Running Playlist - Just Run

If you are like me, you can't run without good music to keep you going. After spending countless hours searching for and adding songs to to my running playlists I've decided it's high time that I share them. I'd like to thank Julie at Peanut Butter Fingers (absolutely love the name of her site, by the way) for the inspiration not only to write this series of blog posts, but also for some really great tune suggestions to add to my lists!

I have a bunch of specialised lists to share with you folks, but I'll start off with something quite generic that contains songs that most people are likely to recognise. For fun's sake and because every list needs some kind of title, I'm calling this playlist, Just Run.

• M.I.A. - Paper Planes
• Night Like This - Shawn Desman
• Boom Boom Boom - Venga Boys
• Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys
• Give Me Everything - Pitbull
• Firework - Katy Perry 
• All of the Lights - Kanye West
• Grace Kelly - Mika
• My Body - Young the Giant
• Jump - Flo Rida
• Tightrope - Janelle Monae
• Raise Your Glass - Pink
• She's the Blade - Sugarcult
• Freaky Girl - Shaggy
• Some Nights - Fun. 
• Bad Romance - Lady Gaga
• You're a Superstar - Love Inc.
• Pump It - Black Eyed Peas 
• Omobolasire - Prozzak
• Ohio (Come Back to Texas) - Bowling for Soup

And there we have it - 20 songs at approximately 3.5 minutes each for a total of about 70 minutes - not enough time to run a half marathon, but enough time to get a good run in none-the-less.

My top pick from this list would have to be "My Body" by Young the Giant. The first time I actually made it to 5K was thanks in large part to fact that this song came on when I thought I was finished. The lyrics, "my body tells me no, but I won't quit cause I want more," gave me the motivation I needed to push myself to that 5K mark.

Another point of interest attached to this list involves "Night Like This" by Shawn Desman. I saw him live at a local club. When he performed this song, he grabbed my hand, stared into my eyes, and had me sing along with him! I haven't washed my hand since. I joke. I kid. But really now, the man is f-i-n-e. If he was waiting for me at the end of the half marathon, perhaps my time would increase a tad! A girl can dream, right?!

Speaking of dreams, if you like this playlist how about a donation to make some realistic dreams come true for students in refugee camps.

Is there a song on this list that is connected to a memory for you? I'd love to hear about it!