I remember clearly, like it was yesterday, the 82km stage in the Marathon De Sables, where for some reason I followed a delirious frenchman a mile and half up a rocky hill in the wrong direction because he'd dropped his water (and if he'd kept going would likely be dead) When I got him he didn't speak english, so i had to pull him in the right direction, and we trotted back to the (by then dark) 'path' and on to the next checkpoint, where I met the two notorious scandos Krister and Jarmo and pushed on into the night....
As dawn broke the next day and everyone had got lost (because some local kids had stolen the luminous way-markers) I found myself coming through some scrub and finally onto the 20km home stretch. I could see the tents of the end of the stage, shimmering way off in the distance, but after three hours, and as the sun rose and it pushed over a hundred and twenty, it still looked no nearer away and my spirit began to break.
It's at these times a tune or two comes into your head, and through the tears you begin to sing. So when all seems lost and your out of water and your throat is burning and your blisters are bleeding, and the only sound is the forlorn croak of the vultures, and finally you consider what the newspaper will say about you, when you're found, dying alone with your eyes picked out in middle of the sahara... what do you sing?
'Everything Will Be All Right' by The Killers was the tune that got me through - a nice slow beat to run to, convincing myself that any minute I would be drinking some nice cool pepsi, eating fish and chips and dunking in the pool, but I thought i'd share my top 5 favourite running tunes with you here that pull me through or speed me up on the very common days when I hit the wall....
1. Mr Brightside - The Killers. Im not a big Killers fan really, just a few of their songs are standouts, and this is one of them, for running at least. The first riffs are uplifting and keep a fast pace going, and before you know it you're thinking of that hot girl you used to dally with from Uni days...
2. Call of The Cthulu - Metallica. I like instrumentals like this, the way it kind of forces you on and builds up to a maddening energetic crescendo.
3. Extreme Ways - Moby. Similar to 1. nice and upbeat and puts you in a good mood. Makes you think you're the guy in Bourne Identity.
4. Ostia - Sepultura. A furious bit of thrash that whips you into shape. Its also all about Dantes Journey in Hell so you'd better get running...
5. Mean Street - Van Halen. Fast pacy rock, with old Dave Lee Roth giving it laldy, you basically can never sleep to this...
There are more of course, but I'm always open to other perfect running tunes if anyone has some good recommendations...
As dawn broke the next day and everyone had got lost (because some local kids had stolen the luminous way-markers) I found myself coming through some scrub and finally onto the 20km home stretch. I could see the tents of the end of the stage, shimmering way off in the distance, but after three hours, and as the sun rose and it pushed over a hundred and twenty, it still looked no nearer away and my spirit began to break.
It's at these times a tune or two comes into your head, and through the tears you begin to sing. So when all seems lost and your out of water and your throat is burning and your blisters are bleeding, and the only sound is the forlorn croak of the vultures, and finally you consider what the newspaper will say about you, when you're found, dying alone with your eyes picked out in middle of the sahara... what do you sing?
'Everything Will Be All Right' by The Killers was the tune that got me through - a nice slow beat to run to, convincing myself that any minute I would be drinking some nice cool pepsi, eating fish and chips and dunking in the pool, but I thought i'd share my top 5 favourite running tunes with you here that pull me through or speed me up on the very common days when I hit the wall....
1. Mr Brightside - The Killers. Im not a big Killers fan really, just a few of their songs are standouts, and this is one of them, for running at least. The first riffs are uplifting and keep a fast pace going, and before you know it you're thinking of that hot girl you used to dally with from Uni days...
2. Call of The Cthulu - Metallica. I like instrumentals like this, the way it kind of forces you on and builds up to a maddening energetic crescendo.
3. Extreme Ways - Moby. Similar to 1. nice and upbeat and puts you in a good mood. Makes you think you're the guy in Bourne Identity.
4. Ostia - Sepultura. A furious bit of thrash that whips you into shape. Its also all about Dantes Journey in Hell so you'd better get running...
5. Mean Street - Van Halen. Fast pacy rock, with old Dave Lee Roth giving it laldy, you basically can never sleep to this...
There are more of course, but I'm always open to other perfect running tunes if anyone has some good recommendations...
