light run, weather permitting. My body need a day to recover and relax, so I'm at home catching up on some chores, schoolwork, and DVR. Watching the series premiere of American Horror Story and it's OK so far. Brewers-Cards Game 3 of the NLCS is tonight as well!

So anyways, playlist-wise, I knew I was going to need something energetic to get me through some of the achiness I had after my six-mile outing on Monday - on which I surprising felt vigorous as a sweated out the previous evenings high-shelf Scotch courtesy of my friend Stephen - so I turned to an old friend: Rage Against the Machine.

I'd had them on my mind since I read a new feature Rolling Stone ran in the most recent issue about guitarist Tom Morello. Good read. Seems like his rebel ways are becoming more mild in his old age, but he repped with a concert at the teacher marches in Madison, WI, so he's still got my respect.

Having seen these guys live twice and playing their hits WAY too much, I tried to keep this one laden with less 'greatest hit-sy' tracks. I named it xmarksthespotbecause I was watching the first Saw film and that line happened to come up in the movie when I was creating the playlist.

xmarksthespot
RATM - "New Millennium Homes"
Cypress Hill f/ Tom Morello - "Rise Up"
RATM - "Maggie's Farm" (Bob Dylan cover)
RATM - "Township Rebellion"
RATM - "The Ghost of Tom Joad" (Bruce Springsteen cover)
RATM - "Down Rodeo"
RATM - "Fistful of Steel"
RATM - "Street Fighting Man" (Rolling Stones cover)
RATM - "Beautiful World" (Devo cover)
RATM - "How I Could Just Kill a Man" (Cypress Hill cover)
RATM - "Freedom"
RATM - "Year of tha Boomerang"
RATM - "Mic Check"
RATM - "Maria"

October 10, 2011 - 6.14 miles
October 11, 2011 - 5.33 miles

Miles to Date: 27.25
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So Far, So...Far 10/09/2011
 
Well, I'm currently laying on the couch with a belly full of leftover turkey and cranberries. Lesson learned thus far: I need to eat more. According to my iPod, I've burned like, almost 2,000 calories in the last two days just on running. I don't really eat a ton, so if this goal of running 1,000 miles in a year is going to increase my overall health instead of running me down, I'm going to need to shove more shit in my mouth on a more consistent basis. I'm thinking two lunches today and some pizza for sure tonight. Pizza or burrito, depending on what my friends that are traveling to stay over tonight want.

So I decided that the playlist I made this weekend sucked. It's just too all over the place, even for me, the guy who - between Pandora on my Android phone and Spotify on Facebook - has listened to songs by Drake, Boston, Wu-Tang, ODB, and the Dropkick Murphies in the last hour.

However, I did create a mellow, head-spacey playlist last night for a second, cool down run. The idea was to jog slowly and try to rid my legs of some of the lactic acid buildup from the day. Whether I should've taken this run earlier in the day is beside the point. I felt better at the end of the run, so it worked out. The playlist is called hoth because I made it while watching the beginning battle sequence of my new Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back blu-ray disc that takes places on the arctic planet of Hoth.

hoth
Static-X - "Tera-Fied" - This is a cool track that is slightly heavy, but mellow enough for my tastes to get me going. It's probably one of the truly solid things Wayne Static has written in the last 5 years or so. I wish he would drop the hardness that defines Static-X's music for just one album and make some truly transcendental. When Static uses equal amounts of pulsating synth and metal riffing, something magical happens.
Wale - "The Kramer" - Very conscious song that appears on Wale's Seinfeld-themed mixtape called Mixtape About Nothing. This one starts out with Michael Richards' infamous n-bomb dropping outburst at a comedy club and Wale's rap features extensive use of and analysis of the n-word. Then, it ends with Richards' public apology on Leno. I wish Wale's studio debut had been as good as his free mixtapes.
The Roots - "Mellow My Man" - "Lodi dodi/ Who likes to party?/ Like Slick Rick the Ruler I'm cooler than an icepick/ Got soul like those afro picks/with the black list/ And leave a crowd drippin' like John the Baptist."
Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses - "Hallelujah" - Go buy the album Junky Star right now and thank me later.
Nine Inch Nails - "Ripe (With Decay)" - A truly powerful song I had never given enough attention to. Granted, it's the very last song on NIN's double-LP The Fragile, but still. I will be using this as a finale song on a lot of runs over the next year. I could see this song getting me through a long winter run.



October 8, 2011: 2.29 miles (second run at night)
October 9, 2011: 4.40 miles

Miles to Date: 15.78 miles
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