As my runs and rides get longer, so does the time spent inside my head. Talking to myself gets boring. Making lists and reordering them gets boring. So lately, I've been remembering quotes and making up mantras. This is about as zen as it gets for me. This is my om. My favorite right now is:
MENTALLY TOUGH, FAST FEET, STRONG LEGS
That one is great for my cruise intervals. This is my favorite for long runs is:
thisismygroove/thisismypace/8:51willwinmyrace
I try to remember lyrics when I ride and run, but I find I'm a master at mashups: beautiful songs that flow from one to the other and back again. I'd like to think I learned this from my hippie days of following the Grateful Dead and Phish who were kings of mashing covers into their own music. I really think it's accidental and my brain is mushy and can't remember where I am in one song before it turns into another. Here is my favorite mashup:
If I could, through myself, set your spirit free
I'd lead your heart away, see you break, break away
Into the light and to the day.
To let it go and so to find away.
To let it go and so find away.
I'm wide awake.
I'm wide awake, wide awake.
[and now Katy Perry interrupts]
I'm wide awake
Yeah, I am born again
Outta the lion's den
I don't have to pretend
And it's too late
The story's over now, the end
[and now, back to Bono]
I'm not sleeping.
If you should ask, then maybe
They'd tell you what I would say
True colours fly in blue and black
Blue silken sky and burning flag.
Colours crash, collide in blood-shot eyes.
If I could, you know I would
If I could, I would let it go.
[and here comes Idina Menzel (and Jimmy)]
Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door
I don't care what they're going to say
Let the storm rage on
The cold never bothered me anyway
It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small
And the fears that once controlled me can't get to me at all
It's time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me
I'm free
[encore, Bono Vox]
This desperation, dislocation
Separation, condemnation
Revelation, in temptation
Isolation, desolation
Let it go and so to find away
To let it go and so to find away
To let it go and so to find away
I'm wide awake, I'm wide awake, wide awake
I'm not sleeping
Oh no, no, no.
When I grow up, I want to be a mashup of Bono and Fallon.