Speaker 1: 0:42

Welcome back to another Super Awesome Mix. My name is Matt Sipholm, alongside my co-host and co-founder of Super Awesome Mix, samer Abu-Sabi Samer, how are you feeling today?

Speaker 2: 0:52

You know I'm feeling really excited, a bit anxious, just all the feels. It's been a long road to get here and I'm super excited that we can put this mix together, or I put this mix together, and we can talk about it on today's show.

Speaker 1: 1:06

Yeah, that's right. So you know, for longtime listeners, or even if you're just picking it up, samer is running the New York City Marathon this year and it is coming up quickly. And so, samer, before we get into the mix, because this is like your kind of run, pump-up mix, right, like that's what we're going for today, correct?

Speaker 1: 1:27

So, you gave us all 12 songs, so I'm going to introduce all 12 songs. They are not all from the same artist, so I will call out the artist. But Samer, this is like quite the qualifying for the New York City Marathon. I think you did it a year ago, correct?

Speaker 2: 1:43

Yeah, right. So what ended up happening like the quick version of this is in 22, 2022, november. I went and watched my friend run his like fourth or fifth New York City Marathon and I had always in the back of my mind wanted to run one, but for some reason, just that day, seeing him run by like something connected in my head and I was like I want to do this like for real. So the way that it works, if you're a resident in New York, the easiest way to qualify is a nine plus one program you hear that a lot as a local here where you run nine races in a calendar year plus do one volunteer event event and you will then be entered automatically into the following year's marathon. So you know this was November 2022. So all of 2023, I did all my races with New York Roadrunners and I did my volunteer event to qualify to enter into 2024.

Speaker 2: 2:30

So it's literally been about two years from that moment of me saying hey, I really want to run this to now approaching my very first marathon, and having it be New York City is truly special because it's I mean, it's one of the top marathons in the world and certainly one of the most challenging but most rewarding is what I've heard. So yeah, it's been a lot of miles, a lot of injuries here and there, a lot of frustrations, a lot of excitement and a lot of races to get to this point. So I'm, I'm feeling again all the things I just feel like I keep telling people. I think once I crossed the finish line, I'm either just going to be stunned or I'm going to just start sobbing Like we'll see what happens.

Speaker 1: 3:08

So okay, going back to what you said there, like you have to run nine races, is it any length of race? You don't, or did you run nine marathons?

Speaker 2: 3:16

Any length of race, so they have Roadrunners has a variety of, you know, as short as 5Ks, so 3.1 miles, to as long as half marathons throughout the year. So I've done I think at this point I've run like five or six half marathons and many, many 10Ks and all kinds of different lengths and they're a lot of fun. They really do a great job and you get to run all around the city and across the boroughs and it's a really rewarding thing here. I think the city has such a vibrant culture of running and people coming out to cheer on those runs. One of my favorite ones this year was running the New York City half, where they actually shut down Times Square for only the second time of the year. The other time they do it, of course, is for New Year's Eve and you get to run through Times Square as a runner with like crowd tons of people, as you can imagine, around you cheering you on and the energy is insane. It's so addicting. So it's been a lot of fun to run here.

Speaker 1: 4:10

Now, does the culture of running simply come from the fact that there's just so much crime in New York City that you're constantly running from criminals?

Speaker 2: 4:18

Just asking as a.

Speaker 1: 4:18

Midwesterner, just go ahead and answer, please.

Speaker 2: 4:23

Absolutely yes. I mean, if you're not on your toes, like you're just not coming home that night, you know, and that's just the reality, or you're going to end up in an ER with a major injury. So yeah, you know, you got to truly survival of the fittest out here.

Speaker 1: 4:36

It's a concrete jungle All right, I'm kidding, that was not a serious question for the listeners out there. Okay, but we do like to poke fun. I'm in Texas, samra's in New York City. We like to poke fun at our respective locations from time to time. But yeah, you're right, I do think that's probably. It's almost like walking no-transcript running. Well, first of all, do you listen to music when you run this race? Because I've talked to some hardcore runners who are not fans of putting music on. So where do you stand on that?

Speaker 2: 5:36

are not fans of putting music on, like. So where, where do you stand on that? I actually do not listen to music when I run. I'm uh, I'm in that category. I started doing that earlier this year, actually around the New York city, half around, in March. Um, I just thought, like it started to be a little bit distracting for me and I realized that it kind of took me out of the moment and I really enjoy running. I don't know if that makes me weird in terms of, like you know, the mass population of people who just like quote unquote hate running. I love it, and so I find that listening to music while I'm running is truly a distraction. So I've stopped doing that and I've really been enjoying it.

