“Do you have any way-back, play-backs you listen to while running in the privacy of your own ears?”  So asks, Bearrunner an east coast running blogger.

The most important playlist on my IPod is called Tempo which is the music I listen to while doing my tempo and interval running.

Break on Through The Doors (1966)

Song 2 Blur (1997)

Immigrant Song – Led Zeppelin (1970)

Holiday Green Day (2005)

New Born Muse (2001)

Immigrant Song is my all-time fave for fast running and it is a  41 year old, way-back, play-back from 1970.  I would never choose to listen to this as recreational background music but while running it somehow expresses the energy of adrenalin and heart-pumping, fast running and makes a workout seem easier.Two favourite upbeat, feel-good songs that help me get out the door are As by Stevie Wonder and Moonlight Kiss by Raul Malo.

The evening after finishing the California International Marathon last December my husband and I visited the new San Francisco location of the famous Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Oakland.  Raul Malo was performing that night, a show which I found moderately entertaining.  However, a couple of days later when I downloaded some his music, I realized the degree to which my enjoyment had been moderated by my post-marathon fatigue.  Post-Yoshi’s, I found myself bouncing off the walls to the effervescent and sunny beat of Raul Malo and his band.

Raul Malo has been to Toronto as I discovered.  He has performed at Hugh’s Room, however without his whole ensemble.  I hope to see Raul Malo again but not the evening after a marathon.