To Run By

Speaking of brothers, mine has a birthday this weekend and I need your help.

He has taken up running lately and wants to do a marathon next year. I thought a nice present would be to send him some albums (you know, records? but all digital?) via itunes and/or maybe a little itunes compiliation of my very own making. Well, OUR (you and you and me) very own making because me, I do not run unless I am chased and so my personal soundtrack would be this: aaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeee! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeee!

I need suggestions, please. Music for a workout- albums or songs.

Thanks!

PS He likes everything and even if he didn't you don't necessarily need to like a song to feel stirred by it, right?

Comments

[dish]

I have to be cheesy...

"Break My Stride" by Matthew Wilder

And my running soundtrack would be the same as yours, Julia.

[LMM]

OK, here's the gym mix on my iPod, I'll try not to duplicate what's already been listed:

Bad, Bad Man - WWE John Cena and Trademarc
Pump It - Black Eyed Peas
Mama Said Knock You Out - LL Cool J
Bodyrock - Moby
Lose Yourself - Eminem
C'mon C'mon - Von Bondies
Comfortably Numb - Scissor Sisters
It's My Life - No Doubt

[Mitzi]

Let's Go Crazy - Prince
'Cuz I Can - PINK

[Diane]

Songs from the Rocky soundtracks. In particular there is one from the Rocky IV soundtrack, but I don't quite know the name.

[Casey]

Weird combo, but I LOVE these for running on the treadmill. 'Who's yer Daddy', by Toby Keith - 'A Little Respect', by Erasure - 'I Need a Lover, by John Mellencamp- all fast, all fun. Singing out loud is optional, altho the people next to me on the treadmills seem to frown on it.

[Rosetta]

I like to run to Stand Up Tall by Dizzee Rascal and also In The Morning by Sweet Honey in the Rock. Those are my two favorite songs on my running mix.

[Jb]

from a runner:
for sure the rocky (original movie) theme/music...
good morning vietnam sound track is fabulous
another funny one would be the song from flashdance- maybe do a 80's era selection - that could be fun...

[Amy]

You've got some great suggestions here. I just have to de-lurk to add my personal favorite:

Ready to Run by the Dixie Chicks.

They played this over and over at the start of one of my marathons and it really got everyone - both men and women alike - moving at an ungodly hour of the morning. Great gift idea!

[Pamplemousse]

I thought iTunes had a dedicated fitness section?? Loving the music tips, especially Shriekback and the Von Bondies.

[Jenorama]

Podrunner-- has beats per minute and you can choose the workout you want.

[swissmiss]

Counting Crows, A Murder of One
The BoDeans, Only Love
Mellencamp, Little Pink Houses
Springsteen, No Surrender - good beat and the refrain "no retreat baby no surrender" is good to have toward the end of a long workout mix

[swissmiss]

Counting Crows, A Murder of One
The BoDeans, Only Love
Mellencamp, Little Pink Houses
Springsteen, No Surrender - good beat and the refrain "no retreat baby no surrender" is good to have toward the end of a long workout mix

[MichelleL]

A couple of my favorite running songs are --
Blitzkreig Bop by the Ramones (Hey, ho, let's go!)
Message in a Bottle by The Police (the beat is "right" for me)
Vertigo by U2
My Best Friend's Girlfriend (Here she comes again) by The Cars
Rebel, rebel by David Bowie
Already Gone by the Eagles
Start Me Up by the Rolling Stones
Soak up the Sun by Sheryl Crow
Touch of Grey by the Grateful Dead
AND BY FAR, THE BEST RUNNING SONG:
I Got You (I Feel Good) by James Brown
(sad that he is gone . . .)
Hope some of these strike a chord . . .

[Violet]

The January/February issue of Women's Health Magazine has a blurb about this (pg. 80 if you have the mag). It suggests listening to music with between 130 and 170 beats per minute helps when you're doing cardio. Go to dynamixmusic.com and powermusic.com, or download playlists at fitpod.com.

[Tess]

This may or may not fly, depending on his personality, but we downloaded a couple of albums of military running cadences for our i-pod. Seems to be especially motivating for men (and they're cheesy and fun).

1-2-3-4 HEY
Run me now, Run me now, Run me some more HEY

1-2-3-4 HEY
This is the way we start our DAY

Ok, I'm done now.

[Angie]

I run and I prefer peppy music to run to. You know you can just get him a gift cert. to I tunes and he can pick his own.

That said, my current treadmill faves ( I don't use my ipod when running outdoors) are OK Go. If he likes pop music, they are great. Their last CD is even a treadmill running CD.

[Michelle D]

AC/DC is, hands-down the World's Best Running Music. I can't tell you how many miles I logged to the Back In Black Album. Slightly fewer miles than I got to "Who Made Who."

Tool is good running music, too, and the Butthole Surfers' album Independent Worm Saloon is also good to grind out the miles to.