Speaker 1: 6:10

I think there's a kind of a tipping point as it relates to running, where it's like you know, if you haven't run in a while or you never have really run distance before, I think it just sounds miserable at first, but I think you can. You get to a point where you're right, you don't need music or anything, you just go out and do it and uh, there's, there's some good feelings that come with it.

Speaker 1: 6:31

So, um, yeah, I wanted to ask that because there was definitely some questions related to the music and the rhythms and all that. But OK, so this is not something you'll be listening to as you run, but getting ready for the race, kind of getting in a good mental space. This is what this mix is for, correct?

Speaker 2: 6:47

Exactly, yeah, and what's been fun is actually, over these last two years, a lot of these songs have been truly my pre-race, have been on my pre-race playlist, have been truly my pre-race, have been on my pre-race playlist.

Speaker 2: 6:57

So what is really nice about that is I'm using a little bit of like brain hacking here where, like you kind of like habit program yourself of, okay, cool, part of the mornings of a race, I listen to these songs and, like you, get into that headspace of like then I go and run a race and so for me, you know, I think one of the biggest things about competing at any level amateur to pro is like you treat the day of the event you know, the game, the run, the race, whatever as if it's any other training day. Like that's kind of the headspace you want to get into, because otherwise, like you can freak yourself out and get too anxious, right. So you're just like cool another day I'm just going to go out and run and music can kind of help put me in that exact same frame, you know, frame of mind of like I've been here a hundred times before like what's another one.

Speaker 1: 7:43

Nice, I like that. So with that I mean, you know, as Bruce Springsteen once saying, you can't start a fire without a spark. So let's start with your first track, which is the Spark by Cabin Crew, featuring liz dunvarna crew nice um, had you heard this song recently?

Speaker 2: 8:03

I've never heard this song oh my gosh, okay, so I'm actually surprised that we made it all the way in into the year without talking about this song. Um, because it blew up on like tiktok and instagram as like a very popular like sound, basically like remix sound. Um, it is like a group of irish kids, I believe, who basically put together this like pop song and it is awesome. Like I don't know what you felt about listening to it, but it is so great, um, I mean, like they, they rocked it, they wrapped it, like they, they sound great. I think like this is worthy of any other like high energy pop song you would hear produced by any number of top tier artists. Right, um, and I have, ever since it came out over the summer.

Speaker 2: 8:48

I put you know, obviously this hasn't been around for a while, but I put it on my pre-run playlist because there's no better way to wake your mind up and your body up. Like, right, you know, it's like 4.30 in the morning it's still super early or even sometimes 3.30 in the morning, and you pop your headphones on, you hit play and you're like I'm awake now with this song. So that's the purpose of this song and the lyrics are great too. Right, it's like, hey, don't doubt me, just go and basically watch me. I'm going to go and kick some ass and it's going to be a lot of fun. So I love it for the energy, I love it for the sound, the story and the lyrics, especially.

Speaker 1: 9:24

Yeah, I was not familiar with this song but as I was listening to it and I felt bad for a moment, until I read up that it actually was kids, because I was like this is like a good version of kids bop, If you this is like a good version of Kidz Bop if you're familiar with Kidz Bop songs at all, where they get the kids to sing modern pop songs.

Speaker 1: 9:40

But I was like I kind of like this, but man, they sound like little kids and sure enough, that's exactly what they are. So I was actually kind of happier to hear that than if it was like no, these are just adults and this is their sound.

Speaker 2: 9:54

I would have been like this is kind of weird.

Speaker 1: 9:57

No, but I did enjoy it. I was like, okay, I get it, I'm kind of fired up, but I think the kids thing kind of bumped me at first, and then, knowing that it was true, I was like, okay, I'm back. So, no, great pick, great start, I like it. And then that leads into your second track, which I think is also perfect. Track two Empire State of Mind Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys.

