I think it's kind of fun to run to songs that are either affiliated with running or have "run" (or "walk" or "dance") in the lyrics/title: the theme from Chariots of Fire, Springsteen's Born to Run or Dancing in the Dark, the Proclaimers I Wanna Be (500 Miles), Men at Work's Safety Dance, Pat Benatar's We Belong (watch Talladega Nights if you're wondering about that one!), Eminem's Rabbit Run, Kanye's Jesus Walks.

If you want music with a good beat but without lyrics (sometimes people like lyrics but sometimes people find them distracting), I like the Afro Celt Sound System and Bond.

Someone posted a question about running music a couple weeks back and there were a lot of responses to that. If you can find the question, I'm sure that will give you a lot of ideas. Also, iTunes has a lot of running and workout iMixes. Have fun! (Although you may want to think about using the iPod in the race itself -- lots of discussion about that issue too ...)

"Showdown" - Electric Light Orchestra

"Mad World" - Tears for Fears

"Black Betty" - Ram Jam

"Juke Box Hero" - Foreigner

"No Not Now" - Hot Hot Heat

"Stuck in the Metal" - Eagles of Death Metal

"Fox on the Run" - Sweet

"Blinded by the Light" - Mafred Mann

"Sweet Lullabies" - Jason Michael Clark & Chris Youkum

"You Shook Me All Night Long" - AC/DC

"Back in Black" - AC/DC

"Highway to Hell" - AC/DC

Check itunes in the Podcast section- there is a great one called Podrunner. It is free to download and, if you like dance type music, it is great. Many of the mixes are at least an hour long.

I'm a sucker for puck and rockabilly.

If you're a Mac user checkout Tangerine! found at: http://www.potionfactory.com/tangerine/

It will build your playlist based on a time given and look at the beats per minute of songs to give you a playlist that increase/decreases in tempo and feel.

My current running playlist has about 200 songs in it, so I won't list them all.

Here are some of the highlights of a few recent runs:

Lose Yourself - Eminem

Stolen - Dashboard Confessional

Read My Mind - The Killers

Numb - Linkin Park

Wolf Like Me - TV on the Radio

Survivalism - Nine Inch Nails

Keep the Car Running - Arcade Fire

Points of Authority - Angels and Airwaves

Santa Monica - Everclear

Into Your Hideout - Pilot Speed

Signal Fire - Snow Patrol (great interval/fartlek run!)

The Idea of You - Dave Matthews Band

Soldier - Eminem

It Hurts - Angels and Airwaves

The Crane Wife 3 - Decemberists

The Adventure - Angels and Airwaves

Tessie - Dropkick Murphys

I'll post a few more every so often if people are still reading - and I'm always looking for new tunes to add!

--Jeff

the next installment - in case people are still reading!

--Jeff

Square Dance - Eminem

Politik - Coldplay

Powerless (Say What You Want) - Nelly Furtado

Slow Decay - Dashboard Confessional

In the End - Linkin Park

Where the Streets Have No Name- U2

Do It For Me Now - Angels and Airwaves

Move Along - All-American Rejects

God Put a Smile on Your Face - Coldplay

I'm Shipping Up To Boston - Dropkick Murphys

Everything to Everyone - Everclear

Famous Last Words - My Chemical Romance

Speed of Sound - Coldplay

From the Inside - Linkin Park *great tempo run!

Living in Your Letters - Dashboard Confessional

Dashboard - Modest Mouse

Hailie's Song - Eminem

The Gift - Angels and Airwaves

This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race - Fall Out Boy

Trip Like I Do - Crystal Method

AM Radio - Everclear

Konstantine - Something Corporate

The War - Angels and Airwaves

Such Great Heights - Postal Service

Down - Blink 182