The Most Memorable Part of Races and Tacky Running Songs

Is there anything more wonderful than seeing your wife or kids in the middle of a race? It gives more energy than a Gu and quenches a deeper thirst than water or gatorade. You can be completely strung out, exhausted, but spotting a pair of eyes who know your history is a huge boost. It spreads a smile on your face and you siphon their energy and make it your own. 

For all of my most memorable races, some of the biggest memory burns are seeing a loved one either on the course or at the finish. I will always remember my BQ run in Grand Rapids and seeing my wife at mile 21 and yelling out to her to book a flight to Boston (I was being cocky, but I could feel it) The hug at the finish line was one I'd been trying to have for many years. If you can't share the experience at all, you're just a tree running in a forest with nobody to hear. Just making eye contact during the race is a great motivator.

The next best thing to seeing family on the course is a song on my ipad that that reminds me of my family.  Music that has a personal history to me is always the best choice, so I choose a few songs that let me visualize my family in my mind's eye.

Here are a few choices that I will be listening to as I run New York.

"Miles From Nowhere"-James Taylor 

I can't hear this song without hearing my wife singing it loud, blasting it from her pipes, the kind of singing we do when we think nobody's watching or listening. "Lord my body, Has been a good Friend. But I won't need it. When I Reach the End" I can hear her smile when I listen, and it's a message that fits her so well. A great running song made greater. This song doesn't qualify as tacky. Here's an incredible live youtube version:

"So What"- KidzBop Version

It was the first song my youngest daughter ever memorized. Hearing a 4 year old sing in her 4 year old voice, "So What. I"m Still A Rock Store. I got My Rock Moves" always guarantees a shot of happy happy, joy joy to my running spirit.

"Now or Never" - High School Musical My kids watched High School Musical over and over, and of course I did by default, and over time I became Troy, and when he gets knocked down on the basketball court and seems delirious, and his girl pleads to him, "you can do it just know that I believe," I always imagine that's my family talking to me.

I know, that is about as tacky as a human being can get. But that's my job as middle-aged dad, to be as tacky and Phil Dumphee-like as I can possibly be.

And the latest.. 

"Cruisin for A Brusin"- Disney's Teen Beach Movie

My oldest daughter is very happy that I will be adding this to my ipod since she will then be adding it to hers. The movie is a cute, clean, tribute to surfer movies of the past. This song has a great cadence, and I will be running to the beat of my family through New York as I listen to it.

And the tackiest song on your ipod is?