Half Marathon Playlist

I woke up this morning in the mood to run. Luckily Sadie is always in the mood to run, so I had an enthusiastic running buddy just waiting for me to lace up my shoes and hit the pavement.

While changing into my running clothes, I made a special selection when it came to my sports bra!

My Bride to Be sports bra! Perfect for the morning of my bridal shower, no?

I love this sports bra because it takes me back to running the Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon at the tail end of my first bachelorette party. My girlfriends made it for me to wear during the race and it makes me smile just looking at it!

Since I was wearing my special half marathon sports bra, I decided to rock out to the playlist I created on my iPod for the big race during our morning run.

I know I am always on the lookout for quality music to run or workout to, so I figured some of you guys might be interested in checkin’ out the songs I selected for the big race last August.

Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon Playlist

• La Bouche – Where Do You Go
• La Roux – Bulletproof
• TLC – Waterfalls
• Carrie Underwood – Undo It
• Starship – Wild Again
• Mary Poppins – Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
• Shania Twain – Honey, I’m Home
• Hairspray – You Can’t Stop the Beat
• Sugarland – It Happens
• No Doubt – Spiderwebs
• The Chordials (Cornell University) – Use Somebody
• Amanda Marshall – Ride
• TuPac – Keep Ya Head Up
• Straight No Chaser – Fix You
• Basshunter – Now You’re Gone
• Zac Brown Band – Whatever It Is
• Jimmy Buffett – He Went to Paris
• Oceania – Kotahitanga
• Carrie Underwood – The More Boys I Meet

As you can see my music tastes are all of the board. This list includes hip hop, country and a cappella music and even songs from Disney movies and musicals. I love it all! 😀

My run with Sadie absolutely flew by this morning.

I had a lot on my mind and when the song “Fix You” by Straight No Chaser (originally by Coldplay) came on, I felt really emotional. I think it could actually be a great father/daughter dance song for our wedding because of these lyrics:

When you try your best but you don’t succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can’t sleep
Stuck in reverse
And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can’t replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

The part about lights guiding you home is 100 percent how I feel about my dad and our home. I feel that no matter how bad things get, I can always go home and feel the love of my family. He’ll always try to “fix” things and make everything better.

I was nearly in tears as this song was blasting on my iPod, but I think it actually made me run faster.

The burning feeling in my stomach had me bust out an 8 minute mile in the middle of my run! 🙂

 

My Garmin was being funky today though and the satellite didn’t start working until I was a good .6 miles into my run.  The above stats are not 100 percent accurate as I ended up covering closer to five miles since I did my usual 5-mile loop.

And now I am a sweaty beast and must hop in the showaaaa!

I gotta get pretty for my bridal shower! 😀

I Love the ’90s

I always prep my lunch the day before. If I don’t assemble it completely, I at least package up what I need and organize it in the fridge so it’s easily accessible in the morning.

I usually pack my lunch as I make dinner. It’s efficient and also distracts me with an activity while dinner is cooking, which helps me avoid mindless snacking.

Last night, I prepped today’s noodle bowl which contained:

• Carba Nada pasta
• Ragu meat marinara sauce
• Steamed fresh broccoli

Noodles + Sauce

Monday's Lunch

The entire bowl came together in less than 10 minutes. Fast and tasty! Perfect-o.

I Love the ’90s

I am a huge fan of music from the ’90s.

Maybe it’s because ’90s jams take me back to fun memories from childhood and high school or maybe it’s because the music is just so darn catchy. Either way, I can’t help but feel a little excited every time I hear a ’90s classic come on the radio.

This weekend Ryan’s mom brought out a big box of Ryan’s old CDs. I think I fell in love with him all over again when I saw him pull out CDs like LaBouche, Alanis Morissette (he denies ever liking this CD), Will Smith, No Doubt, Sister Hazel, Sisqo (I didn’t think anyone actually bought this CD…), 2Pac, TLC, Blackstreet, and more.

My Girl, Alanis

I immediately took a handful of his old CDs and uploaded a billion songs onto my iPod.

Just in case any of you share my intense love for ’90s music, I thought I’d share my latest playlist, comprised completely of ’90s classics:

• Blackstreet – No Diggity
• LaBouche – Be My Lover
• Sister Hazel – All For You
• Alanis Morissette – All I Really Want
• TLC – Waterfalls
• No Doubt – Spiderwebs
• 2Pac – Keep Ya Head Up
• 2Pac – California Love
• Sisqo – The Thong Song
• Cake – Never There
• The Offspring – Why Don’t You Get a Job
• LaBouche – Sweet Dreams
• No Doubt – Don’t Speak

Of Possible Interest:

• Quiz: Which Weekend Treat is the Healthiest Option? (FitSugar.com)
• 10 Ways to Burn Calories Outdoors This Summer (Health.com)
• Cooking Light’s Best Recipes of 2010 (so far) (CookingLight.com)

Question of the Afternoon

What were some of your favorite ’90s bands or ’90s songs?

Don’t be ashamed to share your intense love for the Backstreet Boys… This is a judgment-free zone (and I’m looking for more ideas of ’90s songs to download 😉 ).

Fruity Yogurty Oatty Bowl

Lots of tasty things went into my morning breakfast. Apparently I woke up really hungry because I managed to polish off a very large Honeycrisp apple, a pint of raspberries (yep, an entire pint), a cup of Chobani Greek yogurt and 1/3 cup of oatmeal. Fiber overload!

I combined several of the above items to create a fruity yogurty oatty bowl of goodness.

Bowl of Yumminess

What was too big to fit into this bowl went directly into my mouth. Shockingly I didn’t feel stuffed! I have a feeling today may be one of those days where I can just eat and eat and eat and still manage to eat some more. Should be fun! 🙂

After giving my breakfast some time to digest and hittin’ up the grocery with Ryan, I laced up the old sneaks for a 50 minute run. It was beautiful outside today! A lil’ hot, but sunny and breezy. Plus, I was diggin’ the playlist I created for last Sunday’s 5-mile race. Good music makes such a huge difference for me on my runs.

Today’s playlist included:

Katie Ryan – All for You

Big Pun – Still Not a Player

Will Smith – Miami

LeAnn Rimes – Cowboy Sweetheart

Reel 2 Real – I Like to Move It

Chris Brown – Forever

LeAnn Rimes – Nothin’ Better to Do

Mickey Modelle & Jessy – Show Me Heaven (Remix)

Little Big Town – Boondocks

Dolly Parton – 9 to 5

Oceania – Kotahitanga

Phil Colins (Tarzan Movie) – Trashin’ the Camp

Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling

Michael Jackson – Dirty Diana

I realize my playlist likely reveals what a huge dork I am, but I absolutely adore happy, upbeat music and have everything from hip hop to techno remixes of Disney songs on my iPod. I love it all! 🙂

Question:What’s the most embarrassing song on your iPod?