The Cool Table 2021 Summer Running Mix

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Amy

Amy takes pride in being a grumpy optimist. Want to…

Big personal announcement! I started running again. And thanks to regular barre workouts, my knee only hurts 23.7% of the time. I’ve hit a kind of mid-life crisis in that running is not enough; I want to be fast again. (I mean, I’ll always be fast because I’m a Scorpio…hey oh!)

I’m done with marathons. Was qualifying for Boston four times an amazing accomplishment? Yes! Do I want to do it again, especially as I get older and the QT gets easier? Hell no! I have no need to run through Framingham, Massachusetts, ever again, even knowing there are King’s Hawaiian rolls at the finish line. Training for marathons is a time suck, and I’ve got too many books to read, starting with something Beth calls blue alien tapeworm porn. Pulitzer quality stuff.

My goal is to be fast, and getting speedy is easy, philosophically. It means hill work and fartleks. You can’t get fast without building that lung capacity while wanting to puke a little. But I always know that the faster you run, the faster you are done running.

And my physical reality is that my knee has a pace it likes. When I run slow, my natural mechanics are off and my right knee says, “ow, ow, you dumb whore, ow, Don Jr is never going to jail, ow, ow.”

So I’m going to get fast again this summer, and for all you ladies with running or fitness goals this summer, I made a mixed tape for us. You don’t even need to run to this mix. You can dance to it. You can hula hoop to it. You can fight conservatorships to it. You can punch Nazis to it. It’s a multi-purpose mix.

Enjoy!