For many of the miles I have run through the years I have been fortunate enough to have friends to join me. I often even have friends that are kind enough to text me and tell me to get my butt out of bed because it is time for us to meet! (After 5 alarms and 2 texts I am up and ready!) For the days and the miles that I do it alone, I have my music. Refreshing my playlist is something that gives me extra motivation to get out of bed and it gives me more desire to stay out there when I am doing a 20 miler alone. I am so picky about my music. I am also moody about my music, some days I am just in the mood for something different. Many times I have watched my pace closely on my Nike App and I can literally see my pace either slow down or speed up depending on how the song is making me feel. I have repeated the same song many times in a row if I am feeling it and I am making good time!
I love asking my friends if they have downloaded any good, new songs. Sometimes two or three new songs can make a world of difference. So I thought I would share some of my favorite songs from the past year and ask anyone to comment and share some of theirs! Here are 30 of my favs!
- Uptown Funk, Bruno Mars
- Black Widow, Iggy Azalea
- Fancy, Iggy Azalea
- Ten Feet Tall, Afrojack
- Sugar, Maroon 5
- Blank Space, Taylor Swift
- Style, Taylor Swift
- Lips Are Movin’, Meghan Trainor
- Shake It Off, Taylor Swift
- Ghost, Ella Henderson
- Something In the Water, Carrie Underwood
- All About that Bass, Meghan Trainor
- Animals, Maroon 5
- Love Runs Out, One Republic
- She Looks So Perfect, 5 Seconds of Summer
- Me and My Broken Heart, Rixton
- Roller Coaster, Luke Bryan
- Burnin’ It Down, Jason Aldean
- Stuck On a Feeling, Prince Royce featuring Snoop Dogg
- Treasure, Bruno Mars
- Boom Clap, Charli XCX
- Break Free, Ariana Grande
- Jealous, Nick Jonas
- Problem, Ariana Grande
- Chandalier, Sia
- Heartbeat Song, Kelly Clarkson
- Leave the Night On, Sam Hunt
- Trophies, Drake
- Ready to Run, One Direction
- Happy, Pharrell Williams
Some people say that running with music can increase your performance by 15%. Then you can read other articles that argue against it. I think it is just dependent on the person, and for me I KNOW I need it!! (No I won’t tell you the story again about my ipod freezing up at mile 5 of the St. Louis marathon!) Of course we are all different and have different tastes, so my playlist may do nothing for any of you! I do encourage changing up your music and making new playlists. I ALWAYS create a new playlist and add new music the week of a race so I have new songs on race day.
So comment and share your songs and playlists if you will!!