Running secrets
The thing about being a runner in 2014 is if you want to break any sort of record, you’d better be able to run at least a three minute mile. (Zero research on actual running records was done before writing this blog post.)
Because at this point humans have done it all. Women weren’t allowed to run marathons until forty years ago (again, no research), but now they definitely can. And the worst part is, I’m not a fast runner. So there’s really only one record left for me to break: the record for how many miles someone can run while only listening to Desperado.
The hit 1973 song by the Eagles. You can listen to it while you read this if you want:
I’ve listened to it a lot since I decided it was the best running song in the world and started listening on repeat on four-mile runs in the morning. I’m not a fast runner, so that usually adds up to over thirty minutes of listening to Desperado.
Did you click on that link to start playing it earlier? If you’re feeling bad that you didn’t here’s another one:
Then I signed up for this marathon, and made up a running schedule that involves a lot of running (surprise). And everyone knows, the best running song in the world is Desperado.
I started running ten, then twelve, then fourteen miles, and I’m not a fast runner, so that’s almost two and a half hours of listening to Desperado on repeat. Sometimes I mix it up with one of the twenty cover versions (it's a very popular song), but usually not.
Now it’s been long enough that fourteen miles is starting to feel normal, now after about an hour my legs know what they’re doing and I’m just sort of on a three-minute-thirty-three-second-loop autopilot, it’s hard to tell the night time from the day, or one step from the next, or Desperado from the other songs I'm listening to. Just kidding, I'm only listening to Desperado.
The beat drops about four times in Desperado, which I think is the main reason, or possibly the only reason, I like it so much.
They say that running a marathon is proof of the human spirit, proof that people can do anything they set out to do. I say another equally beautiful test of human endurance, and one with way more really great beat drops, is listening to Desperado on repeat for four hours while running a marathon.
And in a few months I’ll prove it, if I still have knees.