Speaker 2: 10:25

Yeah, I mean just an all-time New York classic, right? So, obviously, running the New York City Marathon living here, this is one of my go-to songs for just hit and play before every race. As I mentioned, a lot of the races take place throughout the city and so it's always really fun, right Like. I think what's really fascinating about New York is it's one of the largest cities on the planet, but true to any other city, like where you live, you tend to just stay like in your neighborhood, right Like you don't move too far outside of like a little concentric circle around your home, and New York is very similar in that. Right Like. There's jokes here all the time about you know, if you live in Manhattan, you date someone in Brooklyn. It's a long distance relationship, like, and they're not, they're not wrong.

Speaker 1: 11:08

Right Like if you got across a river to see someone you're like well, I'm never seeing that person Like that friendship's over.

Speaker 2: 11:14

Hey, we're going to miss you around here, exactly, exactly. That's the end of that. So I, you know, I love, I love that. I love the reminder of being, you know, again in a large city, experiencing all the different subcultures all around every single neighborhood, and this song is just great for that. And I know that they play like the Sinatra New York City song, you know, at the beginning of the marathon, like that's the on the loudspeakers is the kind of every chorale rolls out, um, but I vote that they start to play this one too, because I think, you know, this is like an updated, kind of more modern take on it. And, of course, jay-z alicia keys just deliver, you know, amazing vocals on this and and it's a great, great, forever track in my opinion yeah, that's funny you use that description, or you brought up New York New York, because that was my note here.

Speaker 1: 11:59

I was like this really is hip-hop's version of New York New York. It's just right in line there where you're not going to replicate that Sinatra song at all. But if you were to create it in a different genre, I think it would absolutely be this one. So, no, I think it's a great call. I'm kind of surprised, Not just I mean, I get how iconic that song is, but I'm so there's so many songs about New York that I'm surprised they just don't kind of roll through a bunch of New York songs as the different roles are going out, you know.

Speaker 2: 12:32

Yeah, I agree, that would be really nice. I'll talk to the ceo I. I once fist bumped with him, you know.

Speaker 1: 12:37

So I feel like someday, when we are uh sponsoring the new york city marathon and when it's the super awesome mix. New york city marathon. We will put the new york mixtape on there and so, um, everybody, get ready for that. Look for that. There'll be a qr code on the bibs. It'll be killer. All right, we're gonna make it.

Speaker 2: 13:24

I that idea, I'm ready for it. Let's do it.

Speaker 1: 13:27

Okay, keep running marathons so we stay connected. Okay, because I don't think I'm going to be All right. Track three it is Right here, right Now, by Fatboy Slim.

Speaker 2: 13:40

Yeah, a track we've discussed, I think, at least once before on our show and I've talked about it too, I believe, with Jen on her show. I love this song because it's just a reminder to be truly right here right now. Right Song aside, just the title and the repeated lyrics really get me. It's a good reminder to get into that headspace of one mile at a time, one step at a time. I can't remember the name of the movie. I think it was Nyad. I don't know if you saw that on Netflix, but it's about the swimmer who attempts.

Speaker 1: 14:12

Oh, yes, I know the story and I know what movie you're talking about. I haven't watched it yet.

Speaker 2: 14:17

Okay, it was really well done.

Speaker 2: 14:19

But right, she swims the channel between Cuba and Florida and it's an incredible, incredible achievement.

Speaker 2: 14:26

And there is, you know, a moment where, as you can imagine, like you just want to stop and it's like, don't worry about how far you have, do you have one more stroke?

Speaker 2: 14:38

Like can you move just another foot forward. And that is a really good reminder when you're doing something like a marathon or longer, like an ultra marathon, of like don't think about the distance, think about where you are right here, right now, and can you put one foot in front of the other, no matter the pace. Like there's a mantra that I repeat a lot as I get tired, which is forward is a pace. So even if you are walking, you are still moving forward and that's great, like celebrate that. So this song to me, is just that mental reminder of like be in the moment, be present, enjoy it, don't worry about all the miles ahead of you, especially when you I've been doing these long runs right, like 18 to 20 mile runs on the weekend, and like you see the little like notice on your watch that you hit one mile and you're like cool, you are 3.8, complete with your right yeah and like you will psych yourself out with that right.

Speaker 2: 15:30

So you're like nope, doesn't matter, like the race is a mile at a time and that's the way to do about it.

Speaker 1: 15:35

So that's why I love this song no, I, I love that and and I love this song. Like there was definitely a stretch there I remember, like in the late 90s, where fat boy slim just kind of had hit after hit and they really were popular even though they were instrumentals. But yeah, this was a good one for me to revisit. But I love your take on it because it's just kind of one thing, just do one thing.

