"I Want to Run"--The Songs That Got Me to the Top

I confess, I'm not a real runner. The zen-like peace of running with just the quiet of my thoughts, my beating heart, the pace of my breathing? That's not me. No, I need motivation. I need music--to keep me from my naturally skeptical thoughts--"Why am I doing this?", "Wow, this is REALLY hard" and so on--to keep from noting my racing heart and gasping breaths.\ And so I created a playlist on my ipod just for this run to the top of Mt. Tapochau.


Here they are--the songs that got me to the top:


1. Where the Streets Have No Name--U2 Inspiring, anthemic, turning the corner at Lower Base, I "wanted to run" indeed. No better song to start the odyssey to the top.

2. Zoo Station--U2 As I turn on to Isa Drive and begin the first incline, "I'm ready. . ."

3. Remember the Name--Fort Minor

4. Dirty Little Secret--All-American Rejects

5. No One Like You--David Crowder Band

6. Boulevard of Broken Dreams-Green Day

7. Ooh-Ah--GRITS

8. Life Time--Matt Kearny

9. Beautiful Day--U2

10. All the Way My Savior Leads Me--Rich Mullins

11. The Howling--Rich Mullins

12. This is Your Life--Switchfoot--"This is your life, are you who you want to be?" And I realize, Yes. I am.

13. Gone--Switchfoot

14. Lonely Nation--Switchfoot

15. Stars--Switchfoot

16. Happy is a Yuppie Word (partial)--Switchfoot About midway through this song, I turned the final corner and saw the finish line. I wanted to end on something upbeat, so I clumsily skipped up a few songs, looking for something, and was hooked by a forgotten pop song of the late 80's that I have always and unabashedly loved. With it's driving beat, and cheesy yet heroic keyboards, it was all I needed to pick up my pace and churn to the finish. The song? A one-hit wonder entitled:

17. Soldier of Love (partial)--Donny Osmond.




Awhile later, triumphant atop Topachau, the wind in my face and the entire panorama of Saipan spread before me, I listened to one more song--a song I'd actually heard played live and then gotten a bootleg copy off the internet:


18. Beautiful Day (Recorded Live in Japan with snippets of "Srgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band")--U2