from Hey Now! to Hidden #7

Day 651, Session 119:
When/Where: Tuesday April 1st - Running around the neighborhood, literally this time.
First song: Hey Now! by Oasis
Last full song: Hidden #7 This Ape's For You by They Might Be Giants
Progress: 1879-1892 of 5780
Total Songs Heard: 1530

**This entry has been expanded from it's original post, much like my running I went out in this post too fast then got too tired to originally post the whole thing.**

This is not an April Fools joke, I was literally running while listening to these songs. Outside. Wearing actual running shoes. Not being chased by anything. For the first time in,I'm going to say 15 years, I went for a run.

The entire decision to try running again was fueled by a few factors: 1) I'm not exactly what you would call in prime shape and since I have no plans on giving up beer any time soon, I figure I have to try to balance out the drinking somehow. B) I've been unemployed for several months now and since this winter is the worst I've seen since moving to Chicago 7 years ago, that means I've spent A LOT of time inside. Even I'm a little tired of inside. III) When the weather was nice for a few days last week, the wife and I went out on a few walks. Even that little bit of walking was enough to blister up my baby soft feet, which meant I had to buy a new pair of shoes that would allow me to walk around without blisters. I may be older, but I'm sure not old enough yet to buy "walking shoes" which means I bought running shoes. As long as I'm spending money on running shoes, I'm going to try to run in them.

Hey Now! by Oasis - This was playing in the house while I was trying to figure out how the to get the lanyard that attaches to my headphones for "active" purposes to work. I found these lyrics oddly prescient:

I thought that I heard someone say now
There's no time for running away now
Hey now! Hey now!

Feel no shame - cos time's no chain
Feel no shame

So on the one hand, Oasis is telling me that this is no time to run (away now,) so I'm like, "Hey, good idea!" Then immediately after they're saying to feel no shame and, well, one of the reasons I haven't run in a long time is that I'm a little ashamed of how out of shape I'm going to look out there huffing and puffing despite moving at a ridiculously slow pace, so I think, "Well, if I'm supposed to feel no shame, I guess I'll run."

Hey Pretty by Poe - So out I stepped into the world ready to take it on. I walked to the corner to warm up and then started jogging. This lasted all of three steps until my ear buds popped out of my ears. This was undoubtedly a sign that I was not supposed to do this. Knowing that I couldn't run without music, I turned around and started heading back to the house.

Hey Pretty (Drive-by Remix) by Poe - While walking back to the house this song came on. There's not much to say about this particular remix other than it's the radio safe version (which I found while looking up the lyrics, apparently there's a more explicit version out there,) and if someone named Kyrie ever offers me a ride in her BMW coupe I'm going.

Hey Ya by Matt Weddle - After briefly considering just giving up, I changed headphones and pants, it wasn't warm enough for what I was wearing first, and was sent back out the door by a laid back acoustic cover of Hey Ya. I walked about a quarter mile again to warm up again and this time I was ready to go. The nice gentle acousticness kept everything calm. I didn't run too hard or too soft, it seemed just right. And at the end of the quarter mile I transitioned back to walking and was surprised at how good I felt.

Hey Ya by Outkast - Even if I hadn't felt good, Outkast probably would have picked me back up. Suddenly in my ears it was 2004 again. I wasn't even 30 yet! This was going great! Time to start running again!

Hey You by No Doubt - Here's where things started to go downhill. I ran another 1/4 mile at a decent pace (I had gone about a mile at this point running half of it) but towards the end I noticed how heavy my legs felt. Then once it was back to walking time I noticed that where I had been breathing free most of the way, now it felt like someone had put a bar of soap in a sock and then whacked me with it right in the middle of the chest.

The rest of the way I pretty much shut it down. I walked the next 3/4 towards home before taking the last 1/4 mile at a real slow jog. I probably went out a little too hard my first time in 15 years, but all-in-all I was pleased with the experience.