Day 88 (1/19): 3 miles / 35:19

Today's goal was to keep my run at a leisurely jog... just a little time to myself to reflect on my day, enjoy some music, work up a little sweat, but go easy on my hip just to make sure I'm not overdoing it in my first week of training.  The hard part: figuring out how to do that.

The only plan I could come up with was to cover all of the treadmill screens so that I couldn't focus on the numbers.  I even covered the speed and decided on my pace solely based on how it felt.  Obviously, at some point, I was going to have to keep an eye on how far I was going so that I was sure to get in my full 3 miles, but I was determined to wait until I thought I was at least half way through my run before checking my progress.  I was very proud of myself... the first time I checked, I had already run 1.66 miles.  Not only was I impressed that I'd held out as long as I did, but also that I was able to so closely guess when I'd reached the half way point.  After that, I managed to only check my distance occasionally.  I'm pretty proud of that accomplishment alone.

In the meantime, with no numbers glaring at me, I was able to focus on other things.  I mostly just listened to my music and my slow pace actually allowed me to sing along to my favorite parts (my husband's Thursday bowling commitment was suddenly a blessing in disguise - I have no doubt my horrendous singing would have been grounds for divorce) and my crazy mix of music even allowed me to bust out some sweet dance moves from time to time (and by 'sweet' I mean 'scary'... I imagine anyone watching might have been concerned I was having a medical emergency and would have likely called 911 if there wouldn't be some question as to why they were watching me through my basement window in the first place). 

Anyway, a few months ago I had put together a running playlist and, after today's run, there's no question that it needs some work.  I always put it on shuffle and, with my ipod in my arm band, I don't have the ability to skip songs... here's what I got to listen to today:

All Star - Smash Mouth
(one of my favorites from my running playlist)
Chasin' That Neon Rainbow - Alan Jackson
(seriously? I mean, I like country, but this is just silly)
Boot Scootin' Boogie - Brooks & Dunn
(a little embarrassed to even claim this one)
Lighters - Bad Meets Evil
(love the song... terrible for running)
American Girl - Tom Petty
(not too bad I suppose)
Cooler Than Me - Mike Posner
(oddly enough, I actually love this one)
Ridin' - Chamillionaire
(who's playlist is this anyway? so not me)
My Body - Young the Giant
(a friend's recommendation and by far my favorite from this playlist)
Are You Gonna Go My Way - Lenny Kravitz
(hmmm... I'm not even a Kravitz fan...)
Down Under - Men at Work
(love this song... but I have no clue why)
Super Bass - Nicki Minaj
(kinda love this one too)

Needless to say, this playlist could use a serious makeover.  There are definitely a few I really like, but with more than half of these being questionable, I'm thinking I need to spend some time working on a playlist I might actually enjoy for my entire run... especially if I plan to use my music to get me through some of my longer distances.  Suggestions welcome.