On a good run, I often find myself more caught up in my thoughts & music, than the masochistic physical activity I’m forcing upon my innately lazy self. This represents a great leap forward in my self-discipline & mental growth, as I’ve never been the athletic type– despite my ever so beloved father’s urgings that I should “play sports” since I have a body “well suited to them”, being so tall and “solid”, as he tenderly put it– yet, I refuse to be fat and strangely like the look of a curvy, yet fit woman’s figure. Unfortunately my metabolism did not grace me with the ability to eat more than 1200 calories per day, without it being immediately visible somewhere on my frame. Go figure. So, the only solution to keeping my unruly hips & ass tame is learning to love the feeling of sweat dripping down my body, the sensation of not being able to breathe, and the ensuing aches, pains, blisters, sprained ankles, sore muscles, & so on & so forth, that goes with the territory of being a runner.
So anyway, in the midst of my nightly run I was thinking about the music that truly makes a run great– considering I’m not really into hearing myself gasp for air for long periods of time, music is absolutely essential for more than oh say, 60 seconds on the road. I deemed it my duty to spread the gospel of a certain artist, that I’ll likely be sneered at and thought of as lacking in my elitism, but I will put my reputation on the line and proclaim from the proverbial mountaintops of this blog, announcing to the 4 people or so that actually comprise my readership, RHIANNA IS THE SHIIIT!
Every Rihanna song on my iPod is fantastic, nay, AMAZING and never fails not only to boost my stamina & mood of the run, but often, I catch myself *gasp* SMILING and getting a little dance in my step, as I move through the streets (I’m certain I look rather foolish with the part dance/mostly run motion I have going to any outside observer, when listening to one of my favorite Barbadian’s catchy hits, but fortunately I don’t much care).
“Disturbia” is hands down, THE best of her songs, with its sexy beat & peculiar lyrics (and probably the image of her in that video rolling in my head). Tonight, it came up on my shuffle rather early in the run, maybe 5 mins in or so, but was exactly what I needed to lose my sense of time & space enough to improve my distance overall, pretty considerably. The end result was also bolstered by her songs: “Shut Up & Drive” (teehee at the lyrics), “SOS” (Mad props to R for referencing an Elton John song in this one) and “Please Don’t Stop the Music” (which I actually cut short, so as not to OD on my Rihanna high). “Pon de Replay” was a favorite of mine a few years ago, when I used to run quite a bit as well, and I can only sing her all the praises I have, for making 2 more albums of greatness, solely for my running pleasure, I’m sure.
Video for Disturbia:: {WATCH}
Its only fitting this post is dedicated to her, & I’ll conclude with a few images to highlight her sexiness, which also serves as a sort of motivation, because um, have you SEEN her body? Its fab, but not in a lofty, “Wow I’d never look like that unless I suddenly became allergic to food” kind of way, but more of a “Damn guurl, I think I’ll skip that extra cookie & run just one more mile so just maybe I can kinda sorta resemble that. Yeah?” Yeah.
