Climbing and Running: songs of 2008

Songs that were new or at least New To Me during 2008 and have kept me company during Denali and Aconcagua climbs and Napa, STTC, Raleigh, Muir, Stinson and Rodeo marathons & runs, some long car rides and airplane flights ….

The rule was to pick the top 25 and only one from each artist allowed.

• Beautiful Day – U2: Always the first song for a race
• One Week – Barenaked Ladies: Best for synchronized running
• Speeding Up To Slow Down – Better Than Ezra: Slow down to speed up
• He’s One of Us – The Boxx: Inspirational
• Realize – Colbie Caillat: Pop but good
• Speed of Sound – Coldplay: Speed, speed, speed
• White Flag – Dido: CD played nonstop by driver on Aconcagua 3 hour bus-ride
• Walk of Life – Dire Straights: For running up hills
• I Feel it All – Feist: Good beat and upbeat
• Big Girls Don’t Cry – Fergie: Words and music
• Take Me Out – Franz Ferdinand: Fast beat, starts slowly, finishes fast
• Till I Hear it from You – Gin Blossoms: Classic Gin new to me
• Just Say Yeah – Jackson Browne: Meaningful song from JB
• Believe – K’s Choice: Another inspirational
• Hot N Cold – Katie Perry: You’re up then you’re down …
• Human – The Killers: Just a great song
• Broken – Lifehouse: Broken … but not out
• Won’t go home without you – Maroon 5: Perfect
• Pocketful of Sunshine – Natasha Bedingfield: Shiny happy people
• Shattered – O.A.R.: Shattered
• So What – Pink: Mindless song but great beat
• Play It Safe – Rachel Ferguson: No risk no reward …
• Disturbia – Rhianna: Another mindless song but great to run by
• Love Song – Sara Bareilles: Mushy but nice
• Opiated – Tragically Hip: From Aconcagua also

Since I now have 6,735 songs in iTunes, picking the top ones is hard. Will be interesting to see the top songs of 2009 later in the year!