Speaker 1: 15:57

And yeah, I mean, I think that's. I remember that really got drilled in my brain after we had our first kid, because I get so tired, you know, it's like kind of a next level of like tiredness, and I'd be about to go to sleep and I'd be like I just do one more thing to kind of prepare for the next day, and I'd sort of force myself to do that and it made a huge difference in just kind of getting ahead and sort of staying prepared for different things. And so I've kind of just taken and sort of staying prepared for different things and and so I've kind of just taken that with me since then. But I love how it applies to running, where it's just like, yeah, we'll just get to the end of the block, okay, now just get to the end of the next block and just keep keep rolling forward. So that's no, that's awesome. Love that All right. Track four it is hope by NF.

Speaker 2: 16:44

Yeah. So at this point in the morning I kind of thought of this mix as like a progression of all the steps that I'm going to be taking. So I do have to wake up at about 3.30. I've got to go to Midtown to catch a 5.30 am bus where basically you have like a reserve spot because you can sign up basically to be transported right to the start of the marathon. So I'm taking a 5 30 am bus, um at midtown, and so this is the point where now I'm like in my head, I'm like on the bus and I have about a 90 minute bus ride, uh, to get to staten island where the start of the race occurs, um and what time does the race start?

Speaker 2: 17:23

I think, um, I mean the, the elite start earlier. I believe, believe around like 8.30 or 9. My corral is going to be closer to 10. I don't know yet officially, but I think it's going to be around 10 am.

Speaker 1: 17:34

So you're going to wake up at 3.30 in the morning and you will not start your race for six and a half hours.

Speaker 2: 17:40

That is correct. Yeah, that itself is a version of the marathon too.

Speaker 1: 17:44

It's like you've just got to be.

Speaker 2: 17:46

That's wild. Yeah, too, it's like yeah, that's, that's wild, yeah, it's crazy. Right, like this is why a lot of people just prefer like 5k. There's all these memes I have a lot of running memes in my life and it's like you run a 5k, like you show up five minutes before the race and you run it and then you go home 20 minutes later and you're like all right, you know what's next well I.

Speaker 1: 18:08

I did a half marathon here in dallas couple of years ago and even that I don't. I mean I definitely showed up early, right, but I don't definitely was not there six and I didn't wake up six and a half hours ahead of race time. So now the Dallas marathon is not what the New York city marathon is, but I was still anyway, that's. I had no idea that was the schedule marathon is, but I was still anyway, that's.

Speaker 2: 18:30

I had no idea that was the schedule. Yeah, it's crazy, right? So? So I'm on the bus now and I'm I need amp up music because I'm going to be really tired. I'm going to be like probably starting to feel a little hungry because I've been awake for two hours and I also need to be thinking about fueling strategies prior to the race. Like it's crazy, and so I love this song. You know we've talked about this song before, and so I love this song. We've talked about this song before. We've had NF on the mixes many times.

Speaker 2: 18:50

His lyrics are great. They're really motivational. This song in particular is thinking about what do I define success? It's like doing something no one else can.

Speaker 2: 18:59

Obviously, a lot of other people successfully run marathons, but all in all, it's like less than 1% of the population of the planet have run a marathon. So it's a special kind of it's, it's a privilege. It's an amazing feeling to think like I can do something that most people either won't attempt to do or can't do, and I'm so grateful that I can for a million reasons. So it's a great feeling and I love. You know, I just love the kind of energy and the power of the song.

Speaker 2: 19:25

And I also like it because he kind of argues with himself. Right, there's like a version of that in a lot of his music and I see that a lot in running right, like you kind of argue with yourself because there's a version of you is like please, can we just stop. Like why are we doing this? I just want to go home. Like this is hard and you you know part of any race, regardless of distance, it's overcoming that voice in your head of like no, we are doing this and we're going to keep pushing forward. So that's why I really like this track.

Speaker 1: 19:52

Yeah, I totally agree. I mean this one is definitely all about kind of overcoming that self-doubt and those demons I wrote if he didn't write this when he was exactly 30 years old he probably wasn't much older, because he references 30 years in there Just kind of whatever has been going on inside of him or whatever came, you know, into his mind 30 years ago. I mean he's kind of he's beating that down right now, which I think is I don't know. This one, this one definitely got me fired up and, and you're exactly right, when it comes to running a race like this, it's so much more mental than it is physical. You know, and I remember years ago, somebody telling me that you know, a running coach I was talking to told me, you know, anybody can run 20 miles and it just comes down to the last 6.2 and that's really where marathons are decided is in that final 6.2 and it's, he said, it's like it's not even a physical thing at that point.

