It’s late in the race. You’re exhausted. Finally the finish line appears; your goal time’s within reach. A defining moment beckons; but you’re redlining. You need something extra. You need the right pump up song.
Cue the theme music. The score to ‘Rocky’, to ‘Chariots of fire’, to ‘8 mile’ roars in the background and carries you to victory. If you could just hear the right song right now it would push you through.
I’ve heard the music. I’ve won the race and beaten the time. But the songs that came certainly weren’t the ones I expected.
Let’s have a listen shall we?
What’s your Pump up song?
I went to Private school as a kid. Either my parent’s weren’t impressed with my academic progress, the local school system, or both. At any rate they decided it was time to follow my Sisters to Thayer Academy in Braintree.
My friends talked down on Private school. Who can blame ’em? Basically everybody talks down on Private school until it’s time to send their kid. The world hates rich kids, I’m afraid. Rich Kids are always the villain, or at best a self loathing protagonist (like Holden Caulfield).
My new school sucked at sports and nobody there was tough according to my friends. I hated that part of being a Private School Kid: The assumption that I was an entitled weakling. That I lacked a backbone.
Quest for authenticity
There’s nobility in going to Public school, right? You started at home plate, not third base. After all is said and done you have something no one can gift the rich kids in their fancy little private school: authenticity. Daddy can’t buy you a backbone.
Due to this perceived lack of toughness I embarked on a quest for authenticity during my teenage years. I wasn’t from my hometown; I lived there, sure; but I ceased being from there the moment I transferred. I had roots at Thayer (great school) but the campus was small, tucked away into a small corner of Braintree; a town that never really claimed us.
Wait, what am I saying?
The Braintree kids LOVED US.
I.e. they LOVED fucking with us. Private school kids, by and large, made good targets; I was often chased by Braintree High kids while running. They never caught me but, believe me, it wasn’t due to lack of effort. Chi-Raq this was not, however…
- Someone hurled a rock the size of my fist hurled at my head while I was running through the Braintree high parking lot. A prehistoric drive by. No good reason for it, just a ‘take that Rich Kid’.
- I was chased by a car full of Braintree kids for flipping them off; on account of their driving through a large puddle to drench me.
- My teammate Evan was beaten with a pipe for flipping off the wrong Braintree kids.
- Not long after the Evan incident I was chased onto campus after a confrontation with some Braintree kids at a local park. It went like this:
EXT. PARK-DAY
RUNNING MAN and his friends, among them JOSH, play basketball. They are approached by some BRAINTREE KIDS.
BRAINTREE KID
Hey Pussy! You have a fucking problem?
Running man and his friends note that they are outnumbered.
RUNNING MAN
Nah, we were just leaving.
BRAINTREE KID
Pussies.
JOSH
What college are you going to next year?
Thayer kids run. Braintree kids chase.
And scene.
Got some time? I could go on. As can be seen, they loved us.
I didn’t belong anywhere (not Braintree, not home). I belonged at Thayer, well, sorta. Due to my having to commute 25 miles to get there I wasn’t totally in. Hence my seeking ways I could feel tough.
I’m a Runner, not a fighter.
And I knew it. I put up a front. I developed what my Mother so charmingly called ‘a mouth’. Furthermore, I listened to tough music.
Firstly, music is oft a means by which we tour emotional states, without having to commit. Want to feel happy? Listen to the Beach Boys. Want to feel sad? Listen to the Beach Boys after Brian Wilson lost it.
Want to feel tough? Why yes. Yes, I do.
Secondly, What is more authentic to a young person than Loud and angry music with lots of swears (keeping it real). Moreover, the Artists pride themselves on authenticity; and because I listened I was authetic, albeit by association. I could survive a bar fight cause I listened to Guns N Roses; or I knew what gang colors to wear on account of my listening to rap. Music gave me a tourist’s visa for toughness. It didn’t fill the void, but at least it was a start.
Authentic
I remember hearing NWA/LL Cool J/Slick Rick and thinking ‘My God… Did they just say that?’ How can I explain what hearing that felt like? You’re constantly told by your parents that you have it easy, that you have no idea about the ‘real world’. That it would chew you up and spit you out faster than the wind from a ducks ass. Ahem… I listened to ‘let a hoe be a hoe’ in 5th grade, ‘Appetite for Destruction’ a year before that. I think I can tell YOU something about your so called real world.
The alleged realness added something. I now had access to some heavy emotions; andas has been noted, what I was listening to was basically toughness channelled into speakers. I listened to get psyched, pumped up, and angry before sports. Because anger helps you run compete? Michael Phelps knows what I’m talking about.
They told me play angry as a kid; Be aggressive; Play with a chip on your shoulder. My pump up music, as a result, was anger distilled.
