For Those About To Run

With the prior post coming from the Manhattan WeightStaff office, I thought I would work up a contribution from the WeightStaff DC office. I have to agree that it's been a little quiet around here recently.

I haven't been as available recently because I've been training for the Chicago marathon, coming up on October 12th. I'll intercept your follow-up question by saying, "it's 26.2 miles long." Seeing as how there is no other distance for a marathon, you'd be amazed at how many people ask me how long my marathon is. As if I signed up for the three-mile marathon. This will be my 3rd marathon, following San Francisco and Cleveland in past years. I started my training in late June after arriving back home from The Weight's European Vacation to London. [We know....Big Ben]

Music is a huge part of my training. Each time I set out from my apartment during the week, I bring along my portable XM satellite radio player. Recently, I've taken to listening strictly to the songs I've saved to the device, sticking to the familiarity of songs I already know, rather than letting the randomness of live satellite radio exist as my soundtrack.

On my most recent run, I decided to switch back to live XM rather than the saved content. As I was spinning the dial, I stumbled on the newly formed AC/DC channel. For the next hour, I listened to nothing but kick-ass, balls-to-the-wall, motivational rock n' roll from the best Aussie band to be named for a sewing machine label. There were tracks I knew from owning AC/DC Live for many years and there were tracks from their new album Black Ice that I'd never heard before. But they all blended seamlessly together into one stellar soundtrack for a jog around DC's bridges and monuments. I found myself punching the air and air drumming, without a care for how ridiculous I looked to the people running towards me. I was so pumped up that I ultimately ran my fastest 6 mile training run so far....thanks Angus!

There are new rules throughout all officially sanctioned running events that headphones cannot be used in races (for the safety of the runners), but I don't know how I'll be able to run so long without them. It's amazing how listening to music while I'm running can make me forget about the challenge of putting one foot in front of the other for up to hours at a time. It can make me forget that I'm out of breath or soaked through with sweat. Even on the rare occasion when I'm running without headphones, it will be a song that I'm singing in my head which will get me through a rough patch. And sometimes I surprise myself with the lyric that will randomly pop into my head.

So for any of you who need some motivation to go out there for a run or maybe hit the gym for some lifting, bring along some AC/DC and I promise it'll give you the extra boost of energy you're looking for when you begin to get tired and you think you can't go on. I'm going to post the song that, above all the others, resulted in the most music-inspired fist-pumping in front of total strangers. It's the 1975 Bon Scott anthem "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)". Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be seeing them perform this track at MSG in November, because according to Wikipedia, Brian Johnson doesn't sing it out of deference for the late Bon Scott. But I sure as hell plan to be there at the Garden when the cannons fire. [Tickets go on sale for AC/DC's November MSG shows this Saturday at 10 AM]