Speaker 1: 20:45

It's really just kind of the mental part of it that differentiates who wins the race. So, yeah, you're exactly right and I think this fits and I love the thought of you just sitting on that bus just being like, yeah, that's still three hours ahead of me until.

Speaker 2: 21:00

I run or whatever Exactly Got to keep entertained somehow.

Speaker 1: 21:05

Got to keep yourself entertained. All right, track five. And, no surprise, these next couple bands. I'm not surprised they made an appearance on this mix, but track five, you've got Breaking the Habit by Linkin Park.

Speaker 2: 21:17

Yeah, exactly Like when I was listening to music running. Linkin Park is a great, great band to listen to because they do have a really good cadence to kind of run to and like lose yourself to. Breaking the habit is no exception, um, so I love it for that point of view. You know, to your point I agree. Like, if you need to run with music, run with music. I'm not going to be one of those people that judges people of like, oh, you run with music. Um, like it doesn't matter, you don't need to gate, keep running.

Speaker 2: 21:43

And so when I like, I said like I would run to l park a lot, like their albums start to finish, so you don't even need to like do a mix. In that case, like, you can just play one of their albums and it's a great running album. And breaking the habit, in particular, I like because, a, it sounds great, it's got a nice fast beat to it. But then also, you know, again, I always think of that battle with myself of breaking, in this case, breaking the you know, the habit of wanting to quit or not showing up or making an excuse and not running today, being like, oh, it's a little muggy, or it's a little rainy or it's a little too cold or it's a little too hot there's a million reasons to keep yourself indoors, and what I'm always trying to do is break that habit of like complacency and excuses and get out the door and run, and so that's why I really really like the song and again, it's a good reminder to kind of break those old habits and create new ones instead.

Speaker 1: 22:33

Yeah, if you're familiar with David Goggins at all, that's something he kind of talks about quite a bit is like, kind of you have to break yourself first and foremost to kind of you know achieve whatever it is you want to achieve, but certainly physical accomplishments. Your brain kind of immediately goes to well, you're in pain, stop, you're in pain, stop. And you have to get past that in order to really kind of achieve something like running a marathon or doing 10 million pull ups like he does or whatever. Yeah, I love that, take on breaking the habit, because I think a lot of people may look at the song and just think about you know addiction or or some of the other you know demons people may have, and that's certainly a part of this. But but I like kind of the different angle here of you know breaking whatever's going on your mind yeah, exactly yes all right track.

Speaker 1: 23:23

Six you've got aerials by system of a down yeah, this one, um, I always think now.

Speaker 2: 23:29

Now I think about Jen whenever I think about System of a Down, because we've talked about this before on her show what Are you Listening To?

Speaker 2: 23:35

Where I told her that you know, in cross country which is really how this all began in high school, cross country, I needed a PE credit.

Speaker 2: 23:43

I signed up for cross country because I was like, well, anyone can run right, and that was like the least intimidating team sport idea to me right, um, at the time, because I never considered myself an athlete and before every meet you know it's a bunch of adolescent, you know, teens on a bus, like guys, like the the male team would obviously have a different bus than the female team and we would play System of a Down in this album, in particular Toxicity.

Speaker 2: 24:09

So it was very testosterone fueled and, you know, very angry, high energy, and so System of a Down has has kept kind of that place in my mind as an association with running and then again just also a very high energy amp up song Like you can just put this one on, crank the volume and just really rock out for like a couple of minutes, you know, alongside a surge. So that is why this remains on my, on my forever running list. Basically, I'm always going to have a song off of that album because it will just get me really fired up and kind of link back to those early memories of running and going to meets in high school.

Speaker 1: 24:47

I love that. Yeah, because there's got to be kind of something personal amidst all this. I think whenever people are making a pump-up mix, sometimes there's some generic songs everybody goes to, like Eye of the Tiger or something like that, which I love. I'm not speaking disparagingly of Eye of the Tiger, right, but I think it's cool to include some songs that maybe people don't immediately think of when they think about getting pumped up, because they are personal in some way, shape or form to you. So, yeah, when I saw, like I said, linkin Park and then System of a Down on here, I knew exactly why they were there. Just hearing your picks over the years, I'm like, yeah, there's no doubt those are going to make an appearance. But yeah, no, that's great. And yeah, definitely a lot of energy here. Still, yes, all right.

