The Art of the Music Playlist: Bill’s for a Mountain Run and Anne’s for a Los Angeles Walk

Welcome to the Torg Stories Podcast. On this episode, Anne and I share the principles that guide us as we make playlists for our respective runs and walks. We also hope to try and bring to life for y’all where it is that we run and walk. Anne, what walk did you choose for this assignment? 

Valle Crucis Community Park 45 Minute Run:  

1. The park is 7.8 miles west of Boone, North Carolina where App State University is. This is the mountains of North Carolina. 
2. The park is on the Watauga River. There are often people playing in the river and there are lots of people fishing for trout. 
3. There are at least two streams feeding into the Watauga River that also run through the park. 
4. It’s a rare flat valley surrounded by mountains. 
5. The trail I run four times is over a mile long.
6. Also discuss: the trail, who is there, it costs $5 sometimes, paved and grass, playgrounds, basketball
7. Nearby: The Mast Farm Inn, Valle Tavern, Mast Store Annex, Original Mast Store (building constructed in 1882), Pearl’s Kitchen, Valle Crucis Farm, Taylor House Inn. 
8. The park is 1.8 miles from my house. 

Torg’s 45 Minute Run Playlist 

What are some guiding principles of putting together this playlist? 

1. I signed up for my first race in a long time on June 14th. I’m running the 4-mile version. There’s a 10 and 14 mile version too. It starts at The Rock, which is App State’s Football Stadium. 
2. The move from podcasts where I might forget what I’m doing to music. I wanted music because I was trying to tap into the routine that would get my body read to run. 
3. I’ve even added drive over to the park music: Weird Fishes by Radiohead and Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve. I pick these for the pace of the beat that I think could be my feet hitting the ground in rhythm. So for these, I’m getting ready to run. My body hears these songs and thinks, we’re going running. 
4. “Theme from Hoosiers” by Jerry Goldsmith. I have a walk from the car to the starting line. I like having the start and finish line the same to help me remember lap times and see how I am doing. 
5. More instrumentals to get started: 

• “Gonna Fly Now,” the Rocky theme song by Bill Conti, “Training Montage” also from Rocky by Bill Conti. Imagine the Russion running indoors in Rocky IV while Rocky is out chopping wood in the Russian winter. 

6. My list is always evolving according to my pace and how the songs are hitting. I just moved “Dog Days Are Over” by Florence and the Machine out. 
7. Just keep it going songs: Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People, It’s a Sin by Pet Shop Boys, Safe and Sound by Capital Cities, and “I Ran (So Far Away)” by A Flock of Seagulls. 
8. Now we’re going to get more serious and try and turn it on. I bumped up Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” to kick off this section because it starts slow. If it was later in this section, there’s kind of a lull that breaks the flow. I also have Eminem’s “Till I Collapse” in here and it starts a little slow too and that’s a bit of a problem and I don’t feel like I want those two songs next to each other. 
9. Cake’s “The Distance” works great in this section. 
10. I like to finish, and my favorite song to run to, is the Beastie Boys “Sabotage.” I also like this song better on a run than at any other moment in my life. 
11. If I happen to still be running after “Sabotage,” I have ACDC “Thunderstruck,” and Ozzy Osbourne “Crazy Train” ready to go.

Bill’s Mountain Run Playlist

Anne’s Los Angeles Walk Playlist

Thanks for checking out this episode of the Torg Stories Podcast!