Nothing left to do but run run run…

Plenty of the expected 18,000 participants in this weekend’s Philadelphia Marathon will spend their chilly Sunday morning fretting over mile splits and personal bests. Stuff that, in the grander scheme of things, is irrelevant. Or not as relevant as the album they should cue up next on their headphones.

Like I said, it’s a race of 18,000. Only one of those people will win. You probably know going into it whether or not that person is you. (Hint: it’s not you.) So for most people running on Sunday, their only real adversary is going to be themselves. And if that’s the case, why get all bent out of shape and overstressed?

I love long distance runners - as Joe Biden’s mother would say, God love ‘em — and I realize that it’s damn near impossible to take the fierce ubercompetitiveness out of the athlete. But at the same time, those who fixate so heavily on how they’re doing in relation to how they did last time, or pitted against how some imaginary rival is doing, or what the hell ever, are totally missing out on the most joyous aspect of running a marathon: escape, Zen-style. Retreating into one’s own thoughts for a few hours while dashing through ever-changing scenery. Preferably with some great tunes keeping one motivated.

Now, MP3 players are technically verboten, per the Marathon’s race rules. It should be noted, however, that rules like this are virtually impossible to enforce.

In that spirit, here’s a sampling of what I’ve been listening to out on runs this year. I encourage my fellow members of the 26.2-mile club — a society my buddy Sean McCann once astutely dubbed “the hobbling, the exhausted, the triumphant” — to borrow liberally from it on race day.

Or if you’ve got the post-marathon energy, please reply with your own home-stretch playlist. Since I’m sitting this year out, I can use the suggestions for next year.

1. Primal Scream Screamadelica - Sure, maybe that wash of house and dub lacquer, or the general drugginess, might not make this perennial anglophile favorite the most obvious candidate for workout music. But it’s paced so incredibly! The little lift on the strummy “Movin’ On Up” gets you going into a gradual ascent. By the time you’re 4:48 into “Come Together” - that point where the instruments kick out and it’s just the beats and the gospel choir - good God, that kick drum will be pounding you along your way.

2. The Germs (MIA) — Until you make it down to Delaware Ave., the marathon will be a clusterfuck of overly aggressive dudes and ladies jockeying for position on narrow streets with no room to stretch out. You’ll be pissed, and you’ll want absolutely every doubletime drumbeat and nihilistic Darby Crash lyric in The Germs’ catalog to lash out. I recommend “Lexicon Devil”: “I want tin soldiers that can push and shove / I want gunboy rovers that’ll wreck this club.”

3. The New Pornographers Electric Version — Okay, calm down. This is just a game, after all. There will be another day, there will be another marathon. Enjoy the ride with some buoyant power-pop from some of Canada’s finest. I nearly picked Twin Cinema, since running to “The Bleeding Heart Show” is Red Bull injected directly to your femoral artery. But no, that album has those pesky slow songs. Electric Version, on the other hand, is “The Bleeding Heart Show” times 14: “From Blown Speakers,” “The End of Medicine,” “It’s Only Divine Right”…hell, I’ll even give Bejar “Balad Of A Comeback Kid.” Excuse me, I need to run around the block now.

4. Papertrigger Snake Sale — Earlier this summer, Papertrigger drummer Brian Dwyer slipped me a rough mix of his band’s forthcoming full-length debut and I immediately loved it; not just for its airy psychedelic cabaret, but for it’s appropriateness while sprinting along the Schuylkill Banks trail. The frisky piano on “Show us Your Teeth” is a momentum-builder, and the mellow Amnesiac-ish ballads like “Move To The Ground” are unexpectedly helpful in allowing you a breather. Best of all, clocking in at just around 40 minutes, Snake Sale is the perfect album for a five-mile run.

5. Jay-Z The Black Album — The dearth of hip-hop on my iPod is somewhat embarrassing, and in lieu of fumbling around with my CD copies of It Takes A Nation Of Millions or The Iceberg, I just scroll to The Black Album and let it fly. I didn’t think extensive narrations from HOVA’s mom would get me moving (”December 4th”), but damn. The slow sampledelic funky pace of makes this a good choice around Memorial Hall and Belmont Plateau - once you’ve conquered the first of the course’s two hills. One the way down, let “Dirt Off Your Shoulder” carry you to the next water station.

6. Television Marquee Moon — I promised myself that I would write about this album without referring to the title track as “epic,” but goddamit, I can’t. So let me just say that the epic, 10-minute scope of “Marquee Moon” will transcendentaly literally lift you out of your body and allow you to watch from the clouds as West River Drive gives way to center city and you realize you’ve just run half the course. Way to go!

7. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Henry’s Dream — In case you hadn’t gathered by now, I enjoy running to albums that are generally not thought of as running albums. Cave is a melodramatic poetic brooder, and his Bad Seeds have a fondness for lush arrangements and prominent string sections. Sound too cerebral for that dash up Lemon Hill, aka hill no. 2? Flip on “Papa Won’t Leave You Henry” and head into the dark night of the soul; you’ll be back on level ground before you know it.

8. Justice Cross — The most miserable part of any marathon, arguably, is the last 10 miles of it, and in Philly, it’s a seemingly neverending jog down Kelly Drive, and then across Ridge, and down to the very end of Main Street in Manayunk. The turnaround takes forever to appear, and honestly can’t come soon enough, since the street will be lined with yupster douchebags taunting you with beer and pastries. Man, fuck those people. You’ll need some feisty music to pull you through this stretch, and were it not for Cross, I wouldn’t have made it through the Broad Street Run alive this year. Crank it, beginning with “Genesis.” Think of it as a Dave P. DJ night in your brain that carries you out of the depths.

9. Tokyo Police Club Elephant Shell — Alright, you’ve done it, the worst is over, it’s just another three miles left up Kelly Drive and this collection from Ontario’s peppy Sci-Fi indie kids will carry you along with a smile on your face. Only one cut exceeds three minutes (”Your English Is Good,” a shot to the arm in itself), and the uberconcise skittish rhythims and batallion chants on “Juno” and “Sixties Remake” will have you pounding your fist as you round boathouse row.

10. The War on Drugs Wagonwheel Blues — The finish line is approaching, and you want something beautiful and triumphal as you dart across. Is anything more appropriate than “Arms Like Boulders”? That song gives me chills when I listen to it on the train; if I had it playing as I finished 26.2 miles, I’d probably weep with elation.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 12:02 pm and is filed under Album, Music, Philly Bands. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.