Speaker 2: 25:38

Well, speaking of energy, this next one track, seven, you've got Dragula by Rob Zombie. Yeah, this one again is another personal kind of pick and one that has kept with me many, many, many years. I think for my birthday mixes, either this year or or last year I made like a gaming mix, and dragula was on that one too. Um, this is just one where it's like crank the volume, listen to that bass line hit, you know like. Listen to the, the high energy, like singing. It's a great, just metal track, basically.

Speaker 2: 26:02

And you know, again, I'm sitting on the bus, I need high energy, I need to be, need to, you know, keep my spirits high, um, kind of tamped down, put the, put the anxious energy somewhere, right, I think that's ultimately what it comes down to too is like, just, I'm gonna have a lot of anxious energy and I need to channel it, and I think music is it's a great tool for that. So that's where, um, these, these songs, in particular the stretch of song, really help with that. But i've've always, always, loved this track, and it's one that has stayed with me for many years now.

Speaker 1: 26:31

Yeah, this was one. It's funny, it was on here and I think you're right, you have included it before, but it's one I haven't really thought about in a while. So it came on and I was just like, yeah, so you talked about being kind of a personal pick, but like this one just gets me fired up, like I just loved seeing it on here because this was one I kind of forgot about and there was a. There's a lot of Rob Zombie songs like that that just have a ton of great guitar and energy and are just kind of driving. So yeah, if you are going to listen to music while you, while you run, I think this will be a good one, unless unless you're trying to keep a particular pace right.

Speaker 2: 27:05

Right, exactly, yeah, save this for your for your speed workouts and race day because that's right. That's right, and don't don't put it earlier in your race either.

Speaker 1: 27:15

You will burn out all your energy, exactly.

Speaker 2: 27:21

All right, uh, your next pick it is uh, track eight, it is breathe by the prodigy yeah, another one that, um, again still, I'm still on the bus here, I haven't yet made it. It's a 90 minute ride. People come on. I need, I need a decent number of songs, um, but this is another one of those. You know, I kind of sandwich this part of it with, like, the reminders. So you know, the first part of the, the top part of the sandwich, is right here, right now, to be present. And then this one breathe, and I think that that is a very important reminder. Of course, in this case it's delivered by, you know, drum and bass band from from like the late nineties, early two thousands, which you know I love prodigy, I love the baseline here. As we all know, I'm a huge fan of bass.

Speaker 2: 28:03

Title alone it's like it is that reminder for me of like breathe, you know, like you're going to lose yourself, you're going to lose your breath, you're going to feel tired. Just take that breath, like recenter, keep going, because it can be really easy to forget to breathe. That sounds funny, but like, certainly to forget to breathe in a calm way, like you can. There are many moments in my runs, especially on the long runs, where you just start to feel tired. Your brain is, like now, starting to shift into that negative talk, and truly just taking a deep breath can reset all of that and you're like, okay, I'm actually not as tired as I think I am, I've got this. And you push on through to the finish. So that's why I love this track, for both of those reasons.

Speaker 1: 28:40

Yeah, this is a great one, and just reminded me again, you know, similar to Fatboy Slim earlier, like this was of that era in the late 90s, where and you know, similar to Fatboy Slim earlier, like this was of that era in the late 90s, where it was just sort of that. I don't know what it was in the late 90s, but for some reason a lot of instrumental or electronic songs just became really popular.

Speaker 2: 28:58

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 28:59

And just got a lot of radio play. It's like that was well before iTunes or anything. So it wasn't like they were streaming, it was just you just hear these songs on the radio or watch them on MTV or whatever. So, yeah, this was a, anyway, great energy, great track. I could totally get where this would be on there, and you're right, keeping your breath is important when you're running a really long race like that. All right, track nine and these next two tracks have a similar artist to them.

Speaker 2: 29:34

So track nine it is dies irae by apache, apache and black prez with signal yes, um, I, I can't. I imagine that apache's made it to some of our mixes right with new music, I believe I believe it has.

Speaker 2: 29:42

Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, he's, uh, I believe he's a belgian dj and he's great, and one of my reasons I love him is because he um remixes classical songs. Right now. That has become, I feel like, more popular lately. It's like the internet has actually discovered that classical music is very complex and very, very interesting, um, and that these composers did like amazing work back in the day.

