Stimulating conversation

The girls on my team never cease to amaze me. Coming out of the doldrums of this week, I finally felt motivated to run these past two days. Typical of my team, they have managed to get me into the spirit again, and not because of intense motivational talks or inspiring quips-- no, they have reinvigorated my drive to participate just through their quirky ways. I've always loved easy runs where I can settle in and listen to the wide range of topics swirling around me. It's so relaxing to listen to someone else's problems as opposed to ruminating on my own. To make it even more fun, the girls never fail to make me laugh. Interestingly, but not surprising, we settled onto the topic of quantum physics today and he theory of the universe, matter, time, and a slough of other abstract but enticingly mind-blowing concepts. I let myself settle into the middle of the pack, soaking up the information the seniors let fall back on my ears. It was actually one of the most stimulating conversations vie been privy to in the last couple months, including school lectures. While I'm not going to summarize each of the complex points made, the point is that having a group, or even just a single running buddy, can make the experience of running invigorating as opposed to draining. On another note, I have begun to try to invigorate myself for saturday's race. In addition to baking and looking up inspirational running quotes, which I'm now receiving daily from runnersworld.com, I made myself a new race day playlist. For your listening pleasure, here are the songs I've selected. 1) Shake It Out (Florence + the Machin>e 2) Winner (not sure of the artist) 3) Call Me Maybe (Carly Rae Jepsen) 4) Jailer (Asa) 5) Payphone (Maroon 5) 6) feel So Close (Calvin Harris) 7) Stronger (Kanye) 8) Better With the Lights Off (New Boyz) 9) Blackout 10) young, Wild, and Free. While these may not be super intense songs, they're songs that put me in a calm but motivated mood to race. On a side note, I never run to music because no matter what it interferes with my pace.