Yet another post about running

I guess my streak of choosing deep, thought-provoking singer/songwriter-y stuff for my runs on the beach has ended.  Today I scanned my iPod and landed on Jane's Addiction's "Kettle Whistle."  Nice.  Opening track, which is also the title track, has this seething-below-the-surface sound, sort of like bubbling lava just before a volcanic eruption.  A lot of Jane's music is like that, I guess.  It starts with the simmer, moves on to a light bubbling, and then all hell breaks loose with an aggressive rolling boil.  I forgot how much I loved being totally knocked out by the rolling boil.

This CD takes me back to the years we lived in central Texas -- yes, the Hill Country.  We had an 83 Jeep Cherokee and would drive with the doors off and music blaring through places with ominous names, like Devil's Backbone.  I would turn up Kettle Whistle to 'eleven', and pray my eardrums didn't shatter.  My heart beat all the way into my brain; I felt my entire body pulsing with every beat of the bass drum.  God, those were days when I shook my fist at every one of Life's injustices.  In a way, I still hear that guttural snarl at The Man and The Establishment and all that crapola.  (Ha.)  I guess except for short outbursts here (this blog) and there (my business), I exercise a bit more restraint in my quest to right the wrongs of the world.  A bit more finesse, perhaps.  But when I listen to this CD, I'm much younger, much bolder and much more raw in my emotions.  We all need to remain connected to that version of ourselves.

So back to my run.  (I know, I almost forgot what the point of this post was, too.)  Scan scan scan, click click click, I landed on Kettle Whistle.  And it did not disappoint.  I ran hard, and instead of taking a leisurely jog along the beach, I turned it into a sort-of challenge.  OK, I can run to the next access road...IN DEEP SAND.  And then when I reached that access road, would push myself to keep going, just a little farther.  Ended up running the entire beach portion in deep sand, as if to prove something to myself.  I think I might have snarled a little, too.

Maybe I just needed a break after Beach 2 Bay before I started pushing myself again.  This time, I'm training harder for my next race.  I'm planning to do the Jailbreak in Dallas in September and Harbor Half in Corpus Christi in October; I also promised my friend Angie I'd do the Seaside Half next March with her.  Just need to mix up the music to cross-train my ears.