Speaker 2: 30:06

Um, and you can, you can introduce a lot of people to like Mozart and Beethoven and Chopin and like all these people, by throwing in some electrical, like some, some remix elements to it.

Speaker 2: 30:16

So I think he is brilliant at that and that is why the you know these next few tracks are here. And then it's also this marks in my head, like the transition from I'm off the bus, I'm now in the start village, um, and I'm doing warm-ups and I'm trying to stay warm because it's typically pretty cool on on these days and you know I'm just trying to get into the zone at this point, like I these, uh, this track in particular is just really great at kind of. You know I'm here, I need to now focus um, it's got that really strong kind of confidence, building energy to it and I'm again, I'm just obsessed with the sound of it. I really love the idea of taking a song that's several hundred years old and bringing it into the modern like lexicon of music, but in such an interesting way, while still kind of respecting how it sounded back then, and I think he does that brilliantly.

Speaker 1: 31:06

Yeah, I agree, I love the symphonic background. I thought that was awesome so I was really immediately in, just based on the sound of it at the beginning of this one. But then, yeah, you get into the lyrics and you know talks about being a beast and being unleashed and I'm like, yeah, perfect for right before race, you know, get you in the right mindset. But I do think the kind of the violins and some of the other like orchestral elements kind of keep you grounded a little bit so you're not too out of control.

Speaker 1: 31:33

You know we talked about like prodigy just being just full bore ahead. You know we're wrong. Zombie, it's like this one's a little bit more tempered, so so I like that difference there. Uh, so track 10 again.

Speaker 2: 31:46

Apache, again, this time with wasu, and this is majesty yes, ah, this one is probably my favorite one from his um and it's in my mind, it's, it's funny, I actually think of it as the equivalent of the walkout from, like, the locker room into a stadium.

Speaker 2: 32:04

You know, like, and so you know, when I first discovered the song like on apple music, similar spotify, they'll show you playlists that the song has been featured in and this was actually like the cincinnati bangles, like pre-game mix, um, and I think is I think the line in their particular is like who day, right, like, which is like a big kind of thing for them, yeah, um, and so I love that and that's kind of why I have that association. And again, both of these songs are that pre-game. You're in the locker room, in this case you're in this in the start village and, to your point, like you need to get that energy, you need to kind of walk tall and feel strong, but you don't want to like go nuts and kind of lose it all yet, right, like you're not quite there, um, but you're getting close, and so this is just like a perfect kind of you know, getting your, getting that, getting that headspace of like, yes, like I am here, like the king has arrived, the queen has arrived. Whatever you know title you want to go with, and you're just feeling, you're feeling yourself and I think this song does that very well.

Speaker 1: 32:57

Yeah, I loved in this one all the imagery, the kind of royalty imagery throughout this one and it's just continuous, just over and over. So, yeah, I think that's perfect for your description of kind of a walkout song, because, yeah, that's exactly it right, and you want to get in the right headspace and think like, all right, I rule this place, this is my kingdom, kingdom, and I'm going to dominate right now.

Speaker 1: 33:23

So I think it's perfect, Really good choice. And I think I'm definitely going to get more and I probably said this the last time, but you know, as I start, because I usually listen to music when I run, but like these will definitely be songs that I think I kind of work into the mix a little bit more. Yeah, they're great for it All right, Track 11 coming. Yeah, they're great for it. All right track 11, coming home. It is Burn by Two Way and Etta Hayes.

Speaker 2: 33:45

Yeah, okay, so the last two artists are again similar. Now I am in the corral, so at this point you start the migration from the start village into the actual start corrals where you're basically shoulder to shoulder with a mass of people all trying to like, make your way. You know, the second that the cannon fires, you make your way across the start line and you begin, and so you know, in these moments I just really need that kind of focus, energy. Here's what I'm showing up to do. Remind myself, I've, I've trained for this moment. I can you know, I'm absolutely going to do it.

Speaker 2: 34:19

You visualize that that finish line, especially like that's kind of what I start to do is like visualize the finish like I'm. I'm that much closer now to getting there, and this song, I think, is just great for that right like just it has this cinematic quality to it. I think both of these these songs do, but it just feels like the trailer of like an epic movie battle scene. You know, like the, the finish line, and all that kind of energy kind of comes through with this song of just like you can feel like your, your blood is burning right in a good way of like I, I have so much energy and I'm about to show up for this thing and cross that finish and I'm ready for it.