[Courtney]

My favorite music to run to, to really pump me up, is Green Day's American Idiot. It has a good rhythm and keeps me motivated.

And then i switch to the soundrack from Oklahoma (When I take you out in a surrey, ducks and geese and birds better hurry...) - but that's probably not appropriate here.

[nicole]

I got nothing as I don't listen to music when I run. I'm just here to say that reading about a stranger running makes me jealous. I'm nearly 38 weeks pregnant and had to stop around week 25 (too painful) and lawd do I miss it. So. Totally pointless comment. Although I can second whoever way up there who mentioned the moisture-wicking clothing.

[liz]

Great upbeat songs that I love to run to:

"Here It Goes Again" OK Go
"Hotel Yorba" White Stripes
"Wave of Mutilation" Pixies (upbeat version!)

[Karl]

I kind of like running to prog myself, a lot of the Glass Hammer stuff has a good running tempo.
Try "The Inconsolable Secret", or maybe "Lex Rex".

You can't find 'em in stores, use amazon or www.glasshammer.com.

[Judy]

I'm going to 2nd

Pump It - Black Eyed Peas

[Lisa]

My brother recently picked up running as well. He really loves the Theivery Corporation cd I got him a couple years ago - great, interesting dance music. I run, too, but have to push the stroller with my 3 year old in it, pointing out wildlife and whatnot so she doesn't get too cranky. I can't wait til I can run alone with music again! (does that make me a bad parent?!)

[Suz]

This might not help you, but you might let your brother know about it. There's a free podcast on itunes called podrunner. It's amazing. New songs to run to every week and they're good.

[Adi V.]

I was going to suggest Podrunner but Suz beat me to it.

[Jodie]

Please don't give your brother Justin Timberlake! Noooo - even if the songs are movivating ;)

I love Jet - Are you Gonna Be my Girl, that Eminem one people mentioned above, Man in Motion (St Elmo's Fire - yes, daggy, I know) and you HAVE to, as a joke, it's compulsory, put in Eye of the Tiger.

[reb]

I hate to be the girl that doesn't read everyone's comments first, but I have to get out of this freezing room fast.
So my (possibly duplicated) suggestions:

Hands Up - Black Eyed Peas
Galvanize - Chemical Brothers
Yoo Hoo - Imperial Teen (also really good to listen to when you want to strut down the street feeling hot)

[Judy]

KC & The Sunshine Band! That stuff gets you going every time!

[FishFace]

My running soundtrack runs more toward rockabilly and alt country. These are a few songs that I can't hear without wanting to get moving:

Cherokee Boogie - BR549
Can't Let Go - Lucinda Williams
Brand New Cadillac - Wayne Hancock
Big Brown Eyes - Old 97's
Georgia on a Fast Train - Billy Joe Shaver
Dance the Night Away - The Mavericks
Big Hair - Fred Eaglesmith
You Wreck Me - Tom Petty (best song for sprinting ever!)

[DLG in Mich]

At the risk of totally embarassing myself, here are some of my running favorites:

Pump up the Volume by Salt N Pepa
Gettin' Jiggy with It by Will Smith
Little Less Conversation by Elvis (remix from Lilo & Stitch movie)
If by Janet Jackson

You've gotten some great suggestions above. Good luck!

[Dooce Fan!]

Can U Deliver - Armored Saint
Before I forget - Slipknot
In the Clouds - Under the Influence of Giants

[cheryl]

I run to anything by Limp Bizkit - dude :-) Just great running music!

[Slim]

There's another Shriekback fan out there!
I have (pathetically) been thinking about running songs all weekend (anyone else? anyone? hello?) and smacking my forehead as I come up with shouldamentioneds: "Oh!Shriekback's 'Everything That Rises Must Converge'! Wait! Zachary Richard's 'I Love My Zydeco'! Hey! both 'Hot Hot Hot's!"
At the point that I started thinking about Bob the Builder's "Mambo Number 5," I knew it was time to stop.

[bec 37]

Delurking to add: "Crazy" by Seal.

bec :D

[snickollet]

Great gift idea. Unfortunately, I have nothing to contribute since I am the only person I know who likes to run while listening to NPR.

[Pam]

Pump it Up - Elvis Costello, I heard it this weekend and thought of you.

[Dooce Fan!]

Sitting on tarmacs causes me intense bummeration.

[Genevieve]

I sometimes like to listen to the comedian Dane Cook. The other people in the gym look at me like im crazy when im laughing my fool head off, almost falling off the treadmill- but its a good time. when im not listening to the Dane Train, i listen to the black eyed peas and fergie
another good song that i havent seen mentioned is "body movin" by the beastie boys
as well as
"dont call me baby" by madison avenue
another good gift might be a little assortment of pre-run snacks!! (cliff bars and the like)