This is who I really am.

This week's Music Monday is "My Medicine" by The Pretty Reckless. This song was a song that I kept singing to myself during the St. Jude Marathon. It has nothing to do with running and not an inspirational song. I was just bored. I almost always run with my ipod. But because I had run this marathon before I knew that there was just too much atmosphere to enjoy to be listening to my music. There were people cheering and playing music and I really wanted to take it all in this time. So when we got to parts of the race where there wasn't much going on this song popped in my head. Why? I guess it was because I had just gotten this cd and absolutely loved it. If you haven't heard of The Pretty Reckless you should check them out. I finally put my ear buds in around mile 19, that is the part of the race that starts to get boring. There is less crowd and more traffic from around mile 19 to about 24. Although I'm not sure. A lot of the race kinda blended togeth...

It's taken nearly a month but I am finally getting to my St. Jude Marathon recap. I wanted to wait at least a week so the recap wouldn't have to break it into several posts. Everything about the marathon was great. I think I smiled the entire 4:34:23. The organizers do a great job getting people to volunteer and there are tons of people lining the streets cheering. Everyone involved from start to finish is great. Everyone makes you feel like they are there for you. Even the people cheering for their family and friends cheer for you. It is an unbelievable feeling. I am so thankful for everyone that donated to St. Jude through my Heroes program. My total amount raised was $576. Wearing the Heroes shirt this year was an honor. I can't imagine ever running this race without being a part of this awesome program. It really gave me a little extra pride knowing that I was doing this for more than myself. Running 26.2 miles isn't the most fun thing to do but doing it to ...

This week's Music Monday is "Beauty School" by the Deftones. I didn't have much time to write a post so I picked this video because it shows the Deftones, my favorite band, before and during some of their concerts. This song is one of their more mellow songs but the video shows all of the energy and awesomeness from their show. And below the video is a picture of me with the band when I got to meet them before their show in Memphis earlier this year. Enjoy!

This week's Music Monday is "Turn the Page" by Bob Seger. Back in September I did a post here  about a Bob Seger song that means a lot to me. In it I told the story of how I always wanted to go to his concert. Well, just a couple weeks after I wrote that I got an email from Ticketmaster that said that he was playing in Memphis in December. This time I was going! The concert was great. It was everything I expected it to be. He put on an awesome show. It was also really cool that my mom and my sister were there. I seriously felt my dad's presence there with me. I had chills the whole concert. It really helped that there were a bunch of drunk people around me to keep me from freaking out that I was finally doing something that I have wanted to do since I was a kid. This is a song that I love to listen to when I am on a long run. It is a song about him being a musician on the road. I kinda relate it to being on a long run. Out there in the spotlight You'r...

This week's Music Monday is "Fully Alive" by Flyleaf. I chose this song because it is a song that is about knowing someone that is in pain and has not much of a reason to feel alive.  And yet they do. I signed up for the St. Jude Marathon because I wanted to erase the bad taste of my first marathon. I really didn't enjoy my first one because I took it too seriously and really didn't think about what I should have been running it for. The children of St. Jude. This song really became my rally song for the last few weeks leading up to St. Jude. Every email I received for the race had smiling children. Every piece of mail I received had smiling children. Every time I looked at anything that has to do with St. Jude there was always a smiling child. And here I am upset because I can't train for the race the way I want. This song really hit me when I was on a run one day and these words really resonated within me: All my complaints shrink to...

Yesterday was a great day for running. And by great I mean terrible. Yesterday was windy, rainy and cold. The exact opposite of my ideal weather. The temperature when I was running was 36 but the wind and rain made it seem much colder. My ideal temperature for running is more like 96 and humid. Days like yesterday make a lot of people opt for the treadmill. But yesterday's weather was perfect because as a runner I need to face different weather conditions. If I stayed inside and ran on the treadmill I would miss a chance to get my body used to windy, cold and rainy weather. Sure I've run in it before but I'm preparing for a race and I want my body to be ready for that kind of weather right now. One thing that a lot of people forget is that not only do they have to get their legs ready but they also need to get their body and lungs ready for the weather they will meet on race day. I absolutely hate cold weather. I hate even being cold for a second. Hell, I hate i...

This week's Music Monday is "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)" by the Deftones. This is a song by my favorite band. It is a song that I use to kinda get away from things that are bothering me. The song is about just getting away.....far away. A lot of times I find something to kinda get me away from those things that bother me. Usually it's a nice drive by myself where I can just be left alone and listen to music that gets those feelings out that I am afraid to express to the person or situation I am trying to get away from. Running is a great way to get away because it's just me. A long run can do wonders for my soul. I really like to use those longer runs as a way of getting away from everything. No one can bother me and I can just "be" by myself. The way Chino takes the yelling of "I don't care where just far!" and follows it with a calm "Awaaaaaaaayyy" kinda takes me where I need to go. I love it because it is screaming t...