The Running Man’s High school pump up song mix
- Time’s Up- OC
- Scream- Michael Jackson
- Craziest- Naughty by Nature
- U Da Man- Black Moon
- Bulls on Parade- Rage Against the Machine
- Scam- Jamiroquai
- State of Love and Trust- Pearl Jam
- Give it Away- Red Hot Chili Peppers
- The Choice is Yours- Black Sheep
- Slam- Onyx
- Stranded on Death Row- Dr. Dre
- The Distance-Cake
Listening to a pump up song mix pre race was like taking PED’s. Or was it slowing me down? Does tough/angry pump up music even help?
As they say in music… let’s take it from the top.
High School
Juniir year: I made a ‘Pump up song’ mix full of songs that would make you rob a liquor store, or steal a car.
‘Um, Your honor, in my defense I was listening to ‘Me against the World’ by Tupac.’
‘Case dismissed. Listen to some Vivaldi next time young man.’
I placed said ‘Pump Up song Mix’ in the wrong CD case (remember those). Now picture me on the bus ride to Lawrence Academy; I pop open the CD case and find Sade’s ‘Best Of’ instead of my preferred fight music. I was going up against one of the best runners in the league and ‘Smooth Operator‘ was supposed to get my competitive juice flowing.
If you’re laughing at my music taste, by all means, yuk it up. However, I suggest you listen to ‘Stronger than Pride‘. Only one of the 5 best love songs ever.
SADE????
Now a funny thing happened during that race. I entered the final quarter mile with a slim lead. The guy behind me finished third in the league meet the previous year; I finished 20th. This was Fight music time; anger and aggression would push me to the finish.
I don’t know about you but sometimes music comes on my head; I can hear it clear as day (like someone turned on the radio) from time to time. It’s not something I can call on at will, but it happens; often when I run.
It’s raining, I’m hanging on to a slim lead, the other runner is breathing down my neck and Sade’s ‘Kiss of Life‘ comes on full blast. This is about as un-aggressive as music gets, but surprisingly I sped up. I felt happy and light, found another gear and pulled away.
It ain’t cool, but at least now I’m winning
Maybe loud, angry music isn’t the performance enhancer I thought it was; Or maybe it is, but just not for me. Perhaps I’m at my best when I’m relaxed. Maybe there’s nothing wrong with that. Or with being a Private School kid.
Later that night I gave my teammate a ride home. We drove to his house, listening to the radio, dissecting our respective races, making plans to meet up later. The moment the car door closed behind him I turned off the radio and cranked ‘Kiss of Life’. Probably played it ten times straight, loudly. What’s on your next pump up CD, Running Man? Kenny G?
Funny you should ask.
College
The thing about music- it has a shelf life. Listen to a song enough times and inevitably it loses steam. You know every note. The effect diminishes. Sade wasn’t working anymore. Soon I found myself in search of that song that would take me up a notch: The next aural PED.
I wasn’t fully ready to ditch hardcore music yet. There were still plenty of pump up song mixtapes. Let’s have a listen:
College pump up songs
- It’s on- DMX
- My Name is- Eminem
- Contusion- Stevie Wonder
- Deeper Underground- Jamiroquai
- Kiss of Life- Sade
- Singin’ for the Lonely- Robbie Williams
- Tubthumping- Chumbawumba
I had finally forgiven myself for going to private school. My Parent’s kicked ass and wanted the best for us. I was through apologizing for their success. The Allisons weren’t wealthy enough for me to be the rich kid cliche anyway. What’s more, I made it through his school without crashing Daddy’s jag, doing too much cocaine or even tying a sweater over my Polo shirt.
Time to step it up
My running really began improving in college. You may think you’re hot shit in high school making all league/all state; then you get to college and realize everyone in every race was all league and all state. In short, raise your game or get blown out.
My ongoing quest for authenticity on and off the track led me to Pre. Steve Prefontaine was handsome, fast as hell and had an attitude. He didn’t run to see who was the fastest; He ran to see who had the most guts. He made running cool.
Pre was from Coos bay, a working class town where you could get ‘decked for holding your glass wrong’. I went to Private school; where they throw rocks at you for going to private school.
I discovered Pre partly through his biopic ‘Without Limits’. Hollywood Pre was cocky and strong; His triumphs scored by John Williams’ ‘Summon the Heroes‘.
The moment at 3:21 is every runner’ dream. The crowd roars for you. Your theme music swells. But wait a second, it was classical. It wasn’t written by a tattooed rapper, or even a rock star. It wasn’t tough or aggressive; in fact, it was written by a guy who looks like this:
The adjective tough does not come to mind.
But the song captured me. I’d retreat into my headphones on our road trips; staring out the window; envisioning myself thundering down the home stretch; exhausted, ‘Summon the Heroes’ blaring. Victorious.