Speaker 1: 34:57

So that's why I love, love, love this track yeah, these felt kind of like the calm before the storm, right like it was really I I think it was really well done with these two songs, because it was not something that I wasn't familiar with either one of these. But yeah, they were slower. They definitely kind of like slightly lower energy but kind of get you pumped up at the same time like really kind of a unique line that it walks. But but yeah, no, I love this one and I think it definitely works. You know, when I was sitting here thinking that you're listening to this while running, I was like wait, is this going to cause them to like sprint here down the stretch? But now that I know it's like you're just kind of at the beginning of the race here and kind of mentally getting ready, it's really kind of perfect. Nice, all right, your last pick.

Speaker 2: 35:48

It is track 12, survivor by 2-Way. Yeah, this is a cover of Destiny's Child Survivor and it is probably. You know, we talk a lot about covers that don't sound anything like or do sound exactly like the original, and this is in the category, in my opinion, of not sounding anything like the original. It's turned it into just something completely different, but the lyrics work so well. The way that it's remixed works really well. The vocals are amazing. Um, and it, you know, again, just gets you for me. I just imagine myself like locked in and and again. It's like that thought right of I'm, I'm gonna survive this, like I like to survive this.

Speaker 2: 36:24

There's going to be moments where I'm going to think that I, you know, you thought I couldn't survive without you, but I'm living. You thought I could breathe, but I'm breathing. In my mind I always make it again back to the internal struggle of there's going to be a part of me that believes I'm not going to finish, that I can't do it, that I should just quit, that I should stop. And I'm there to override that voice and say you thought I couldn't do this. Here I am doing it. You thought I couldn't take another step. Here I am doing it. And so that's why I really love this song. It's like the final song I'm going to listen to before I put the headphones away and then just take in the race the whole 26 miles. So that's the headspace I'm going for before every race.

Speaker 1: 37:16

No, this is great and I loved this version. Obviously this is great and I loved this version. Obviously I wasn't familiar with well, obviously, I know the Destiny's Child song, but when I hit play on this I wasn't expecting that. You know, like, it's just a song called Survivor Right, and so once it started in I was like oh, this is cool and kind of reminded me of, you know, in the last season of Stranger Things when they did that version of Separate.

Speaker 1: 37:36

Players by Journey, where it was kind of like you know, and there they just sort of lifted the vocals from Journey and kind of remixed based on that like less so here, because you know different vocals here, but still it just gives you that just a whole different energy, even though you immediately recognize the song. So I think that's a really clever trick to pull off. And yeah, you're right. I mean, like we've talked about today, it's so much about almost tricking yourself into overcoming things and getting through this type of race. Yeah, but I imagine once you finish a longer race like this, I mean you feel like you could probably do anything right.

Speaker 2: 38:19

Absolutely yeah. I mean, as I mentioned at the top of the recording, I have done, I think, five or six half marathons, which is no small feat, right, like I'm not saying that to pat myself on the back, but I think for anyone that has done a half, yourself included, like it's also a very impressive amount of miles to run in one go right. And so I think, yeah, you do. I think, yeah, you, you do. I certainly feel like wow, I can't believe I did it, Especially if you've got a time goal in mind and you and you meet that goal. It's, it's a phenomenal feeling and it's one that I'm quite literally chasing every time I go on a race, just for that, that little moment after you've crossed the finish line, of realizing the culmination of a lot of hours, a lot of research, a lot of work, a lot of you know time to, to to do something like this. So it's a really special thing and I'm truly, truly so grateful and very excited to be lining up this year. We'll see how it goes.

Speaker 1: 39:10

Yeah, sam, we're all pulling for you. We're really excited. Hopefully we can, you know, post some updates and tell everyone how you do there. Everyone can follow us at super awesome mix so they could hear about that and I'm sure at a later episode after the race, we'll definitely update everyone on your experience there. So you know, on behalf of me and all the listeners, sam, best of luck, and we're so thankful for this mix because this was great, a great mix, whether you're going to listen to it running or just listen to it ahead of a run or whatever you're doing, right Like.

Speaker 2: 39:44

I think it'll get you in the right mindset.

Speaker 1: 39:46

Awesome, all right. Well, sam and I have plenty of other mixes to get to, so we will get to work on those. And so, for Sam, this is Matt. We'll see you next time.