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Head coaches in the NFL often “script” the first dozen or so offensive plays of a game. They do this to set the tone and pace of the game, and to try to get their players to understand that they want to dictate how the game will go. With that in mind I have “scripted” the first 3+ hours of the music I’ll hear on my iPod during Sunday’s LA Marathon.

For more than two years now I’ve been aggregating my favorite “running” songs into a discrete playlist specifically geared towards keeping me motivated and moving towards that 26.2 mi marker. Any time I see a song in my 9900+ track iTunes library rated with only one star, I know it means one of two things. Either it’s a crap song that needs to be deleted, or it’s a song that I one-starred while running because I wanted to save it to my special cardio playlist. It’s my own little iTunes lifehack.

Here is what will be the soundtrack to my run on Sunday. If you’re building your own playlist for a long run, any one of these is a great background to help you overcome heart-pumping exhaustion. This is more or less the order I’ll be playing them, too. So if you happen to see me on TV Sunday, you can estimate what is driving me through the streets of Los Angeles …

1. Mrs. Robinson [Theme from The Graduate] – Simon & Garfunkel
   I have been listening to this song to start running since I got my first iPod.
2. Boulevard of Broken Dreams – Green Day
3. Great American Sharpshooter – Less Than Jake
4. Out in the Cold – Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
5. Salty Coffee – The Usuals
6. I’m Looking Through You – The Beatles
7. Blue Monday – Orgy
8. I Try to Think About Elvis – Patty Loveless
   Or, rather, I try to think about anything other than the fact that I probably have twenty miles to go.
9. Callin’ Baton Rouge – Garth Brooks
10. Light of Day (live) – Bruce Springsteen
11. Nothin’ But the Taillights – Clint Black
12. From a Buick 6 – Bob Dylan
13. Hit the Road Jack – Ray Charles
    The tempo of this classic is excellent for a long run.
14. I’ve Been Everywhere – Johnny Cash
15. The King of Bedside Manor – Barenaked Ladies
16. Never Going Back to New Jersey – Less Than Jake
17. dire – becky
18. Duel of the Fates – John Williams
    Here’s one that just builds and builds. By the time it’s over I’ll be sprinting.
19. Boulevard of Broken Dreams (live) (SNL version) – Green Day
20. The Dirty Glass – Dropkick Murphys
21. Two Way Action – Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire
22. C’mon C’mon – The Von Bondies
23. Big Brown Eyes – Old 97’s
24. Somebody Told Me – The Killers
25. …Baby One More Time – Britney Spears
    Laugh all you want; this is an awesome running song.
26. Debaser – Pixies
27. We Care a Lot – Faith No More
28. Mr. Chainsaw – Alkaline Trio
29. Anthem – blink-182
30. A Hazy Shade of Winter – Simon & Garfunkel
31. Scott Farcas Takes It on the Chin – Less Than Jake
32. Get Free – The Vines
33. Jesus Walks – Kanye West
34. My Friend Peter – Alkaline Trio
35. Shoplifter – Green Day
36. Monkey Wrench – Foo Fighters
37. Desdemona – Rebecca Lord
38. Alcohol – Barenaked Ladies
39. ‘Till I Collapse – Eminem
40. U-Mass – Pixies
41. Tear You Apart – She Wants Revenge
42. Mr. Brightside – The Killers
43. Bye Bye Love – Simon & Garfunkel
44. No Sleep Tonight – The Faders
45. Wake Up – Rage Against the Machine
46. Wonderful Night (feat Lateef) – Fatboy Slim
47. Crazy People – Rehab
48. Fight for Your Right – Beastie Boys
49. Jammin’ Me – Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
50. Letterbomb – Green Day
51. Hell – Squirrel Nut Zippers
52. Remember the Name – Fort Minor
53. Give the Po’ Man a Break – Fatboy Slim
54. Surrendering – Alanis Morissette
55. (Don’t Fear) The Reaper – Blue Öyster Cult
56. Mutt – blink-182
57. She’s A Rebel – Green Day
58. I Predict a Riot – Kaiser Chiefs
59. Celebrity Skin – Hole
60. End of the Line – The Traveling Wilburys
    I know by this point I’ll be desperate to finish and this is a great track about getting to the end of things …
61. New Way Home – Foo Fighters
    This is the song that I play when I am starting to really lose it. Towards the end of the song it just gets faster and faster and I can’t help but start running to match it.