Great Playlists for When You Get the Runs
Ya’ll, training for this half marathon is HARD. It sure ain't for the faint of heart. It has certainly been more intense than training for our 10k. If we’re being super honest, we still don’t love running. We love the feeling AFTER a run, but the before and during- not so much. However, we made this goal and we are sticking to it! Our parents didn’t raise no quitters.
We’ve got Ashley dealing with hip issues- at first she thought maybe she had broken it like a 95 year old grandma, but it turns out it is just some hip tendinitis and she just doesn’t have a very high pain tolerance. Don’t worry folks- she’s been to see multiple docs (we promised we would do that this year), and like a boss with a gangster limp, she’s pushing through it. There’s a lot of icing, rolling, taping, & complaining happening.
We also bought new running shoes, because we didn’t have great ones for the 10k and figured to continue on we needed some new ones so we didn’t ruin our knees. So we’ve ended up with some fancy AND flashy new kicks. Ashley found out she had been wearing the wrong size shoe her entire life- not ½ a size, a FULL freakin’ size wrong. THAT must be why running was so hard. Jesse’s first pair had to be returned however, because they made her calves hurt so bad she thought the muscle was ripping away from the bone. No biggie. She went in for a new pair of Asics (ol’ faithful) and we are all good now.
BUT we are hoping all this will make it so much sweeter to run across the finish line March 2nd. We’ve been following a training schedule, trying to figure out what works for us and what doesn’t, but we’d love any advice you crazy people that love running may have for us. You’ve all been incredibly helpful so far- suggesting different training plans, ways to ease all the pains, and just good ol’ moral support. We’ve recently started to test out some “energy chews” for our longer runs and found we enjoy these and are looking forward to trying some other ones. Any recommendations?
If you’re a runner you may know a little something about energy gel. How do you choke it down? Is it worth gagging the whole thing down or can we stick to our energy chews? With our longer runs, we’ve also needed to learn to carry water with us. Isn’t it interesting that your body just stops sweating if you don’t have the water you need? People told us that was a problem. We got these super cute bottle flasks in different colors- hydrated and hip. Score.
One of the most important things (relatively speaking) we’ve learned in our training is that good music is crucial. One thing we can both say for certain is that we are not making it any substantial distance without tunes in our ears. We’ve created several of our own running playlists on Spotify. Different days and moods call for different playlists. Don’t listen too closely to a lot of the lyrics on our running playlists, most of them probably fit under “Parental Advisory” category, but if it keeps our legs moving, we are ALL about it. We thought we’d share our top 10 favorite songs from some of our lists with you all. And if you want to see more, you can follow any of our playlists on Spotify- user names listed below.
Ashley’s Top Ten Running Jams (some of these songs not suitable for children- #sorrynotsorry):
Ashley’s Top Ten Clean-ish Running Jams
Find me on Spotify: ashleyeb35
Jesse’s Top Ten Uncensored Running Jams (definitely not suitable for children and even some adults):
Still Fly by Big Tymers (Mannie is SO good for running)
Jesse’s Clean Running Playlist (all the ears can listen):
Find me on Spotify: derosierjesse
We are about a month out from the big day. We are really looking forward to accomplishing this mammoth of a goal we set out for a few months ago. We are also super jazzed to spend the weekend in Dirty Myrtle with our husbands. The night before the race you will find us carb-loading (give us ALL the pasta) and going to sleep around 8pm. The day of the race will be full of celebratory festivities, which will include lots of ice, multiple adult beverages, and probably some tears. If you have any advice, song recommendations, pre-race meal suggestions, post-race musts- we are ALL ears! Stay tuned for all of the fun to come in the next month or so leading up to the race. Ginger & Blonde out (at a very slow to average pace).
