Chicago Marathon Playlist

If you're like me, then the music you listen to while running greatly influences your pace. I know, I shouldn't be this reliant on my music. I run without music quite often, but I'm running the Chicago Marathon this Sunday and I figured if any distance needs music, it's a marathon!

Listening to music while running isn't always bad. To help keep my pace slower in the beginning, I've front-loaded my playlist with "mellow" songs. I say "mellow" but they're actually just mellow compared to the rest of my songs! This of course isn't my full playlist.

Mile 1-5

• Rusted Root- "Send Me on My Way" Ha, get it?
• Madonna- "Like a Prayer"
• Xavier Rudd- "Famine"
• Rusted Root- "Beautiful People"
• Damien Rice- cover of Nina Simone's "Be My Husband"
• Dave Matthews Band- "Dream Girl"
• Boxcar Racer- "There Is"
• Xavier Rudd- "Home"-An absolute favorite of mine. Usually I finish smaller races with this song, but I figured I'd need more energy at the marathon's final stretch.
• Alison Krauss- "Down to the River"
• Xavier Rudd- "Little Chief"

Mile 6-12

• Xavier Rudd- "Breeze"
• Oasis- "Wonderwall"
• O.A.R.- "Crazy Game of Poker"
• Madonna- "Vogue"
• Rusted Root- "Welcome to My Party"
• Xavier Rudd- "Land Rights"
• Mandy Moore- "Candy"
• Dave Matthews Band- "You and Me"
• Xavier Rudd- "Badimo"
• Rusted Root- "Back to Earth"
• Nine Days- "Story of a Girl"
• Xavier Rudd- "Love Comes and Goes"
• Lady Sovereign- "Love Me or Hate Me"
• Styx- "Come Sail Away"
• Michael Jackson- "The Way You Make Me Feel"
• Ozzy Osbourne- "Iron Man"
• Shaggy- "Boombastic"

Somewhere around Mile 13:

• D4L- "Shake that Laffy Taffy"
• Ludacris-"Move"
• 'NSYNC- "Bye, Bye, Bye" -Saying bye, bye, bye to the first half. On to the second!

Mile 14-16:

• Rusted Root- "Hands are Law"
• DMX- "Ruff Riders"
• Kid Rock- "Bawitaba"
• Xavier Rudd- "Energy"- Time for some power gel!
• Fergie- "Fergilicious"
• Britney Spears- "I Love Rock 'n Roll" - A staple on my running list for about six years.
• Xavier Rudd- "Sky to Ground"
• TLC- "No Scrubs"
• Gwen Stefani- "Hollaback Girl"
• Xavier Rudd- "Food in the Belly"
• Limp Bizkit- "Faith" - Yep, the George Michael song done by Limp Bizkit. I raised money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and named my campaign "Running with Faith". Faith is/was my mom's name, and I put this on the list in her honor.

Mile 17-19:

• Xavier Rudd- "Set Me Free" - I'll hopefully be feeling good and ready to be "set free"
• Fergie- "My Humps"
• Xavier Rudd- "Introduction"
• LL Cool J and Jennifer Lopez- "Control Myself"
• Nelly- "Batter Up" -Lyrics "took a whole lotta tryin' just to get up that hill" Mile 18 has been my proverbial hill thus far
• Eric Prydz- "Call on Me"
• Xavier Rudd- "Mana" - I love this song. It's all instrumental with a didgeridoo and drums. Yep, a didgeridoo.
• Three 6 Mafia- "Gotta Stay Fly"
• Rihanna- "Please Don't Stop the Music"

Mile 20:

• MC Hammer- "Too Legit to Quit"-I'm anticipating hitting my wall at this point, if all things go accordingly, of course.
• Britney Spears- "Stronger"
• Def Leppard- "Pour Some Sugar on Me""

Mile 21-24:

• Xavier Rudd- "Let Me Be"
• Sean Kingston- "Fire Burnin'"
• Usher- "Yeah!"
• Ying Yang Twins- "Ai Yi Yi"
• Sarai- "Ladiez"
• Fergie- "London Bridges"
• Salt-n-Pepa- "Shoop"
• Rihanna- "Rude Boy"
• Xavier Rudd- "The Mother" It's about Mother Earth "breathing good love."

Mile 25-26.2:

• Rusted Root- "Ecstasy"
• LMFAO- "Shots"
• Salt-n-Pepa- "Push It" -To keep me pushing through to the end!
• Rihanna and Jay Z- "Run this Town"

It's pretty heavily loaded with artists Rusted Rood and Xavier Rudd. They get me through all my long runs. Who are your favorite artists for running playlist? Have any songs you think I should listen to?