Let Yourself Go

Getting older requires certain concessions. You have to realize that you're not 25 anymore and act accordingly. Part of that means your body doesn't bounce back as quickly as it once did. As a runner, I've found that my body doesn't deal with marathon training the way it did 10 or even five years ago, so I don't do marathons anymore.

But that doesn't mean I've given up on challenging myself. I've been doing a lot of shorter races lately and doing fairly well, but I felt like there was something missing. A few months, I was chatting on Facebook with a running buddy of mine and came to the realization that I needed to have a good challenge to keep myself interested. We had talked about doing the Merge Records 25K in North Carolina in March, but he had an injury that prevented him from properly training for it. I probably wasn't ready for such a distance, but I realized that a fall 25K was definitely possible. The Around Cape Ann 25K is a tough race that I did 10 years ago--the course runs along Route 127 in Gloucester and is super hilly. At the time, I swore I'd never do it again. But after thinking about it, it seemed like the perfect challenge for me.

There's nothing like hills to get you in shape. I got out there this morning for an 11-mile run that was pretty damn tough, but definitely doable. I was able to run up each hill from O'Maley Middle School to the Rockport line and back. I'm hoping to get out there several more times before race day on Sept. 1. I'm still having issues with my heels; they're both very sore, although once I get going they don't bother me. It was only my left one until about a month ago, when my right heel started bothering me. I ran in my last pair of shoes for about two months too long and unfortunately I'm paying for it now. I'm hoping I can keep going without any more issues.

Last week, I ran the New England Running Company 10-Miler and kicked ass, finishing in 1:15:58, a PR for that distance. It was a somewhat hilly course along Route 127 in Beverly, but I was familiar with it since I run that route pretty much every weekend. I don't usually create playlists for road races anymore, but I thought it would be fun to do one for this race since it was a little longer than I've been running lately. I tried to pick songs I haven't used in the past and I had a good mix; it worked out so well that I finished to Iron Maiden's "The Trooper," which is about as kickass a song as there is to run with, let alone carry you through the finish line of a 10-mile race.

The playlist:

James Brown - Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved
Funkadelic - Super Stupid
The Jam - In the City
Panthers - Goblin City
Grinderman - Honey Bee (Let's Fly to Mars)
Queens of the Stone Age - Mexicola
Ovlov - The Well
Frank Black - Thalassocracy
Hot Snakes -  Kreative Kontrol
The Night Marchers - All Hits
Drive Like Jehu - Here Come the Rome Plows
Rocket From the Crypt - Middle
Rocket From the Crypt - Born in '69
Rocket From the Crypt - On a Rope
Mission of Burma - Let Yourself Go
The Dirtbombs - Motor City Baby
Mudhoney - I Like It Small
The Riverboat Gamblers - Hey! Hey! Hey!
Pup - Reservoir
Metz - Wasted
New Bomb Turks - Id Slips In
Kam Fong - Get Behind Me Satan
Future of the Left - You Need Satan More Than He Needs You
Iron Maiden - The Trooper
Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance
Mastodon - The Wolf is Loose