Music in My Head

Imagine my chagrin when I got to the track for yesterday’s interval workout and discovered that my iPod was nowhere to be found.

I was a little disturbed by this for two reasons:

1) My iPod is my running partner. I know I can run without my iPod, but I don’t want to run without it.

2) What if I left it at work? What if it fell out of my pocket in the parking lot? What if someone finds it? What if they find out it’s mine? They’ll know what kinds of dorky things I actually listen to in the privacy of my own brain! Oh, the shame!

I took a deep breath. I can do this. I can run around the track 26 times without music or podcasts distracting me from the monotony of the task at hand. Sure. And I will not stress about the possibility that some stranger might, at this very moment, be looking — and laughing — at my choices of music and podcast downloads. Sure.

OK. Onward to the workout.

I actually enjoy running around the track. It’s not something I want to do every day, but it’s definitely a step up from the treadmill. And it’s ideal for intervals and speedwork.

So my plan was as follows:

Mile 1: Warm-up jog
Mile 2: 400-meter tempo/400-meter recovery jog (2x)
Miles 3, 4, and 5: 800-meter tempo/400-meter recovery jog (4x)
Mile 6: Wasn’t sure yet; I ended up doing some “fartleks,” then cooling down for the last half-mile.

One problem I have when I run around the track is that I lose count of how many laps I’ve done. I try to remember to wear the Garmin for that reason … but I didn’t have it yesterday.

No Garmin, no iPod. What was I to do? It didn’t help that the temps were in the 50’s Fahrenheit and it was spitting rain.

So I started to run. I had 26 laps to run. How would I keep track of it all?

Ah. 26 laps. 26 letters in the alphabet.

So Lap 1 was “A.” I thought of all the names I could that started with “A.” Then I did the same thing with “B.” Then “C,” then “D.”

That was fine for a warm-up jog. But I needed tunes to power me through the tempo laps.

So I got to “E.” What song title starts with “E”?

I spent the first 200 meters trying to think of a song that started with “E.” Couldn’t do it. Finally settled on the Eagles’ “Life in the Fast Lane.” So I played that song in my head as I ran.

What about “F”? Again, it took me a good 200 meters to think of anything. (Funny how the brain works, or doesn’t.) Then I came up with John Denver’s “For Baby (For Bobbie),” which is a good running song anyway.

I made my way through G and H and I, but I can’t remember what songs I came up with for those.

“J” was “Joy to the World,” a.k.a. “Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog.”

“K”? Couldn’t think of a song. Ran to “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas.

My mind drew a blank on “L,” too. With all the millions of songs that start with the word “Love,” I couldn’t think of a single one. So I ran to an oldie — Billy Joel’s “All For Leyna.” I was way cool back in the 1980’s, when I could actually play that one on the piano. Whoo, me.

When I got to “O,” all I could think of was “Onward Christian Soliders.” It actually was a good one for the tempo run.

“Q” was a recovery jog. Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” (the slow part, at least) worked nicely.

“R” and “S” were both Rick Springfield songs. Yeah, baby, I’m from the early 80’s and I was a teenybopper who read Tiger Beat and Teen Beat and listened to Rick Springfield albums while staring at his album covers and/or kissing his posters. Deal with it.

When I got to “X,” all I could think of was “xylophone,” because “X” always stands for “xylophone.” So I ran to Elton John’s “Daniel,” since it has kind of a xylophoney sound.

I really hit a block on “U.” I thought about singing “Over the Rainbow” as “Under the Rainbow,” but I decided that was breaking the rules. I couldn’t think of a single song title that began with “Ugly,” “Under,” or “Unite.” So I ended up with the Battle Hymn of the Republic, since it’s the national anthem for the United States and all.

I know. Whatever works.

“W” was “We Are the World,” which is actually a really good song for walking, if you’re listening to music on your iPod and want to walk at about a 4-mile-an-hour pace. “Y” was “Way Over Yonder,” by Carole King. And “Z” … couldn’t think of a song, so I cool-down-jogged to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.”

It actually turned out to be a really nice run, and it was fun thinking of songs, then singing them in my head, as I ran. I thought of songs I hadn’t thought about in years and years–such as Sylvia’s “Nobody” for my “N” lap, and Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” for the “P” lap.

I’m thinking this might be a nice approach to take when I’m running the half-marathon: 13.1 miles equals approximately 26 half-miles. A letter per half-mile. A new song in my head every five or so minutes. I can do that.

OK, enough of my nonsense. Now maybe you can see why I don’t want some stranger discovering what kinds of songs I have on my iPod.

(By the way, I found my iPod. It had slipped into the passenger seat of my car. It was right there all along.)