Did we just become best friends?
My teammate Tim Georoff noticed me putting the John Williams CD in my travel bag one day. ‘Summon the Heroes’, right?’ he said with a knowing smile. I was like:
We both LOVED the opening chords of the song. ‘BA NA NAAAAA, BUM, Ba naaa ba nanaaaa….’
It was outdoor track. The Maine winter wore me down and now the spring weather stubbornly refused to improve; every training run became a slog through mud soaked paths. In spite of the winter, and a bad bout of the flu I’d come within .01 seconds of being an All American indoor miler a month earlier.
I gave that season everything and came up short. .01 seconds short. I was, in a word, depressed.
Conference Meet
The rain cloud followed me to the outdoor conference meet. NESCACs were a two day affair back then. Relays and prelims were on Saturday. Finals on Sunday. I anchored the Distance medley Saturday and, in short, got my ass kicked by a really gifted Miler from Bates. I let my teammates down. The depression deepened.
How to pull yourself out of an athletic funk
The next day I was one of the top two seeds for the mile but I wasn’t feeling good; I had run over :10 seconds slower than my PR in the relay.
The race began. I positioned myself in the front pack and went through the motions for two laps. The wind was howling so no one wanted to take the lead. We trudged on, waiting for someone to finally make a move when all of a sudden it was the bell lap. Everybody made a move at once. I, in the meantime, got shuffled to the back.
Rule #1 of track and field
Don’t pass in a turn. You end up running farther than you have to. Trust me on this. I’m a 2 time All American who is a combined .02 seconds from being a 4 time All American. Seconds count. Inches count. In sum: don’t run farther than required.
Did I follow this advice? No, I did not. Why is that?
‘BA NA NAAAAA!’ The opening chords to ‘Summon the Heroes’ blared in my head. I passed EVERYONE on the turn. I found another gear. Thereupon I became Pre, running to a score of trumpets and drums. I entered the final straightaway and there was Tim, grinning ear to ear, waving his finger’s like conductor’s wands.
‘BA NA NAAAAA!’
I ran that final lap in 58 seconds. Pretty good, especially considering the stifling head wind in the last 100. Most importantly I was victorious. All thanks to classical music.
I talked to Tim about it afterward. It wasn’t in my head. He heard it too.
What is toughness?
Experience is the greatest teacher. The lesson, in short, was that volume/anger don’t automatically equate to toughness.
Being tough is handling what life sets in front of you; it can be classical, smooth jazz, polka, even (gulp) country.
Toughness/authenticity had morphed. There are different ways to be tough; very few of them involve fighting, bad language or aggression. Pushing aside pain whilst you run is tough, as is breaking a mental barrier. Was the kid from private school proving to be, gasp, kind of tough.
To Conclude
I run better listening to relaxing music. Anger gets you off the start line, over a hill, or away from a predator but as a race strategy it will fail. Go ahead. Get Angry. Flex your muscles. Grit your teeth. Scream at the top of your lungs. Do it for a mile. How’d that work out? Anger gives you a burst, but running is all about the flow. So wrong sport.
I thought my pregame had to be loud, tough. It had to shake speakers and let people know how tough I was. I was, in a word, incorrect.
‘So what?’ you say. ‘Loud music pumps me up. Look at Phelps. This effects water, not on me. What do you have to say about that?’
Perhaps tt worked for Phelps because he’s a sprinter. Or because he’s Michael Phelps, he’s the GOAT and nothing can stop him.
I think he’d run faster listening to John Williams?
Without further ado here it is:
The Running Man’s List of proven performance enhancers (the 5 from the title):
- Summon the Heroes- John Williams
- Rodeo- Aaron Copland (Can’t listen to this and not get in flow.)
- Kiss of Life- Sade
- Singin’ for the Lonely- Robbie Williams (the last :45 seconds of this song led me to a 2 mile PR- at the end of a 7 mile workout).
- Tubthumping- Chumbawumba (NESCACS Cross Country championships my freshman year. This song led to my breakthrough Collegiate race).
IMHO You run better, lift better, perform better when you’re in flow; When your tunes clarify, organize and Focus you. I can’t claim our results will be the same, but clearly my results are better when I listen to classical. There’s even a name for this: the Mozart effect.
But maybe death metal made you stronger. The Metallica effect?
The Michael Phelps effect?
We’re all different. In fact I WISH I performed better with hardcore music. I enjoy it more. But alas, My body prefers smooth jazz and classical.
Finally, the kind of music that acts as your aural PED may not be what you think. Try a variety. Hopefully the right song comes on when you need it.
And that’s the truth Ruth, as taught in the school of hard knocks; and, evidently, private school.