Pump Me Up Playlist

Aside from the Turkey Trot I ran with my family in November, it’s been almost a year since my last race!

One of my favorite things about racing is creating a new playlist for the occasion.

On Sunday, I’m running the New York Road Runners Gridiron Classic 4 Mile race. I’m also planning on tacking on another 6 miles after the race to make it a long training run in preparation for the National 1/2 Marathon in March.

Naturally a “Pump Me Up Playlist” is necessary for the occasion.

I know the race is several days away, but I had some time tonight to blast music and decided to get it done. Here’s what I’ll be running to on Sunday:

(I can’t figure out how to make this show up non-blurry — sorry, folks. But if you click on the playlist it’ll open the image up looking shiny and bright and clear.)

The theme behind this playlist? “Remember Summer?” In addition to some of my current favorite songs (“S&M” by Rihanna, “Hold It Against Me” by my BFF Britney) I also included a ton of the songs I was running to all summer long, like “Womanizer” and “Dynamite.” I’m hoping having these songs playing will remind me of scooting along the Hudson River Parkway in the scorching heat.

Also of note: I put way more songs on playlists than I will need. I get music ADD while I’m running and rarely listen to an entire song. I also listen to the playlist on shuffle — I like to be surprised by what song is coming next.

Fun fact: I almost always cry at the start line of races. Maybe it’s because I’ve done so few races in general. But I cried the first time I raced, I cried at all three half marathons and I cried at the Turkey Trot because I was so excited. Lame? Normal? I guess you tell me.

In other news, today was a good day. Everyone at work had a field day with my outfit, so now I feel pressure to wear something good the rest of the week! I got out of work earlier than I had hoped — as in, on time — so I went to the gym for an amazing weights and spinning session.

I was sitting in the front row during spinning and the teacher saw my name on the sign-up sheet and kept yelling it out. I loved it! “Pedal faster, Alison, you came here to push yourself!” Welp, he was right. And I pedaled faster and pushed harder. It was great motivation.

TELL ME: What are your must-have race day songs? I always start my race listening to “I Drove All Night” by Celine Dion and cross the finish line listening to “A Brand New Day” from The Wiz. Those were randomly the songs I had playing during my first-ever race and the tradition stuck.