Time For Music

Recently, one of the girls on my high school cross country team said to me, "Coach, I don't get how you find time to go through all of the music that you write about in your blog."  I smiled.  This, from a girl who runs on the team, plays piano, is currently powering through her junior year in high school (the hardest academically, by far) goes to church on Sunday and still manages to look cute and fresh on a daily basis.  If it's something that is important to us, we find the time.  My family is my number one priority.  I will scrap a run, skip a meeting, or bail on a night out with friends for my kids, my, husband or both, any day if need be.  Running comes second.  I need to run.  Want to run.  It's my physical and mental release.  You already know this.  My family knows it.  My friends know it.  I work my day around it if necessary.  I will always find time for it.  And then, there's music.  I have always been an avid music fan.  At a very early age I was drawn to it and the way it made me feel.

Back in grade school I had two specific 45s (yes, 45s - those very small records with an A & B side) that I used to listen to over and over and over again.  I played I Love Rock and Roll by Joan Jett and Dirty Laundry by Don Henley, on my cheap, plastic record player non-stop.  I'm sure I successfully ruined both songs for my older sister while also driving my parents totally nuts.  My sister in particular, still makes fun of me for the (slight) obsession I had with these two gems back in the day.  As I got older, my tastes evolved and my love for music continued to grow.  In junior high, I was given a gift certificate to Tower Records (a huge 3 story music mecca) for my birthday which I took straight to the store and used to purchase an assortment of cassette tapes.  Curious to know what they were?  I am both pleased and slightly embarrassed that I can easily recall this list:

Squeeze - Singles 45s and Under  

Yaz - Upstairs at Eric's

Big Audio Dynamite - This is Big Audio Dynamite  

Big Country - The Seer  

The Police - Synchronicity  

I still remember how giddy I was when I got home, ran upstairs and madly unwrapped the plastic that covered each tape.  Within minutes I was singing "Goodbye Girl" at the top of my lungs and dancing around my room as only a teenager would.  This purchase was a game changer and I was officially hooked from this point on.  Music became a huge part of my happy, yet tragic 80s world along with perms, braces and neon clothes.  Fast forward to today.  Music is STILL blowing my mind.  New bands like AWOLNATION and Alt-J along with bands that have been around for a while like Radiohead and Wilco, all of them are continuously taking their music to a new level and I am more than thrilled to be along for the ride.  I listen to them.  I run with them.  I see them live.  I talk about them.  And then I do it all over again.  And today, just as I did back when I was 10, I make time to explore, discover and dig in.  Music is something I love.  It is one of my true passions.  It is incredibly fulfilling.  It inspires both my running and my life.  So, like I do with anything that is this important to me, I find time.  There will always be time for music.

Listen to this:
Play With Fire - Vance Joy