Lose Yourself in The Music

'Cause sometimes you just feel tired,
Feel weak, and when you feel weak, you feel like you wanna just give up.
But you gotta search within you, you gotta find that inner strength
And just pull that S*#^ out of you and get that motivation to not give up
And not be a quitter, no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face and collapse.'

-Eminem (Til I Collapse)

This song came on Sunday as I was beginning mile 15, my last mile before the end of my run. It was hot, hotter than it had been all week. Someone was messing with me, making it hotter on the one day that I had planned on running in the middle of the day. For the last five miles I had been fighting against throwing up. The heat, the Gu I took around mile 10, too much or not enough water...it was all collaborating against me,  trying to make me "fall flat on my face and collapse". And believe me, I wanted to. I wanted to just give in and let it all win.

And then the song above came on. I take a lot of motivation from my playlist. Whether it's the beat, the words or a memory that I associate with the particular song (Pearl Jam, anyone?), they all inspire me to keep running, to keep going after my energy leaves me. Today this song came on right at the perfect moment. I did not plan it that way. I put my playlist on random most days. But Mr. iPod knew exactly what I needed. And a white rapper who's opinions I usually don't agree with helped me finish my run.

It's funny how that works. Who would have ever thought that Eminem would be inspiring? He talks down about everyone. He does drugs and is proud of it. He swears way too much. He's angry at the entire world. Yet, somehow he IS inspiring. And the beat of his music is almost exactly the same timing to my footfalls. Or what they should be!

In "Lose Yourself" he says:

"Success is my only $%^& option, failure's not
So here I go it's my shot.
Feet fail me not, this may be the only opportunity that I got

You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go"

I do lose myself in the music. And I am learning to own the moment. Thanks, M.

Don't forget to join up with Jill for Fitness Friday for more inspiration! 

Who inspires you when you exercise? Which artist inspires you when you are not exercising?  Do you find yourself listening to different music when you exercise vs other times? 

I Run New York

50 cent ain't got nothin' on me! So you may have heard the song that he sings? I Run New York? I think he's talking about how long his gun is and how important he is in the City, but I, I actually RUN New York. Yeah. MOVE OVER, 50 (fitty); I will do the running of New York, thank you very much.

Last weekend I spent a marvelous weekend, if you can't guess where, in New York. Knowing I had to do a long run of 15 miles, I got prepared before I went. First I found the local running store and found out that, yippy, they had a group long run on the weekends. I emailed them. I did not get a response. Next, I contacted this runner, who lives in the city, and asked her if she could give me some advice. Hurray for the running community. Not only did she give me advice, she gave me a play by play of where I should run. So I google mapped it to figure out which specific streets I would need to go on to get in enough miles (and not accidentally do too many!)

So, as you can see from above map, I started in Midtown, ran East to the East River and then south along the East River to Battery Park. Here are a few examples of the views I had while running on the East River.  These photos were taken with my phone, which I carried.

I also carried a pack of Black Cherry clif shot bloks and a bottle of water. I still have not purchased a fuel belt, since the only one I have been able to physically try on is the Nathan Speed 2 and the Nathan Trail Mix. I like the feel of both of them, but want to have something to compare them to before making my decision.

FYI, in case you were wondering how my Fuel Experiment was going...the Bloks taste okay. They are a little sweet, but pretty easy to eat. I drank lots of water and only took two bloks over the entire 15 miles (one at mile 6 and one around mile 10). The only thing I did not like is that the aftertaste is a bit like cough syrup; it's a little medicinal.

After running to Battery Park, I headed north along the Hudson, which was a nicer path but in my opinion, the views from the East River were better. By the time I got to this side, I was pretty tired and did not take any photos. Also by this time (around 9 a.m.) there were TONS of other people out jogging and riding bikes and walking dogs. I may suggest getting an earlier start than I did (7:45).

From there I cut across to Central Park at 72nd St and then around the park and back down to my starting point. All in all, although my legs were screaming, the rest of my body, lungs and stomach felt great. To celebrate my longest run ever, we went to Zabars to fight the crowds for the last piece of lox meet up with some friends and have a huge (and I mean HUGE) turkey and pastrami sandwich on rye. Yummy.

Where did you run this weekend? Have you ever been to New York City? What's your favorite place to run and/or eat there? What fuel belt (or bottle) do you use?

Don't forget to link up with Jill for Fitness Friday! And if you have not already done so, go and Enter My Giveaway for Fun Scrapbooking and Photo Software! Ends October 16th!