1/10/12 When I first started running again in August of 2010 I didn’t have, nor really want, anyone to train with. It had been 16 years since I developed a bone spur during my sophomore cross-country season at UConn, an injury that ultimately forced me to hang up my running shoes. All those years off the roads and trails had made my legs much weaker than I’d have liked them to be and was confident that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with anyone other than myself. So for many months, countless hours, and hundreds of miles I chose to run alone. Well, not entirely alone. Some days I’d run with The Black Keys, Pink Floyd, or Weezer shouting motivation in my ear, while other days I’d have Kanye West, The Beastie Boys, and Jay-Z to keep me company. They wouldn’t push my pace, nor would I have to worry about slowing them down. About six months later my legs were in much better shape, I had found multiple training partners to run with, and didn’t have to bring along a soundtrack on all of my runs anymore.
Running with a training partner or in a group has many benefits but can also limit what you feel your body is capable of doing and the amount of effort you put forth on certain runs. So on days when I’m not running with anyone and having conversations that usually include running discourse and advice; I look forward to bringing along some of my musician friends for the run. It’s a good chance to take my mind off of the running and let it wander off to wherever the lyrics and tunes may take it. If I’m running a race or a training run requiring near maximum effort, I’ll usually create a playlist to go along with the workout and keep me motivated throughout the run. If it’s just a long, easy run then I’ll use my old iPod shuffle and enjoy being surprised at what songs come on along the way. Whenever one of my favorite artists releases a new album, that’s sure to be the music to accompany my next few solo runs.
One of my favorite sources for free, live music has also become a favorite way to pass the time on the long runs I have to go alone. The Internet Archive was founded in San Franciso CA in 1996 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit to create an online archive of media, but didn't become tremendously popular until after 2001 when it made a collection of more than 50,000 live concerts available for free listening and download. The Live Music Archive (www.archive.org) has a huge pool of both national and local bands and musicians that allow their concerts to be posted for anyone to listen to or download for free. There are 8,468 live recordings of the Grateful Dead for those who like extended jam sessions and hundreds of shows by the bands they splintered into after Jerry Garcia passed; Phil Lesh and Friends, Bob Weir, Ratdog, Dark Star Orchestra, and Furthur to name a few. Also present are jam bands like; Little Feat, Derek trucks Band, moe., Robert Randolf [and the Family Band], North Mississippi Allstars, and Bella Fleck. Whatever your music tastes are, you'll find some great artists and maybe even some concerts you've attended by browsing the list of bands at the following: live music archive index.
My tempo run on Tuesday night with Paul meant no music for me and instead some good conversation, well, for the 2-mile warm up we ran together before I turned the after burners on for my 20-minute tempo pace. I felt great during the tempo section and the hard running effort came easier than I thought it would, but with nobody to talk to or keep me company I got a little bored. So I started thinking about what live concert I would download to my iPod and listen to during my Wednesday night, mid-week, semi-long run. Earlier that day I visited the Ryan Adams page (433 live concerts) at the Live Music Archive, as I do at least once a week, to see if anything new had been added and was pleasantly surprised to see the first (and only) 2011 recent show freshly posted. The last time I had seen him perform live with his band, the Cardinals, was in New Haven at the Shubert on Feb. 20, 2009, five days before Jonas was born. That show is also available on the website, so I had a tough decision to make: listen to the show I was at, or listen to the new recording. I decided to put both in the same playlist and just run really, really slow.
Running with a training partner or in a group has many benefits but can also limit what you feel your body is capable of doing and the amount of effort you put forth on certain runs. So on days when I’m not running with anyone and having conversations that usually include running discourse and advice; I look forward to bringing along some of my musician friends for the run. It’s a good chance to take my mind off of the running and let it wander off to wherever the lyrics and tunes may take it. If I’m running a race or a training run requiring near maximum effort, I’ll usually create a playlist to go along with the workout and keep me motivated throughout the run. If it’s just a long, easy run then I’ll use my old iPod shuffle and enjoy being surprised at what songs come on along the way. Whenever one of my favorite artists releases a new album, that’s sure to be the music to accompany my next few solo runs.
One of my favorite sources for free, live music has also become a favorite way to pass the time on the long runs I have to go alone. The Internet Archive was founded in San Franciso CA in 1996 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit to create an online archive of media, but didn't become tremendously popular until after 2001 when it made a collection of more than 50,000 live concerts available for free listening and download. The Live Music Archive (www.archive.org) has a huge pool of both national and local bands and musicians that allow their concerts to be posted for anyone to listen to or download for free. There are 8,468 live recordings of the Grateful Dead for those who like extended jam sessions and hundreds of shows by the bands they splintered into after Jerry Garcia passed; Phil Lesh and Friends, Bob Weir, Ratdog, Dark Star Orchestra, and Furthur to name a few. Also present are jam bands like; Little Feat, Derek trucks Band, moe., Robert Randolf [and the Family Band], North Mississippi Allstars, and Bella Fleck. Whatever your music tastes are, you'll find some great artists and maybe even some concerts you've attended by browsing the list of bands at the following: live music archive index.
My personal favorites to listen online, and download to my iTunes and iPod, are; David Gray, Fastball, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Of A Revolution (o.a.r.), The Samples, Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven, Blues Traveler, Dispatch, Mike Doughty, Soul Coughing, Jack Johnson, G. Love, Dan Bern, Jason Mraz, and all-time favorite Ryan Adams. When you click on a band or solo musician in the index you then have the options to view their available concerts by popularity (via # of downloads) or (my favorite) by date and year. This makes it easy to find a concert that you've actually been to and would like to relive the experience a bit more sober. Some of the earliest Ryan Adams set-lists include songs from his alt country band Whiskeytown mixed in with early solo material that makes me wish the music being released today was even half as good as back in the day.
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