Glee!

According to Wikipedia, Glee is  an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox. It touches on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues.  More importantly, the Glee soundtracks are the backdrop for my runs these days - from treadmill to UPenn and in between, the eight Glee soundtracks tap into a level of peppiness not usually attainable by an otherwise cranky 30 year old at 4:30AM.

However, like a cloudy martini under an umbrella on a hot Friday afternoon, this music does the trick and snaps my stride up to a higher tempo than normal.  Maybe it's my closet obsession with a cappella groups [complete with a desire to be a member of one], my love of high school musicals or just the way the songs sound all sped up, broken down and unwritten from their origin.  Whatever it is, I'll take it and ride on its back until it can't carry me any further.

Although my runs remain largely the same, treadmill days included, my mental trips (meditative and not so) are all new and full of a 16-year-old's energy and optimism.  Just as I'm climbing the incline of the South Street Bridge with 30 year old aching hamstrings, a completely re-worked, peppy and ridiculous cover of "Poker Face" comes on my ipod, the pain subsides for a moment and I seize the hill.  And the soundtracks go on: There are the typical broadway songs - mainly from Rent - and otherwise recognizably empowering; there are the Eddie Vedder ballads set to a disco ball's lights; and there are those songs, names long forgotten, that can take you back to such a precise moment a decade ago that it threatens to stop your stride.

The overall effect of this music has transformed my attitude, woken me out of a long mile with unconscious lyrics sung out loud and propelled me forward toward my own imaginary finish line.  As training continues steadily and the days between me and my first marathon disappear, I find myself ever the more grateful for new experiences, methods, support and tips - Glee tops the list this week.  So, thank you, random featured runner in the August Runner's World, for this suggestion and for getting me one week closer.